Wedding Photographer Cancellation - unreasonable?

[Bunny44]

AIBU to think this is greedy and unreasonable of the photographer?

My sister was due to get married this summer however 7 months before the wedding her fiancé unexpectedly broke up with her, which she was devastated about. She was also left to deal with cancelling the wedding vendors. To alleviate the burden on my sister, me and my family have been helping her with it all. I wanted some advice and thoughts specifically on the photographer.

She booked them a year ago and put down a £500 deposit. When they were informed of the cancellation (straight away 7 months out) they weren’t very nice about it and basically said she’d lose the deposit (somewhat expected) but that their policy was to insist on the full payment of £1800 for any dates less than 9 months out as they said wouldn’t be able to re-book the date and they had no exceptions.

We exchanged some curt emails in which we underlined several CMA policies including that they must re-advertise the date and try and get a booking and if failing that they could re-coupe for possible losses where reasonable. They said they would do that and we didn’t hear from them.

My sister’s friends took her away for her would-be wedding date to take her mind off it. The photographer emails her on the would-be wedding day with the invoice saying they’d not been able to book and needed payment, which she was obviously extremely upset about. Personally I cannot believe the lack of tact! Considering the industry they work in surely they understand how upsetting this sort of situation can be. It makes me think they really really don’t care about the couples they are dealing with. I did call him and told him to stop messaging my sister and really he didn't seem like a nice man at all.

I worked out that he must make at least £200k+ out of this business a year based on rough dates he said he was booked up for the year. Surely they have some leniency than to insist someone forks up such a large amount for him to do nothing with so much notice, he’d already be getting £500 out of her. Seems incredibly greedy.

As a side note, I should mention I’m a small business owner myself and have a rental property for short term lets. I have built into my business model cancellations with reasonable notice because it’s just part of doing business. I’m a bit shocked about the T&Cs in the wedding industry. I think a lot of couples just agree because they’re naive and caught up in the moment and they get taken advantage of.

Any advice on fighting this also welcome, if you think we should.

Don't be in the wedding business if you want emotions taken out of it. Vendors capitalise on people's emotions.

If you read the thread many people have offered advice on this as per the CMA's guidelines. T&Cs can be deemed unfair and it sounds like some of his are.

Running a business is exactly where emotions should be taken out of it.

As far as his concerned his for loss of earnings. It’s not his fault her fiancé is a knob. No it’s not nice for her to have this bill but it’s also not fair to agree to pay someone and not.

Options are pay up or let it go to court and see who wins. But if he can prove loss of earnings and that he tried to get it rebooked I’d expect her to have to pay at least some more of it.

Hi OP my friend is a wedding photographer and says the situation is awful but unfortunately some people in the business can expect full payment even if 7 months before the wedding day. It isn’t common but not rare for some vendors to expect full payment a year before the big day. I know it’s wrong, but apparently it’s to protect them as most weddings are booked at least a year in advance so loss of earnings if vendor cannot get another wedding booked in on that date.

Not saying I agree with him, he seems awful but you might not have a leg to stand on x sorry

Caveat - I'm not a solicitor!

Contract law would suggest she should pay, but there might be a question about whether the contract terms are deemed unfair.

I've just checked my wedding videographer contract (can't find the photographer one) and his terms were full payment due if cancelled within 100 days of the wedding. There was a £200 booking fee (not deposit) which was non-refundable in any event.

If you can gather evidence from other wedding photographers that suggest their 9 month policy is excessive you might have better luck.

Could be worth gathering all your evidence and then using a free 30 minute consultation with a solicitor for advice?

Finally, did they have wedding insurance? Our venue insisted on us having it. Given we booked pre-Covid, it was very helpful to have as a backup if we needed it (which thankfully we didn't).

JVS on BBC 3 Counties - really recommend him for sorting out things like this

You need to get over the bit about the date. For him, that’s just the day when he can confirm he’s not going to get another booking,

If she’s signed the contract, she’s liable, and honestly, I don’t think it’s unreasonable. This is why you should have wedding insurance.

On the invoice it may be automatically generated.

You can set up an online system with the bookings such that it will automatically send the invoice on the day of booking. It may even be outsourced to an accountants.

You could be right but You don’t know that each of those dates are the same price booking or what they are. Small service businesses usually have multiple revenue streams. Did he charge VAT?

Can you ask him a) for proof that he turned down another job on the same date and therefore missed out on income as a direct consequence of the cancellation and b) for proof that he actively advertised the date as one on which he was now available? He could be saying anything and since it's difficult to prove a nothing without putting in a lot of effort, he may back off. But in any case, what a dishonourable guy.

Wedding insurance doesn't cover cases like this for those suggesting it. It's basically worthless except a few circumstances.

Those are their standard fees. They only do weddings.

It was a personal email from him

They're the customer not the business owner. As someone who does business I don't expect my clients to take their emotions out of dealing with me.

You wouldn't say that to someone booking a funeral?

But it's a bit of a dick move considering he knew the circumstance.

The problem is, as you say in your OP, that it's now an industry. My first wedding was organised in three months, the second in six weeks. Less chance of changing minds, tens of thousands of pounds less to lose. Your sister must have signed a contract and will, I fear, struggle to extricate herself.

I don’t think they’re unreasonable for adhering to their contract (although I’m suspicious that they couldn’t rebook the date with seven months notice), but agree emailing on her actual intended wedding day is awful.

The only thing a solicitor is going to tell you in a ‘free 30 minutes’ (which is not something offered by most solicitors) is that they couldn’t offer any advice without doing a full review of the contracts and correspondence.

Dear :First name:
The invoice for the wedding of :bride: and "groom: on :date: is now due
photography package :package: :cost:
Less deposit : deposit cost:
Total owing :total:

:insert cancellation reminder that it's still owing as space wasn't filled: as per conversation by :phone/email: on :date:
Yours,
Photographer

I've done numerous ones like that that people are surprised to find I didn't type personally.
Once set up, it's easy to do.

It was very specific, I've seen the email. It wasn't generic at all and referenced something we'd discussed on the phone. He also said on the phone he thought it was a good time to send it so it was a conscious choice.

Yeah because he had no work that day and wanted paid for his loss of earnings. 🤷🏻‍♀️

That’s not my experience with solicitors TBH. The few times I’ve used them for free advice they’ve been helpful. Once on a specific contract relating to my business they asked about the contract and said the landlord was band to rights to demand it

He can't justify that amount of earnings though. For example, he's spent zero time editing shots. That would have taken him hours. He's done bob all and he expects to be compensated for it?

Write back…
I’m happy to forfeit the deposit but I will not be paying for a service which I did not receive. I now consider the matter closed.
He’s chancing his arm…. Nice try asshole

Not saying he deserves the full amount but it is loss of earnings. Minus actual costs to himself.

So his fuel, insurance, depreciation of cameras/equipment, prints and any dvds/cds shouldn’t be taken into account but his actual lost earnings his hourly pay should be.