As was stated before, there are a lot of differences between that type of project and what a wedding videographer does. For starters, you're working with less footage. 3 hours? Bah. I generally walk away with 8-10 hours of footage.

You're also working with a script, right, so once the filming is done you know how you want to edit it. With a wedding, you can't script it out. What happens is what happens, and you won't know until you've filmed it. So the editing is far more time consuming as you have to go through it and pick and choose different shots for different purposes, and find conversation pieces that work for different parts of the video. You essentially have to film the event and THEN figure out how to tell the story.

The length of my total edited pieces is also much longer than 22 minutes. The couple generally gets a DVD with nearly 2 hours of edited video pieces on it. That's a lot of creative editing considering there is no script to work from.

Finally, you produce your television show on a regular schedule, right? Well, the wedding season is far from a regular schedule. I might shoot a wedding every weekend for several weeks straight, and during the week I'm meeting with clients, planning secondary shoots (like save the dates or love story videos), shooting secondary sessions, and much more. It's impossible to get a lot of editing time in during the actual wedding season, which is why most editing is done after the wedding season.

There are many reasons why a wedding cannot always be turned around within 3 months.

How am I "making your point"? I never said I only do what it takes to keep them from being "pissed off". Don't put words in my mouth.

You obviously didn't take the time to go read some of the reviews on my website like I suggested. If you're going to try and argue with me on this topic, get your facts straight. Go read my reviews and tell me if you think those clients are just a step away from "pissed off". Nonsense.

Face it, you stepped into a discussion where you have no qualification to argue. I suggest you save what face you have left and back out of it.

The bottom line is if I tell my clients it takes 6 months to produce a masterpiece, and they are perfectly happy with waiting 6 months that quality, and I deliver a masterpiece in 6 months, then I'm providing great customer service. Unless you have an argument for why that's not good business, it's time for you to move along.

I just realized you're also now critiquing Wal-Mart's business strategy. This is just further proof that you don't know what you're talking about. I'm pretty sure Wal-Mart is a very successful company. For them, "good enough" is working quite well.

So.. this thread was about how long does it take to do an average turn around. Judging on the responses here.. it looks like 2 - 6 months is about what it is.

Of course this thread has turned into... is it bad customer service if your closer to the 6 month mark. I've only done Wedding video for 2 years. I feel like I have learned a lot within the 2 years that I have been doing this. But I can tell you that if you asked me some of the questions that have been asked on this thread, my aswers would have probably been different 2 years ago before I started.

Taking a step back and looking at this from a simple logical point of view, I can see how a 6 month turn around would seem like a long time from someone who has not researched the topic.

The fact of the matter is.. that's just the way it is. Travis made a good point that during peak wedding season, You might do 1 or even 2 weddings in a week. You have to take the jobs when they come or you could starve come November December.

Keep in mind, couples can choose "Simple Sam's Videos" that have a 1 week turn around and no creative element. But the ones that choose us did not. And they are happy to wait for the completion of there video because they chose us.

That was just my point, not every client wants to have a creative video, especially if they know it will save them money. If that will improve my turn around times I will accept those as well and deliver in a week. A simple documentary can look just as professional as a creative one if executed right.

If my basic principle would be to only deliver nothing else then very creative videos my clients would also have to wait 6 months and longer and I'm sure they wouldn't be happy (most of them already contact me after 3 weeks, even if I have told them that it might be 1,5- 2 months)

That's all well and true but why post these comments in here when everyone who posts on this forum provides excellent products and clients have great experience?

We know there are people out there that may not offer great service like in any industry including your own. That's why everyone here can excel in their part of the world because we all care about both the client experience and the products we offer and on this forum we share our successes and how we can improve.

Turn around time is what it takes to get it right, and frankly the amount of edit time can vary quite a bit. I'm hoping to get a sort of "cookie cutter" basic package going to meet the bad economy (yep, call it a "Wal Mart" approach, and it does require speed...). Don't call it "art", but it's a wedding video, and I see another esteemed member of the forum contemplating it too, so I guess I'm not being offensive in suggesting it!

It's the old saying, speed, quality, or price... pick two. Usually the client that wants it cheap also wants it fast, and may not be as concerned with quality (thus why they are thrilled when uncle Bob shows up with his shiny new $200 handycam that cost less than my CAMERA CASES). Fact is probably any regular on this forum could churn out stuff like that with their eyes closed and in their sleep... and stilll make Bob look like a piker...

I think the artistic level of production that you see here is probably because of a strong desire to CREATE and deliver stuff that simply moves the client to tears of joy - that's not as easy as churning out boxes of crackers or taking a box off the shelf and handing it to the client.

ALL of us in business have the challenge of meeting our market (in ALL economic conditions), or meeting a bankruptcy judge... or getting a "real job"... We either do it or we don't - I think there's plenty of full timers here (judging from another thread), and I'll go with THEIR opinions of what it takes to meet their market - sure, I think everyone would like to speed up the creative process, but...



Steve, stick to what you know, to put it bluntly. You don't go to the auto mechanic fixing your neighbors car and tell him he's taking too long to do a job you wouldn't know how to do if your life depended on it... You admit your ignorance of the total "picture", but you act as though you are an expert, please do us all a favor and go shoot a couple weddings, then come back and let us all know how it goes - you must have some friend or family member getting married?? You've got the hardware...

Perhaps even better, since you've declared yourself an "expert" in project management, how about doing a process chart to enlighten us?? Figure 1-3 weddings per week during peak periods, NONE the other 30-50% of the time, with a cyclical demand peaking during the summer months, editing 5-10 hours of video, color correcting, rendering, re-rendering, quality checking, re-rendering <wink>, authoring DVD - full menus and chapters of course, prepping DVD and case artwork, burning, printing, packaging... between promotion, client meetings, and having a life.

Oh yeah, forgot about doing a process chart for the shoot... let's try one for one of the first weddings I shot:
If you're lucky you get a general script - probably should squeeze in a trip to the rehearsal, half the party will be late, so lose an hour or two there... next morning, you arrive at the location to shoot the bride, she's not there, because the hairdresser was late, so you go to the church... and wait... and wait... the pastor warned everyone not to be late and is looking to cancel the wedding (hour mass with another right behind it)... you're set up, but realize that you have to take a "potty break"... in the can, you hear a bell ding, and realize... the bride, who just arrived, is sprinting up the aisle with the bouquet she had to go and find because the florist never showed... and you zip and sprint to start the cameras rolling... Wedding ends a half hour late (Father did a hour mass in a record 42.5 minutes) Pack up while your photog is shooting formals while fighting umpteen family members who are P&S'ing the bride to death with cheapo cameras... 100 degree heat, bride doesn't want to shoot any b-roll or artistic stuff, she's drenched and cranky... see ya at the reception in a few hours... OK, fine... show up at the reception just a tad late, since it's obvious the bride and groom won't be there on time... settle in, get gear ready, eat, since there's nothing else to do... 2 1/2 hours later bride and groom, who for unknown reasons went on a trip to a nearby major city (2-3 hour round trip) and got in a car accident along the way... FINALLY show up. Of course there's no co-ordinator, so the reception goes on FOREVER as the band the brides relative hired plays... and plays... and plays...
You're bored stupid, and although the DJ annonced there was a camera set up for well wishes, not a single person in a huge hall even bothered, SO you quick come up with a new interview style, grab an outgoing member of the wedding party and work the room, half of whom don't speak English... but at least you got something in the can to work with! Finally around 11-ish, you start to pack up, since none of the traditional events seems to be anyhere close to happening... WAAAAAIT! Quick do the cake, bouquet, garter, etc... go home around midnight, wondering why you think this is FUN...

Process THAT, and then let us know what a REASONABLE delivery time is... Wedding videography is not for the academic or faint of heart, nor is it anything approaching a "normal" business... did I mention I still think it's FUN??

Steven,
Yes. He goes on an hourly about $1000 per hour with a 5 hour minimum. Average about $10K 6 to 9 months last I heard.
Oh yeah about 20 to 30 gigs a year for 20 years plus. Father of the short form edit. Do the math. An amonoly? Perhaps.
However I don't feel Travis is making your point. Although I respect your expertise in the audio industry I really don't see your point as valid in the wedding industry. Just because it takes a longer time to finish a product doesn't mean poor customer service. If my client KNOWS it going to take X amount of time because of whatever reasons and they are OK with that does that mean I'm slighting them and do other work in front of them? No, it means I have an edit schedule planned out and they fall into that schedule at the appropriate time and place. Do I do other wirk first. You bet and they know it. When I get a call to do a TV show and am gone for a week they know it why? Because I tell them up front BEFORE they sign up that might happen. I tell them upfront BEFORE they sign that I do other work and that if they want ME then the edit schedule is XX. If they want a 1 week turnaround then they go somewhere else. Bless them and all that.
The point is after 37 years in business and 62 on earth I have never been able to equate fast turn around with good customer service. Not in the wedding video or still industry. Sure, breaking action stuff but that's different. In the wedding industry, there are 2 many variables that can preclude one from turning a quality product in 2 or 3 weeks. Would I like too? Of course but as has been pointerd out I work solo. Always have always will. I shoot edit sweep the floors and clean the toilet. I also have a life outside of video. Not much of one but still. I have never had a single complaint about turnaround time EVER because I tell the client what it is and why it is.
I guess the point is you can not equate turnaround time with customer service in the wedding industry. I know some in the biz that can turn it around in 1 week. Of course the work is BAD.
Plain and simple. Not merely acceptable but BAD. That doesn't mean fast is bad or slow is good but the GOOD ones get booked up quick and take all they can so they can make a living and their clients know it.
I'll back out if this discussiobn now as IMO it's going nowhere. It kind of like trying to explain to someone who's never been in a war what it's like to shoot at someone or be shot it. Til you been there there's no explaining it.
I do however take exception to a few things you've said but I will not hold it personally.It just isn't right to make blanket statements. Never say never, never say always!
Don

Spoken like a true veteran. Thanks for your service.

Really? those prizes for wedding videography? That would be wishfull thinking here, around these parts he wouldn't even manage to get 1 booking. Think I have to move to another country. :)

I am sticking to what I know. You're acting as if there's something special about the wedding videography business that makes it unique in terms of how one should treat one's clients,that it's different from all other service-oriented retail businesses. The talents and skills to produce the product certainly are unique but the principles of good customer service and the business policies that grow out of them are not. They are universal. Customer service is customer service regardless of the product your business produces.

I'm willing to bet that there are very few in the country that are charging like that.

Do you mean in Belgium? if that's the case and if we are talking about weddings I'm willing to sell my house to you if you can't find one (1) videographer located here that charges 1k per hour. :)
the most expensive wedding videographer I know here charges for his camerawork only around 150 dollar per hour and that's considered a lot. he uses a Sony PDW-F355 XDCAM HD Camcorder.

Can this thread get put back on topic?
 

The thread is supposed to be about turn around times not customer service. While everything in business is related, for the purpose of this thread if future posts could be just the time and if there's a reason for the time that would be great.

Personally, I found the initial thread interesting to hear what other professionals in other areas do.

Steve,
Since you're such an expert on customer service, perhaps you could start a separate thread to share your knowledge and tell all us wedding shooters that have been in business for years how we're doing everything wrong.

Timely delivery is part of customer service. The original poster asked what a reasonable turnabround time would be, what turnaround time he ought to quote. What separates a "reasonable" time from an "unreasonable" time? Some of the posts seems to suggest that anything that doesn't cause the customer to walk out the door would be considered reasonable. I think there's more to it than that. Just because you can get away with something doesn't make it the right way to treat people. If you're the only game in town, you might be able to get away with times that would otherwise cause your client to go somewhere else if there was any competition around - that doesn't mean it's okay to take advantage of the fact he's over a barrel and it's your way or the highway. What is so contentious for you about suggesting that actually caring about your customer needs to be part of the decision process? Why is it so disturbing to you that I suggest it might be better to slightly reduce the numer of clients you book in order to prevent the bottle-necks that lead to prolonged delivery times that approach or exceed 6 months?

Steve,
What you seem to not understand with all your business wisdom is what type of business wedding videography is. You've been implying that all wedding videograpy is only a service business, that all wedding videography is the same and that the videographer the delivers the quickest turn around delivers the best customer service. This is just incorrect.

There are some wedding videographers that deliver "cookie cutter" products and you might be able to make the stretch that this business type is only about customer service and turn around. This is a Jiffy Lube vs. Pep Boys model where all the work is the same and quick turn around is a selling point.

With wedding videograpers that do custom work, the business model is not at all similar to this. The business model is that of an artist. Every artist needs a certain amount of time to complete their work. This amount of time varies with the artist and just because one artists creation time is shorter than the other doesn't make them better or worse than one who takes longer.

When a customer comes to me they are commissioning a one off piece of my artwork. I tell them how long it will take me to complete their commission. The clients who hire me accept this amount of time. The only part of this that has anything to customer service is me completing the best piece of art I can in the time I originally quoted. If I were to miss the quoted time or cut corners to speed it up that would be bad customer service.

As far as taking on less work to speed up turn around times, we have to make a living. In many areas the majority of weddings and social events tend to happen seasonally; northern areas the shooting season is summer, in the south it's winter. While these areas will have the occasional event in the off-season many times these events may not be ones in which custom videography is done. During season, I may be shooting (photo and/or video) 4 days a week. While I'm shooting, I can't be editing. I shoot approx. 20 weddings a year and take up to 6 months to deliver a completed custom video them. If I only did 10 a year and it would let me deliver them in 3 months, I'd have to double my price to financially be in the same spot. I'm not sure I could get ten people to pay double my price. If I tried and didn't get ten, it would leave a gap in my income.

The reason I and others on this tread are so annoyed with you is that you (who is not a professional wedding videographer) keep telling us what a reasonable turn around time is and that those who are not meeting what you think is proper turn around are delivering poor customer service. This is just downright misinformed and insulting.

My turn around time for video is 60 days for photography 90 days. We give clients the Digital Negatives, 2 weeks after the shoot, we choose the pictures that goes into the album. If they want a particular picture they can print them from the negatives, saves us the time from fickle minded brides.

I haven't seen a single post that said that. If you have, please quote it the next time you decide to make an accusation like this. I've already stated what is "reasonable". What's reasonable is for me to figure out how long it will take me to create the type of product that I want to sell to my client, and then inform my client of that timeline, and then meet that deadline and make my client happy. ONE MORE TIME .. I put this question to you .. if my customers are more than happy to wait 6 months for a personalized and customized product, then how is that poor customer service? Please, just answer the questions for once.


Why do you insist on continually insulting us? You keep assuming that we don't care about our customers because we take 6 months to finish their videos. PLEASE go read the reviews on my website and then come back and tell me if you think I don't care about my customers, and tell me if you think they are unhappy that their video took 6 months to complete. You continue to speak from inexperience and you're ruining any reputation you have left.


Because you obviously don't understand that 99% of us aren't in a position where we can take less work and charge more. The fact that you don't understand this, or refuse to believe it, is what is really getting some of us upset. You have NO EXPERIENCE in this industry and yet you're trying to tell us all what we should be doing. How do YOU not see how that would be disturbing to US?

No, he meant in the US. I'd bet the average wedding video sale in the US is around $1,000-$2,000.

Wow this thread is interesting...anyways my turnaround time is about 60 days but I let clients fully know that it could take as long as 3 months.

On a more important note: I believe (and I think all wedding videographers will agree) that it is our customer service that keeps us in business and helps it grow each and every year. I can't tell you how many referrals I get from people that are so happy to work with a professional that is UP FRONT and honest about his work. In all reality the bride and groom are putting their full trust in you that you will make a work of art out of their wedding day, and if you break that trust or continue to do so you will not be in business very long. So to put us down by saying we are not customer service oriented is just a load of bull and I take offense to it.

Hey Kale,
As much as we are all entitled to our own opinions, the beginning part of your statement is very childish. Your post would be good had you not written that.

back to topic
Last year I had a delivery time of 3 weeks and got some side effects from that health wise and quality wise. This year I've extended it to 4-8 weeks and have had 1 customer complain about it taking to long at 7 weeks :/ I clearly told her 4-8 weeks at the initial meeting. I'm sticking to 4-8 weeks as I'm not stressed out from it anymore.

Sometimes I come off a little harsh and I apologize, but I do take offense when someone is talking down on me or my profession when they DO NOT know what they are talking about.

No one is talking trash about you or your profession. I certainly have never said that ALL wedding videographers are giving poor service. Quite the contrary - many, probably most, are or they wouldn't be in business very long. But some are not, and one of the factors that would enter into that judgement would be if they made their customers wait for delivery for an unreasonably long time. 3 months or more - not a problem. 6 months to a year - way too long no matter how busy you are.

Wow... It's comical to me reading judgments from people who preface them by fully admitting they have no clue what the subject they're judging involves...

Unless you've worked full time as wedding videographer you should probably keep your opinions about turn around time and customer service to yourself. :) You might as well be hypothesizing about the existence of aliens...

I'll offer one analogy to go along with the whole cabinet thing...

A couple wants cabinets... they look at the work of a few cabinet makers. They decide that only one of the cabinet makers produces cabinets they like... He says it takes a year to get them installed... at that point the couple has to decide if they want to wait the year or have someone else, who's work they don't like as much, make the cabinets. It's the customers choice. It's that simple, end of debate. No one's putting a gun to the couples head and saying you WILL buy cabinets from me and you WILL wait a year. It can't be bad customer service if the customer knows what kind of wait they are in for.

Just pulling some random delivery deadline out of your butt doesn't mean that anything longer is unreasonable or bad customer service... It just means you won't be hiring me because your imaginary deadline is more important than the quality of product you receive in the end.

Steve,
You must be the the worst teacher/consultant in the world. Or, at least, the most stubborn. You are ignorant of the wedding videography business. You have never been in this business. You have been constantly trying to fit wedding videography into a business model that it is not. On this thread you have been told over and over valid reasons for 6 month turn around times. Yet, you refuse to listen and constantly respond by implying bad business practice for a turn around time that you have arbitrarily decided is too long.

Can you not learn from others, especially those actually in the business? Do you know everything to a point that you are always right? How good of a teacher/business consultant could you possibly be if you won't listen to those who are actually in the business? I pity your students/consults.

If I, or other wedding videographers who posted on this thread with valid reasons for a 6 month turn around, were to hire you to consult about our business you'd put us out of business. Great consulting, thanks for the help!

I continue to be amazed at the hostility the simple statement that timely delivery is one of the aspects that defines good customer service has aroused. Retail service businesses are not so niche-specialized that they exist in separate universes from one another. The concepts that define good customer service applies to every service business no matter what the product. Good customer service means you set your target delivery times to meet the customer's desires instead of expecting them to adjust their expectations to yours. You are there for the customer's convenience; he's not there for yours. What is so disturbing about that concept to you?

oh dear,
there are alot of videographers here, perhaps we just want to tell other fellow videographers that it takes 6 months to a year so we can give out our own finished product quicker and get more business for ourselves.

peace :)

Steve I don't think you get the point everyone is trying to make and I doubt you ever will. This thread is pointless, to understand our timelines you would have to be in our shoes.

I think it is important to make a difference between videographers that only do weddings and nothing else and others that do weddings but also other video (corporate, event...)

If you only do weddings all your camera work concentrates on a very short period and you need to take on as much as you can to get through the slow periods like the winter when almost nobody gets married. This will result in long waiting times and hiring extra editing persons will be a very expensive cost if you only intent is to shorten the wait time. But if the client has no problem with that waittime when they are told in advance that should be OK, right?

Now even if I do understand all weddingvideographers point of view I tend to agree with Steven, I never let my clients wait this long and I do know what I'm talking about since I do video full time and for a living. For that reason I don't bet on one horse and do other types of video as well, like events or simple commercials. In that way I don't have to take on every wedding that passes but by doing other, equally paid video jobs, that take me 1/5 of the time to edit a wedding I manage to keep the waiting time below 2 months and I can survive from it.

Why? Why isn't 5 months and 3 weeks too long?

Steve, I think you are one of the most arrogant and stubborn people I have ever encountered. You admit you have no experience in the industry, and you are willing to just ignore what successful professionals in the industry are saying. All you are doing is repeating the same argument over and over, with no experience or facts to support it. Do you also give advice on how to build nuclear weapons in a timely manner?

I have lost all respect for you at this point. Multiple times I have put the following question to you:

If I have determined that it's going to take 6 months to created an outstanding product, and my clients are perfectly happy with waiting 6 months for such a product, and that is how long it takes me to produce the product, and my customers are overjoyed when they receive it, then how am I providing poor customer service?

I can only assume you refuse to answer this question because you know the answer would invalidate your entire argument.

Noa, that's great if you want to have a 2 month turnaround and your clients are happy with it. But what happens when a videographer in your area starts offering 2-week turnaround? Does that mean you are now providing poor customer service even if your clients are still happy with waiting 2 months?

One of the major points here is that not every wedding video is created equal. Some videographers invest very little time and effort in their projects, while others invest substantial time and effort and create a much more personalized and unique production. The point is that you can't make a blanket judgement on ALL videographers and say that they ALL have to finish their productions in "X" number of months in order to be providing good customer service.

It's amazing to me that Steve supposedly teaches customer service skills for a living, and yet doesn't understand the concept that some customers are willing to wait longer for a better product. We might as well start saying that if Steve's course currently takes 6 weeks to go through, that it's taking too long and should only take 3 weeks and provide the same level of learning. Nonsense, right?

The point is that your opinion of "timely" is just that... your opinion... Based on, apparently, not single thread of experience in the field which you've formulated it about...

No, they certainly are not... And it's definitely been my experience that the ones who gloat and harp about incredibly short turn around times typically aren't producing a product anything like what we deliver.

That's why I stated that as long as the client is happy with that waitingtime there is no problem, only I can speak from experience that some of my clients don't mind long waiting times and some would not accept 6 months or longer.

In the first case in the eyes of the clients I would be providing good service as they have understanding for the reason why it takes longer, in the second case I"m not providing good service in the eyes of the client.

I have had clients calling me after 3 weeks being disappointed that it took so long and in their case I said one month waiting time, did I provide a bad service? no, because I said a month in advance and they were OK with that at first. But it seems not all brides are that patient and at the end they will tell everybody I didn't provide a good service.

For me it's not realistic having a 6+ months backlog because it will have a very negative impact on all my other, non wedding, projects. I don't think I would be even doing business with a company telling them they had to wait 6+ months because I take on too many projects at the same time. That is my problem, not theirs to fix.

With weddingcouples you actually have a big luxury to have them wait untill in suits you best, something that companies won't accept and they for sure will, or not hire you, or (if you don't tell them in advance) be very disappointed and nevr hire you again.

Don't get me wrong, I know how the weddingbusiness works and I know how demanding it gets. That's why I don't rely on weddings alone because of the heavy workload. In that way i can deliver all my projects in a reasonable period of time. What is reasonable, well that is different for everybody. For me it's max 2 months for weddings and max 2 weeks for companies.

I would only agree with this statement if those guys would handle the same amount of weddings as the "6+ months turn around" guys take on.
But if they just produce a few weddings a year you can have fast turn around times and still deliver a great product.
And what about if they have 2 dedicated editors on the job? If you are a 4 person business with 2 cameraman working on camera and 2 doing full time edit with the other 2 joining in editing during the week. then it's the same, again fast finished and great quality. Because they have faster turn around times they can take on more bookings as well.
It all depends how you structure your business, at the end the last example I gave will probably earn as much per person as a one person business, only the last one will have to do it all by himself, like i do and if you depend solely on weddings alone is asking for very long turn around times.

I would just like to add that some videographers don't "depend" solely on weddings. For some, it is a choice to specialize in only weddings, and they often produce a superior product because of it. I used to split myself between weddings and commercial work, but these days I'm trying harder and harder to just do weddings. It's not easy, but I like the idea of becoming very specialized at what I do. I know if I was looking for a videographer for my wedding, I would rather go with someone who specialized in wedding videos, rather than someone who does all sorts of projects. Not everyone feels that way, of course, but that's the beauty of the business. It's very dynamic and can be approached in many different ways.

I only wanted to clarify that "depend" can make it sound like the videographer is incapable of doing anything else, when in fact it may have been a determined decision to specialize.

If it actually takes you 6 months of actual editing work to create the video once the footage is in the can, then 6 months isn't too long and the time spent will be reflected in the quality of the results. But if your real edit time is 4 weeks once you begin but it takes you 5 months to get around to it because you're shooting other work booked after the couple in question, then you have placed other factors as more important than your customer and are giving them a lower level of service than you are capable of. You are putting your bottom line - maximizing the number of clients you book - as more important than giving the clients you have already shot the best service you are capable of. It's up to you to figure out how to give them the best service you possibly can and still make a profit at it. Of course they're overjoyed at receiving the video after 6 months - "At last it's ready!" - that's not the point. Think how much happier they would have been had they received the same video in time for the post-honeymoon house-warming party they had 3 months after the wedding! Good service is not just satisfying the customer, it is maximizing their satisfaction, giving them more then what they expect.

What's reasonable time is the time it takes you to do the best job you can for the client. If you are comparing a product that took two weeks to edit versus one that took six months to edit and the extra time shows in the final produuct, your statements are valid. But if you're comparing a product that took two weeks to edit versus another one that also took two weeks of actual effort but has sat on the shelf for six months waiting to be completed while you put other work ahead of it, then they really aren't.

As a side note, look back on the thread and you'll see that throughout it all I have not cast a single aspersion attacking the talents, qualifications, motivations, or professionalism of any person particpating, including yourself. I have never said of a single person here "This person is giving poor service" or "That person doesn't know what they're doing." Your ad hominem attacks are uncalled for.

This thread sounds like a bunch of old women nagging.

It was interesting to see the huge range of deliverable estimates. I like the slow boat delivery idea. You probably wouldn't even have to deliver a few projects each year because the couple already divorced.

Your argument just continues to be completely ignorant to the realities of the seasonal business that wedding videography is...

Maybe you should concentrate on other areas of this board...

Glad to see you're finally starting to get it.