Booking weddings is the worst part of my job. I know…. WHAT? that makes no sense Jenn! But really it is. Because here is what happens. I get an average of 10-12 inquires a week during the peek booking season. It starts out with the typical price check and date check question. So I say yes I have the date available here is my pricing lets set a date to chat in person if you are interested in moving forward (obviously I write that in a much nicer way lol) then if they are interested in moving forward we set a time to meet or chat on the phone. I don’t put the actual date on my calendar until I send a contract to you. If I saved the date for every person who inquired it would be a mess of follow up e mails and nonsense. But EVERY year EVERY SINGLE DARN YEAR I will meet with or chat on the phone with several clients with the same date. But each of these couples are also meeting with other photographers trying to figure out which photographer best fits them (which is so important) which is why I can’t save or even mark their date. Well every year it’s the strangest thing there is always a date where I will have one couple contact me and say ok Jenn lets move forward with collection xxx and depending where I am at the time of this e mail I usually respond and say great I will draw up your contract next time I’m in the office. Then minutes or a couple short hours later another couple with the same date says ok Jenn let’s move forward with a contract. Then I instantly want to cry. I can’t stop meeting with clients just because someone else I’m meeting with has the same date. I have to be fair to everyone and give them all the opportunity to meet with me. The one year I told another couple that there was someone else coming in to meet with me with their same date that couple literally drove to my house an hour later with their checkbook ready to book just to ensure someone else didn’t book the date. Which then wasn’t very fair to the other couple who didn’t get that warning….. See my delema????? It’s like no fair way really…. So my rule now has been unless you have a contract I have the date open. Well this happened with Tom and Jenna. They literally e mailed me I think an hour after another couple. Luckily for me they trusted me when I suggested that I could contract my good friend Anita to photograph the wedding for me. I would still handle the editing, the business side of it, and all the album and print options. I fell in love with them when we talked and I was going to be so sad if I didn’t get to be even a small part of their special day! So I was so happy when they agreed to work with my amazing Associate Photographer. I think I have some odd thing inside of me that makes me get so attached to some people that I meet. I feel so fortunate to get to meet some amazing people and create life long friendships with so many of my clients. Thank you so much to Jenna and Tom for trusting me to contract this out and to be given the opportunity to keep working with you through out the rest of the process! You guys are so wonderful!!!
Anita sent over her images and I wanted to share a few with you …. Jenna and Tom you guys radiated that day! I wasn’t there but I could feel the love through the images Anita captured.
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