Re: Upset bride wants pictures that were never taken
TRReichman wrote:
We\'re really talking about 2 things here - fault and responsibility. We can all argue whose fault this is, but in my opinion the responsibility to manage this situation effectively lies squarely with the photographer.
We\'ve all been in the situation where plans went awry. But its our responsibility to poractively address those concerns on the day and lay out the option for fixing it and let the client make the decision as to what to do. In this case the best thing to do would have been to approach the bride after the line and let her know the while you had planned to do the formals during that time the impromtu line meant the folks had scattered and the 54 formals weren\'t shot - we can round up these people and try to work through the list now or work through the list items that you\'re comfortable cutting. That way the client sees what is happening and makes the decision.
Plus, 54 list items of formals takes alot of time as others have expressed. So its the photographer\'s responsibility to make sure the client understands how much time that takes and to plan accordingly.
Beyond that, I agree about contracts but contracts are not tools for enhancing customer service - they are purely for legal protection. When a client\'s expectations are not met that contract may legally protect you but won\'t take the responsibility for managing that relationship out of the photographer\'s hands.
This client is upset because their expectations weren\'t met. The photographer said they were going to shoot those formals and they didn\'t. That photographer indicated an end time and left early. Combine those things together and you\'ve got a justifiably upset client.
I don\'t point this out to knock someone only to caution the new photogs who might be reading this and thinking that its OK not to manage client expectations about things like this.
- trr
This is a good post.
letenele: it sounds like circumstances ganged up on you as they sometimes do. The fact that you didn\'t get the shots certainly doesn\'t sound like your fault. However, the more proactive you can be to address the problem the better. In this case, the leaving early bit affected her perception of the situation, rightly or wrongly. While you may or may not have legal obligation here, I\'d say that you\'ve put yourself behind the 8-ball on managing her expectations, and it would be a good time to do what you can to win her back over, whether that is making a reasonable attempt to accomplish her photoshop requests or comping prints or portraits.
I\'ll give an example of a potential situation that still worked out well for me with the client:
Had the wedding on a rainy crazy day, which nixed most of our plans for the outdoor group portraits. Everyone ran late, and there was no time to get much great for indoor portraits before the ceremony anyway. After the ceremony, we were literally all kicked out of the church after about 20 minutes because they needed to prepare for evening service. I was able to get them all of the group photos and one very simple \"couple-at-the-altar.\" This deviates from the normal expectation that most of my clients have of at least one really dynamic couple portrait. I approached the B&G at a spare moment in the reception, and informed them \"hey, the one thing I\'m missing is a really dynamic couple portrait, which I usually get. We do have some great PJ of the two of you, though. Do you want to step out of your reception and try to get something more rockin\'?\" They didn\'t want to do it, so on the spot I offered them a complimentary day-after (or month after) session even though there was absolutely nothing I could have done to get the shot.
In the end, they were happy with the photojournalism and didn\'t feel the need for a really stylized portrait, and appreciatively declined the portrait session (he wasn\'t a HUGE fan of having his picture taken anyway). But you BET that my proactive efforts to ensure they got everything they were expecting made an impression.
Jun 24, 2009 at 07:14 PM
Previous versions of Evan Baines's message #7230496 « Upset bride wants pictures that were never taken »
