Wedding Photography Contract 101: What Every Couple Should Know

Here’s what to look for before you sign on the dotted line with the photographer you’ve chosen for your destination wedding

It’s only natural to want to get to all the exciting stuff when you finally find a photographer, but taking a closer look at your wedding photography contract is the first essential step.

This contract is a binding agreement between you and your photographer, so it’s important to make sure you are happy with the details before you go ahead and sign. A contract is also there to protect the photographer, ensuring the couple follows through on their commitment to pay for their services, so you don’t want to agree to anything that you’re not okay upholding on your end of the bargain, either.

Why You Need a Contract with your Photographer

You might think your wedding photography contract is just standard “boilerplate” language that is pretty standard issue and therefore something you can simply glance over, but this is the wrong way to go about it.

There is nothing more frustrating than having gone into a relationship with specific expectations, only to later finding out they were not actually included.

There are two main reasons why it is important to have a contract in place with your wedding photographer:

Weeds Out The Riff-Raff:
While we never like to think that there are unethical business owners out there, unfortunately the time that someone figures it out is when it’s too late to do anything about it. I’ve heard horror stories over the last 21 years I’ve been in this industry. Clients who assumed the photographer they met with (or who’s name is on the sign) would be the one shooting their wedding, arrived the day of their wedding to discover an assistant without as much experience was there to shoot their day instead. I once heard about a photographer who kept taking deposits for future bookings, even though she had already sold all her equipment and never had any intention of actually showing up. 😬 These kinds of deliberate misrepresentations are all too easy for photographers who know they can get away with it because the client didn’t ask for it in writing.

On the other hand, a photographer who is willing to put everything down in writing in a formal contract is the one you want to trust. You know that they are running a legitimate business and intend to uphold their end of the deal.

Prevents Honest Mistakes:

There’s those who purposely seek to deceive others, and then there are just downright honest mistakes. In the back and forth of conversation, with multiple phone calls, questions answered, and options discussed, it’s only fair to assume that as humans, there’s bound to be a mistake or miscommunication….

a photographer who mentions during a meeting they’d be happy to throw in an extra bonus print but then forgets to write it down and it gets overlooked…..
a discussion about the number of photos that can fit in the album, which later is no longer accurate because of the type of book purchased….
a client who asks if they can have an extension on their online gallery but later visits the page to find it taken down already….
a reception in which the photographer was told by the couple that vendor meals are being provided and so not to worry about bringing food, only to discover this was overlooked and they must work the rest of the 8 hour day running on empty.

These are all examples of honest mixups and oversights that would have been prevented had those parameters been actually outlined on the invoice and covered in the contract.

Prevents Misunderstandings over Usage:

This is true on both sides for both parties.

While it’s a pretty universally-understood fact that photographers retain copyright (ownership) of the photos and feature the best ones in their portfolios, some photographers use their images in other ways such as stock photography, photo contests, social media, advertisements, and more. The contract typically will cover those intended potential uses so that you don’t have any surprises later on, and in the event you wish to pay extra for an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) and have none of your photos be used at all, the contract is where that would be spelled out explicitly.

On your end, it ensures that you are clear on what your rights are with regard to usage as well. If the files included in your package are limited to a specific print size, this will be outlined in the contract, as well as restrictions you have to be aware of.

For example, some photographers do not allow social media filters to be applied to the photos, while others have rules about the types of photo labs you can print from. Some will allow you to print whatever you like, but you must order the album from them.

Whatever the rules are, it’s much better to be aware of them before you hire someone, than to find out down the road.

When you don’t have a detailed contract in place, any assumptions you had or verbal agreements you (thought you) made fall by the wayside, and it leads to miscommunication and frustration on both sides.

What a Wedding Photography Contract Should Include

While every contract will be slightly different, here are a few specifics you should see in yours:

Wedding Day Details
Make sure your contract includes the basic information such as correct date and location of your wedding, as well as the names of the couple contracting the services.
Photography Package Details
Include the specific wedding photography package you decided on as well as any other extras that were agreed upon. Remember, if it’s not in your contract, it is not included.
Payment Terms
How much is the retainer, when is it due, and is it refundable or transferrable? When is the next payment due and when is the final balance due? Further, what forms of payment does the photographer accept? If they take credit cards, is there an additional fee? Make sure all the payment terms are outlined in your contract.
Deliverables
If you want to ensure that you can print your own photos from your digital files, be sure that’s outlined in the contract. If your photographer explained to you all the benefits of having a beautiful photo album, but you don’t see a line item for that product, it’s time to get curious….did your package indeed include one and they just forgot to put it on there? Or did you misinterpret the conversation to mean it was automatically included when in fact it was an optional upgrade? The time to nail those details down is before you sign the contract, not after.
Other deliverables to outline are the number of hours you’ve booked your photographer, what the rate is for overtime, if the rates for specific products already purchased are locked in for future orders, or if those will fall under any newly updated pricing in place at that later time, and how long you have after your gallery is delivered to choose images for any included products.

Uncomfortable Terms That Often Get Overlooked

Rescheduling and Cancellations
I get it, no one likes to think that they’ll need to reschedule or cancel for any reason, but the truth of the matter is, things happen. You get the call that mom has been in a terrible car accident and the thought of going forward with the event while she’s in critical care is just unthinkable. You land a new dream career, but the catch is that you have to move to Japan for the first year, so the nuptials are going to be put on hold. Or heaven forbid, you find some disparaging information about your spouse-to-be, and decide to call it off. All of these are real-life scenarios for which I’ve had clients reschedule or cancel their weddings.

Make sure you not only have a reschedule/cancellation policy in your contract with your photographer, but that you accept the terms and are okay with that outcome should the situation call for it. In most cases, no matter how bad your photographer feels for your situation, the policies are in place so that no one is surprised or upset when things don’t go according to plan. Whether it’s a cancellation fee, a forfeit of a deposit, or a limitation to availability, you’ll need to be prepared to stick to the terms you both agreed to, even in the face of an otherwise-unseemly situation.
Photographer Emergency
The likelihood that you as the client will need to cancel is far greater than your photographer needing to do the same, but it does happen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, I covered several weddings for other photographers who had come down with the virus, and in the past I’ve gotten calls from photographers stuck desperately on one the bridges coming into Key West, unable to get past an accident on our one-way-in highway. While I personally have never missed a wedding for any reason, I’d be laying if I said that in the 21 years in business I didn’t have some pretty close calls.
It’s for situations like these that you want a photographer who includes an Emergency Substitution policy in their contract. Should the unthinkable happen and your photographer were to get seriously injured or ill, what is their protocol? What will they do, who would they call, what options would you be given, and how would the rest of the terms of the contract be handled? Some photographers opt to simply hand off the full contract to the person covering it. Some have a list of trusted associates or second shooters who would step in. Whatever the plan, make sure there is one.
Hurricanes
This primarily ties in to the point above about Rescheduling, but it’s important to point out that a Hurricane Policy in and of itself is important, in case the photographer handles reschedules and cancellations for hurricanes differently than other types. For example, where a rescheduled date for any other reason might incur a fee or partial forfeit of the deposit, rescheduling for a hurricane might be a little more lenient and allow that retainer to be transferred. Either way, make sure it’s in writing so - again - there’s no confusion or assumptions made by either party.

Disappointment

Now here’s one that we especially hate to think about. But like the other terms mentioned, it’s important to have in writing what the procedures and policies are in the event you as the client are unhappy with some or all of your photos. Because that is such a subjective phrase, look for concrete language about what the photographer actually promised.

In most cases, there will be a guarantee that the delivered images are edited in a style consistent with the photos publicly advertised and available in the studio’s portfolio, that they will have a certain level of editing or touch-ups completed before or after delivery, and there will be some sort of language pertaining to whether specific images are promised or not. That is the information you will be disputing, should it come down to such a conversation, so be sure to review this language carefully so you are both on the same page, and more importantly, review the policies for what the photographer is willing to do in the event you tell them you’re unhappy.

For most photographers, this is going to be some combination of re-editing, re-shooting, a credit towards your account, or in very extreme cases, a partial refund of money paid.

What You - The Client - Are Expected to Provide As Well

As if the reasons mentioned above weren’t cause enough to care about what’s in your contract, if - for the sake of argument - you’re still not convinced that it’s worth your time, consider this: you’re also signing off on what you are agreeing to provide as well. Just as you can hold the photographer accountable to the terms they’ve set forth, they too can require you to uphold your end of the deal if you fail to do so.

Besides the obvious agreement for payment, you’re also agreeing to provide things like

Meals and Breaks

Feeding your vendors is customary and expected at most weddings for the vendors who will either be with you the entire day (photographer, planner, etc), or at least throughout dinner (musicians, photo booth operator, etc). If you’ve signed the contract which agrees that you plan to feed your photographer and their assistant during your reception and then you forget to include them in the head count, don’t be surprised if they send you an invoice for two overpriced resort meals plus gratuity for the bartender who fetched it for them.

Similarly, if you schedule an important photo-worthy moment at the same time you’ve also agreed for the photography team to be on a short break during your 10 hour day, don’t get mad when those photos aren’t present in your gallery.

Travel and Transportation Related Costs

Once the photographer knows where the event is taking place, the contract is going to outline any transportation or travel-related fees that are going to be incurred as part of shooting your wedding. Typically a photographer in a local area is going to have these costs already built into their package, with anything over and above that being represented in an amount per mile, an hourly “non-shooting time” fee, or if a plane, rental car, and/or hotel are required, then an estimate is generally provided with a stipulation any fluctuation over a certain percentage will be cleared with you prior to being incurred.

If there is a change to the venue which would alter the original travel covered, the policies for those situations will be outlined as well. When you sign the contract, you’re agreeing to those terms.

Timely Decisions

Once the wedding is over, you’re going to be exhausted and need a break from “wedding stuff” for a while. That’s understandable. However, what many clients fail to realize is that their contract often spells out the timeframe within which they are expected to get the photographer their selections for albums, how long they have to place their orders, and expiration dates for complimentary upgrades or bonuses.

It’s important to understand what you’ve agreed to with regard to making decisions on these things, lest you find yourself pushed to the back of the queue and therefore waiting a longer time to receive your products behind newly-current clients whose events just happened.

A Safe Environment

This is one that I’ve not personally had experience with, but I’ve heard stories from other photographers who have been harassed, felt-up, cornered, pushed, punched, threatened, and otherwise made to feel unsafe while doing their work, so badly that they literally added a clause to their contract that gives them the right to leave your wedding if the couple fail to provide a safe environment for them to provide their services to you.

While it’s certainly sad that there are people out there in the world who feel it’s okay to behave this way, this is one of those clauses that could throw you for a loop if you suddenly find your photographer leaving because an intoxicated groomsman couldn’t keep his hands to himself and you did nothing to step in and fix the situation.

Updates and Information

This probably sounds pretty obvious, but from experience I can’t tell you how many clients forget to update their photographer on things like changes of address, new phone numbers, email addresses they created specifically for the wedding that they’re now no longer checking, changes to the ceremony spot, and other updates along the way.

What is equally disturbing are clients who don’t ever feel it pertinent to share that information up front either, much less the changes, and leave their photographer to jump through hoops and do a bunch of guesswork to figure out when things are happening and where. For me personally, I use an intake questionnaire at the time of booking that covers most of the basic information so at least have that, but my contract also points out that I’m not responsible for missed or unsatisfactory images that happen as a result of relying on incomplete or inaccurate information. I once arrived to the provided address for a Hilton in Nashville for getting-ready photos, only to discover they were actually at another Hilton (also in Nashville). The client’s error meant coverage couldn’t start until 30 minutes late, but as it was information I’d verified multiple times and never corrected by the client, I was in the clear.

And so as you can see, there is much more to the Wedding Photography Contract than you may have originally considered. Once both you and your photographer have a signed copy of your contract, you can start getting excited about all the beautiful memories you get to capture.

I hope these pointers will give you a unique insight into the terms and conditions covered in a typical wedding photography contract, and ensure a smooth and stress-free experience no matter who you hire!

Karrie Porter is a Wedding Photographer in Key West, Florida. Since 2001, she has been documenting her clients’s events with the vibrant style, creative perspective, and energetic personality she’s known for. Learn more HERE