Booking fees? Contract work? How do you handle it?

[Ken Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by Adam Kampia

Whoa man!

This is tragically funny stuff. Keep the saga coming, Ken. Who needs reality TV?

Hand the bride an unedited version at the end of the night? What's she supposed to watch her (probably unlabelled) mini DV/D8/crappy Hi-8 tapes with?

Can't wait for the next chapter!

Well, he wants to hand her a DVD, but my question is, how is he gonna get the ceremony and whole reception dumped to disc before the bride leaves, since it needs to be done in real-time? I can see just the ceremony, but not both.

I called him back and told him I talked to the bride, and there was a 10 second oh shit pause, like he didn't think I would call her to see what was going on. Then he tried to blame the drama on me. Come on man, if you talked to me before quoting her a price other then what I was advertising and not talking to me about it for one, then write me a nasty email because I didn't know what was going on, and finally if you didn't wait 2 weeks after she paid you to pay me, there wouldn't have been any problems.

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Steve House

The pros don't charge what they do because they own all their gear (although they might) - they charge what they do because they can deliver a professional grade product consistently.

Exactly. That sums it up nicely. If you can deliver high production value, it doesn't matter (within limits) what equipment you use to create that product. Also, it hurts the rest of the profession when someone 'gives it away' for cheap. Please keep in mind how much work goes into producing one quality, finished wedding video and price it accordingly.


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[Ken Hendrickson]

I did the wedding on sat, and it went surprisingly well for my first wedding. A few minor problems, the bride wouldn't let me in to film the prep until about 10 minutes till the wedding, so I only have about two or three minutes to work with of her actually getting ready. Then I went down to setup for the ceremony, and they were 45 minutes late starting. The good news was the outside ceremony got moved inside due to a chance of rain, which was a relief to me because it was about 98* outside. The bad part about this, was the person that was singing, was standing behind the bridal party, so I had to act fast and run up and stand behind the groomsmen to even get a shot of her.

The only major problem was I hooked my Iriver into the DJs sound board for the introductions, and I did a sound check, and specificly checked to make sure the mic was in the mix. I was going over the Iriver files looking for the intros and the bastard took muted the feed he was sending to my Iriver for the intros as there is about 5 minutes of complete silence, the music bed he had for the intros wasn't even there, so I'm pretty sure he did it on purpose.

I'm gonna have to use the sound from my camera for the intros, which isn't bad, but I wanted clean audio.

But overall, I think everything went surprisingly well.

Oh yea, I'm deffinately getting a monopod for the roving shots during the reception.

[Bob Costa]

Originally Posted by Ken Hendrickson

I did the wedding on sat, and it went surprisingly well for my first wedding. A few minor problems, the bride wouldn't let me in to film the prep until about 10 minutes till the wedding, so I only have about two or three minutes to work with of her actually getting ready.

This is normal. If you hire a second cam person, a female can get into teh bridal prep WAY sooner than they will let you in.

Oh yea, I'm deffinately getting a monopod for the roving shots during the reception.

Check into the bogen monopod with the retractable legs.

[Ken Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by Bob Costa

This is normal. If you hire a second cam person, a female can get into teh bridal prep WAY sooner than they will let you in.

I have a female partner for when I have a two person shoot, but looks like I'm gonna have to teach my wife how to use a camera for when she's not with me. She's a pretty good photographer, so it shouldn't be too difficult to teach her.

[Pat Sherman]

Originally Posted by Ken Hendrickson

Well, I'm deffinately not doing any more business with this guy. I met with the bride today, and apparently she isn't happy with him either. He hasnt returned any of her calls. When I talked with him today, he accused me of discrediting him to Roxanna (the bride) because she hasn't returned his calls. He also told her that he already paid me the deposit, and apparently she paid him the deposit on June 8th, and as of today I still haven't been paid yet which is unacceptable.

And now he all of the sudden wants a referral fee from the other wedding he helped book over 2 months ago.

When I told the bride today that I haven't gotten my money yet from him, she offered to do a charge back on her CC and pay directly which I might end up doing if he doesn't get me the money today. He was supposed to meet me wed, yesterday and today to pay me.

He also doesn't want me to film any more weddings for him. He wants to have his other friend video weddings, and me edit them for him.

The saga continues...

This is just my own opinion.. Do her wedding for free.. Here's why.. She already hates the DJ and your association with him is not good for you.. Tell her she can do a charge back if she wants, but let her know because of the trouble she is getting with the DJ that no bride needs that type of pressure and problems before her big day. (Good for you, she knows you care about her and her day means something to you as well)

So you basically write this one off as free and she is probably going to be more than thrilled.. If she says she doesn't feel right about not paying you just tell her referrals are more than enough in this case and it's the least you could do for her, for allowing her time to meet with you and discuss the situation at hand.

I find all my business comes from referrals. I say write it off as free for the bride to show your good intentions and well if you are only charging $250 bucks than your not losing out on a normally charged $1500 package.. You'll find in business regardless of the nature you will have to take risks and sometimes they can pay off in more ways the one.



Now a lesson. After this one.. Raise your prices dude.. $250 is way to cheap as everyone has pretty much got across to you. If I were a bride I would be concerned why it's so cheap.

Cut your ties with this DJ and never mention or recommend him again. Friends and family can be great referral/leads for your business as well.. Fire up a website it's usually a good starting point.. but most of all cut your dealings with this DJ. Don't bad mouth him to anyone, don't tear his service down and don't share your troubles with him to others. Just take the high road and be the professional.

In this business professional doesn't mean you use DSR-250 cameras, High Def cameras, $34,000 in audio equipment. Professional means you are open and honest to the B&G about your services and you treat them and their families with the upmost respect and you do the very best you can do.

So go out and sell youself, sell your customer service, sell you and what you can do for them. If you do take this professional approach it's at least worth $500 to you. Be confindent in your shooting techniques and finished products and stand behind them. You will find any successful business regardless of products or services can measure their success from how they interact with their clients and how they generally treat people overall.

This is just my opinion based on my life experiences. Just something to keep in mind.

[Pat Sherman]

Originally Posted by Ken Hendrickson

Oh yea, I'm deffinately getting a monopod for the roving shots during the reception.

I recommend a glidecam over a monopod, but that's my personal preference..

[Ken Hendrickson]

Originally Posted by Pat Sherman

I recommend a glidecam over a monopod, but that's my personal preference..

I actually have a glidecam, but after I bought it, I decided I wanted to work on getting smooth shots without a stablizer before I start using one. Not to mention carrying a glidcam around the reception for 4 hours would take quite a bit of arm strength.

The wedding I did last weekend, I used my monopod as a quasi glidecam, and the shots came out pretty smooth.

[Devin Eskew]

Originally Posted by Pat Sherman

So you basically write this one off as free and she is probably going to be more than thrilled.. If she says she doesn't feel right about not paying you just tell her referrals are more than enough in this case and it's the least you could do for her, for allowing her time to meet with you and discuss the situation at hand.

I find all my business comes from referrals. I say write it off as free for the bride to show your good intentions and well if you are only charging $250 bucks than your not losing out on a normally charged $1500 package.. You'll find in business regardless of the nature you will have to take risks and sometimes they can pay off in more ways the one.

I couldn't agree more!!!!