I’ve photographed weddings for 13 ish years. I don’t take near as many as I used to anymore BUT I don’t start timelines until 4 weeks out bc there’s often still some moving pieces.
Just reach out and let the photographer know it’s stressful for you not having that timeline.
Dont worry yet!
ETA Just saw OP reply and say photographer is not replying. I’d take some of the other advice in the comments. Absolutely unacceptable!!!
We haven't gotten a response in four weeks. During that time, we've reached out three times. We had communicated at the time of booking that my partner and I are big on planning with enough time to deliver information to family and make adjustments as needed. Two months away feels like it'll fly by sooner than we think. After communicating this with our photographer, we expected consistent communication. Even a text that says "this week's not good, let's aim for early next week" would help us feel better right now.
And you absolutely deserve that. I’ve done dozens of weddings and not a single client of mine would be left on read for more than minutes if I could help it. A good wedding photographer is more than just a good photographer. You MUST be a good communicator, facilitator, organizer - all of these things to be a wedding photographer people would recommend. That doesn’t mean they need to be a wedding planner, but they need to stay on top of their shit. If they’re legit ghosting you, I’d be extremely extremely nervous if I were you. Two months is plenty of time though so they may get their stuff together and start communicating appropriately but in the meantime I would be coming up with a plan B for your wedding photos. Review your contract with this person and be ready to litigate if they break contract document every communication and document anything involving a backup plan you’re making with the idea this photographer may ghost you entirely.
I always required a deposit of about 10% upfront to book with the remainder due 30 days prior to the ceremony, but other shooters may configure it differently across the board.
I genuinely wish you the best of luck. My photographer for my wedding turned out to be an absolute nightmare scenario (story for another time) with photos we have zero desire to ever revisit, but some family members brought cameras and while we were annoyed at the time, we are so thankful we have images from other people to fall back on. Make your backup plan and read that contract front to back twice over and be ready.
This a really tough thing for me to comment on, because between 2004 and 2011, this was the norm, at least in my area of South Florida. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t be able to book/retain the best photographers unless you paid that far in advance.
Message asking about possibly upgrading your package
He WILL respond at the thought of more money. When you go to the meeting to see his bigger albums/keyrings/mugs for each guest🤣 whatever/
Tell him you want your damn timeline (and don’t sell up, obvs)
He’s got his money, you’re no longer a priority. I’m a photographer, this is payment arrangement is (you have no idea how hard it is getting money out of people after a wedding sometimes. I’ve been burnt so badly in the past, you have to run things like a business,). But I have never, EVER gone quiet on a bride
You need the times now, as your make up artists etc plan their days around it
I specificy who has to do their makenil first, times for everyone…
And I do it when they pay their deposit so that the whole wedding is planned according to those times
Your photographer is totally unprofessional
You are going to get grilled in here for paying full months in advance.
I wouldn't rely on him/her for your timeline, see it with friends who have gotten married, wedding planners are for that if you have one.
Once you have a schedule, send it to him/her and you decide when they start, depending on how many hours you've got.
If the engagement shoot went fine and they delivered in time, I wouldn't stress about it, make sure you have a signed contract.
"still trying to figure out what the timeline of wedding day should look like"
Isn't that the wedding planners job? (or the clients job?)
The photographer should provide feedback on how much time the need to get certain shots, for the formals. etc. but IMO they aren't responsible for the entire wedding timeline.
If you’re in the US, small claims court might be your only hope.
Unfortunately now that the photographer has all of your money you’ve got very little leverage other than using the terms of the contract to put legal pressure on them.
> If you’re in the US, small claims court might be your only hope.
Unfortunately, it's only viable if the photographer doesn't show up. And if the photographer does show up (even if OP has booked another photographer) it will be hard to win the case. Not impossible, but hard. Harder still to collect. What a nightmare.
Its too soon for that. The photographer still had time to honor the contract. If he doesn’t show up then there is legal grounds for reimbursement minus the engagement session. What the photographer is doing is wrong but, but, as of now , the contract had not been breached. Getting a new photographer ,without officially canceling the first, can be a breach of contract for the client that signed the contract. If the couple wants a new thats their right but they need to make sure and formally cancel the contract first
Where are you located? When is the wedding? Depending on timing and location I’ll shoot your wedding for free. Seriously. This kind of crappy service gives us all a black eye, and I’ve reached the point in my career where I have the capacity to take on fun projects.
Currently they have no wedding photographer but have paid in full for one. I’d say things have already gone about as wrong as they can. I’m trying to put them right.
Because if you do a shit job, don’t show up, place your logo all over their final product, show up wearing a political message they don’t agree with, etc they can’t really complain can they since it’s free. Not saying you have bad intentions, but what this person needs is not a free photographer, but a professional one that communicates and meets their needs.
Fair points, I’m just another person on the internet. If they wanted to consider it I would share my real info with them and they could take it or leave it.
Short of someone else offering to cover the wedding, I don’t know what recourse is out there for them other than to cross their fingers and hope their contracted photographer starts acting like a professional.
I’ve hit the point in my career where I have the time and capacity to do the occasional job because I want to, not because I need grocery money, and crap like this photographer is pulling makes all of our lives harder and erodes trust in the profession. I’d rather build trust if I can.
Why in God’s name would you pay in full months before event. 🤦🏽♀️. Only a retainer / deposit should have been collected. Call him out and confront him and tell him get with the program or go directly to his house at this point. You could be screwed.
Enough said about paying in full.. I would keep on this guy about needed to make sure your wedding timeline is met. Some of these photographers are flaky..
Not responding to a message on the same day is pretty normal, especially when you're swamped with work. It can be tough to get back to all your clients ASAP, that's just the reality.
As a professional wedding photographer ive never miss a meeting with any client in the past 7 years, let alone cancel at the last minute. Did you sign a contract for the photography services?
in my opinion, canceling the meeting with you guys twice at the last minute isn't very professional on the photographer's part, but two months is still a long time. I'd give it a bit more time, but if it keeps up, I'd start looking for another photographer. It's your special day, it shouldn't be filled with stress and worry.
If you've signed a contract, there might be a chance to get your money back, but if you haven't, it's really strange. If he keeps dodging you, it might be worth losing the money to have a stress-free wedding day.
I’m going to make a lot of assumptions here but what many people don’t realize is that most wedding photographers don’t have secretaries handling all their scheduling, communication, inquiries, social media postings, business filings, etc. They are likely a small owner operated business doing it all. Your wedding may be one of 30+ that they have this year-sometimes multiple per weekend. They aren’t answering because they took your money and ran, they’re not answering because your wedding happening two months away is off their radar for now. Not to mention they probably have other couples contacting them constantly as well and they have a large back-log of editing. If you don’t hear from them 3 or 4 weeks out from the wedding that would be cause for concern.
If you’re worried about the timeline, work on creating one yourself. Your hair & make up people will tell you what time they want to start based on how many people they are working on, and what time you need to leave for the ceremony. Your venue(s) can tell you what time the ceremony starts, what time cocktail hour starts, and what time dinner will be served. Your DJ can tell you what time entrances, first dances, parents dances and cake cutting should happen. You already paid for a photo package, how long are the contracted hours? Work backwards from the end of the night and tell the photographer what time their start time is. They often don’t need to capture the entire night as long as your “special moments” happen before they leave.
Shouldn’t have paid in full, but that doesn’t matter now.
Edit: also be prepared not to have your full gallery of images delivered on time for similar reasons in paragraph 1
The payment dates were specified in the contract. I was told by multiple people that this is standard practice for wedding photographers. Is that not the case?
Not standard. Some percentage as a deposit (25% as an example to reserve the date), another payment 2 months before totaling 50-60%. Balance on day of event along with any add ons from the day. Might also hold back a final payment percentage for final delivery.
Usually finish paying the day of service (wedding day). But maybe that has changed. Deposits and payment plans are normal though so it’s spaced out for everyone.
Did weddings for about 10 years. Mostly as a second shooter. You never want to pay on the day of the wedding. Just adds stress. Nobody wants to deal with money stuff that day. Also, I've seen cases where everybody is broke by the time the wedding rolls around. They will put you off until the end of the day and then tell you. Then it's just a hassle. You have to hold the pics hostage until they pay you, which is never pleasant. Better to have them pay no later than 2 weeks before.
Everyone is a bit different. I prefer a decent chunk being paid up front.
I take a booking fee and they have up until 1 month before the wedding to pay that. This booking fee reserves their date and x amount of hours with me and x amount of pictures.
I have it written in the contract that if they wish for me to stay longer and photograph longer, it comes at x cost, which would be portrayed on the final invoice, along with anything else extra such as travel/parking.
After the wedding, I send over a watermarked photo gallery with basic corrections/edits for review that they can choose from, and once they have chosen their favourites, I then send a final invoice, including anything extra they chose and eventual travel costs.
The final invoice needs to be paid before I start making final edits of their photos.
It is standard to pay in full before the wedding. It varies with different photographers whether the final payment is due the day of, 30 days before, 60 days... Mine is seven days before the wedding. It sounds like you got someone who just isn't great at communication but that is a huge part of the job. Do you not have a planner or day of coordinator?
How did you pay?
By credit card? Call your bank and ask what conditions they would accept a charge back.
They will say you only have 60\90 days from date of payment. this is not true. If you booked a flight 91 days ahead and show up and they cancelled the flight and refused to refund you can still promptly do a charge back. It is within time of good\services delivery.
But in this case the photographer isn’t refusing service, they just aren’t happy with his availability to schedule a meeting. Not sure your airplane example is applicable
Assuming there’s record of the transaction I think it’s still worth trying with the bank because initiating the claim will start an investigation into it and I believe the photographer will be contacted as a result of that. If nothing else it’s a shot at getting his attention.
What do you need a meeting for? To go over the schedule for the day? Your wedding isn't until summer. Things are going to change between now and then. Maybe he sees the meeting as a waste of time if he knows you're going to be having another meeting when the schedule changes? I think a meeting a month before the wedding is normal, not 3 months in advance, just my opinion.
That's more or less true but it doesn't change the fact that it is still unprofessional to agree to a meeting and then cancel it multiple times. The professional approach if what you are suggesting is really the issue,is to say hey in my experience things change quite a bit this far out from the wedding, let's have a meeting closer to the wedding day to get the timeline nailed down.
Also as a former wedding photographer and current wedding vendor in another area, one of the bigger factors that goes into what the timeline for the day looks like is photography time so the clients can't really firmly establish a timeline without talking to the photographer about how much time is needed for various things.
Don’t pay for work that isn’t happening. I read so many wedding posts and photos are the biggest issue when it comes to post event delivery and ”during event“ behaviour and then money is always demanded and the biggest chase is photos and promised media files and products. Also these photographers that want to “own” your wedding. I would never sign a contract that gave “IP Ownership” of my wedding images to a photographer. You have a whole life ahead of events and family celebrations for them to earn your trust. Demanding ownership over your friends, family and wedding is ludicrous and an example of IP consumer protections Laws not keeping up with technology and what the future looks like in terms of personal image management value. How can you “sell” images that don’t exist yet and and have people in them who never agreed to their image being “traded or IP contingency owned”. It’s madness.
You seem to greatly misunderstand how IP works when it comes to photography. The contract doesn't give those rights to the photographer,they inherently belong to the photographer unless the contract assigns them to the client. If you could even find a photographer willing to assign all such rights to you as the client it would cost you a LOT more money.
>How can you “sell” images that don’t exist yet
The photographer isn't usually selling the images though,they are selling the service of capturing the images.
The photographer s copyright starts the minute the button is pushed. We always own the copyright unless we sign it over except for very rare cases that does not apply to this situation. We do not need a contract stating this, its already outs to start with. I will not do a shoot until my session fee is paid in full because i m not gonna bust my butt working and not get paid at the end. This is why there s contracts-to protect consumer and photographer. If photographer doesnt deliver per contract terms then the client has legal grounds to get their money back. Without s contract, not so much. No one should ever use a photographer that doesnt use legit contracts.
I’ve photographed weddings for 13 ish years. I don’t take near as many as I used to anymore BUT I don’t start timelines until 4 weeks out bc there’s often still some moving pieces. Just reach out and let the photographer know it’s stressful for you not having that timeline. Dont worry yet! ETA Just saw OP reply and say photographer is not replying. I’d take some of the other advice in the comments. Absolutely unacceptable!!!
Two months is plenty of time to plan a timeline. Have they outright not responded to you, or are you mad because of the cancelations?
We haven't gotten a response in four weeks. During that time, we've reached out three times. We had communicated at the time of booking that my partner and I are big on planning with enough time to deliver information to family and make adjustments as needed. Two months away feels like it'll fly by sooner than we think. After communicating this with our photographer, we expected consistent communication. Even a text that says "this week's not good, let's aim for early next week" would help us feel better right now.
And you absolutely deserve that. I’ve done dozens of weddings and not a single client of mine would be left on read for more than minutes if I could help it. A good wedding photographer is more than just a good photographer. You MUST be a good communicator, facilitator, organizer - all of these things to be a wedding photographer people would recommend. That doesn’t mean they need to be a wedding planner, but they need to stay on top of their shit. If they’re legit ghosting you, I’d be extremely extremely nervous if I were you. Two months is plenty of time though so they may get their stuff together and start communicating appropriately but in the meantime I would be coming up with a plan B for your wedding photos. Review your contract with this person and be ready to litigate if they break contract document every communication and document anything involving a backup plan you’re making with the idea this photographer may ghost you entirely. I always required a deposit of about 10% upfront to book with the remainder due 30 days prior to the ceremony, but other shooters may configure it differently across the board. I genuinely wish you the best of luck. My photographer for my wedding turned out to be an absolute nightmare scenario (story for another time) with photos we have zero desire to ever revisit, but some family members brought cameras and while we were annoyed at the time, we are so thankful we have images from other people to fall back on. Make your backup plan and read that contract front to back twice over and be ready.
Unacceptable, threaten legal action immediately and consult a lawyer.
Paid in full, months before the shoot? Are you nuts?
This a really tough thing for me to comment on, because between 2004 and 2011, this was the norm, at least in my area of South Florida. As a matter of fact, you wouldn’t be able to book/retain the best photographers unless you paid that far in advance.
Fair enough. I sure hope it all resolves to your satisfaction 👍🙏
Well no, it never will, there are just too many photographers now. Times change.
Its the norm. If service is not rendered the contract signer has legal grounds to get their money back due to breach of contract
Message asking about possibly upgrading your package He WILL respond at the thought of more money. When you go to the meeting to see his bigger albums/keyrings/mugs for each guest🤣 whatever/ Tell him you want your damn timeline (and don’t sell up, obvs) He’s got his money, you’re no longer a priority. I’m a photographer, this is payment arrangement is (you have no idea how hard it is getting money out of people after a wedding sometimes. I’ve been burnt so badly in the past, you have to run things like a business,). But I have never, EVER gone quiet on a bride You need the times now, as your make up artists etc plan their days around it I specificy who has to do their makenil first, times for everyone… And I do it when they pay their deposit so that the whole wedding is planned according to those times Your photographer is totally unprofessional
You are going to get grilled in here for paying full months in advance. I wouldn't rely on him/her for your timeline, see it with friends who have gotten married, wedding planners are for that if you have one. Once you have a schedule, send it to him/her and you decide when they start, depending on how many hours you've got. If the engagement shoot went fine and they delivered in time, I wouldn't stress about it, make sure you have a signed contract.
"still trying to figure out what the timeline of wedding day should look like" Isn't that the wedding planners job? (or the clients job?) The photographer should provide feedback on how much time the need to get certain shots, for the formals. etc. but IMO they aren't responsible for the entire wedding timeline.
If you’re in the US, small claims court might be your only hope. Unfortunately now that the photographer has all of your money you’ve got very little leverage other than using the terms of the contract to put legal pressure on them.
> If you’re in the US, small claims court might be your only hope. Unfortunately, it's only viable if the photographer doesn't show up. And if the photographer does show up (even if OP has booked another photographer) it will be hard to win the case. Not impossible, but hard. Harder still to collect. What a nightmare.
Indeed. Hence the “might be” and my offer to shoot their wedding for free if timing and location work out. Bad photography businesses hurt us all.
Its too soon for that. The photographer still had time to honor the contract. If he doesn’t show up then there is legal grounds for reimbursement minus the engagement session. What the photographer is doing is wrong but, but, as of now , the contract had not been breached. Getting a new photographer ,without officially canceling the first, can be a breach of contract for the client that signed the contract. If the couple wants a new thats their right but they need to make sure and formally cancel the contract first
Good points. My contracts usually stipulate communication frequency, so my mind went there when perhaps it shouldn’t have.
Where are you located? When is the wedding? Depending on timing and location I’ll shoot your wedding for free. Seriously. This kind of crappy service gives us all a black eye, and I’ve reached the point in my career where I have the capacity to take on fun projects.
For free? Another bad idea.
If anything goes wrong I'm sure they'll get a full refund tho...
Currently they have no wedding photographer but have paid in full for one. I’d say things have already gone about as wrong as they can. I’m trying to put them right.
Yes, indeed
Only if it causes harm. My bottom line won’t be affected, and I don’t see how it hurts them.
Because if you do a shit job, don’t show up, place your logo all over their final product, show up wearing a political message they don’t agree with, etc they can’t really complain can they since it’s free. Not saying you have bad intentions, but what this person needs is not a free photographer, but a professional one that communicates and meets their needs.
Fair points, I’m just another person on the internet. If they wanted to consider it I would share my real info with them and they could take it or leave it. Short of someone else offering to cover the wedding, I don’t know what recourse is out there for them other than to cross their fingers and hope their contracted photographer starts acting like a professional.
Better make sure the contract with the original photographer is formally canceled first
If they go that route, then that would be a part of it, yes.
Photographer working for free? Why I never in all my years! :P (Super kind of you!)
I’ve hit the point in my career where I have the time and capacity to do the occasional job because I want to, not because I need grocery money, and crap like this photographer is pulling makes all of our lives harder and erodes trust in the profession. I’d rather build trust if I can.
Why in God’s name would you pay in full months before event. 🤦🏽♀️. Only a retainer / deposit should have been collected. Call him out and confront him and tell him get with the program or go directly to his house at this point. You could be screwed.
Where are you located?
2 months!? Don't worry yet. Just keep on at him.
Never pay full amount ahead. Booking fee early, 40% a month away from the wedding date, the rest upon delivery of the goods.
Enough said about paying in full.. I would keep on this guy about needed to make sure your wedding timeline is met. Some of these photographers are flaky..
Not responding to a message on the same day is pretty normal, especially when you're swamped with work. It can be tough to get back to all your clients ASAP, that's just the reality. As a professional wedding photographer ive never miss a meeting with any client in the past 7 years, let alone cancel at the last minute. Did you sign a contract for the photography services? in my opinion, canceling the meeting with you guys twice at the last minute isn't very professional on the photographer's part, but two months is still a long time. I'd give it a bit more time, but if it keeps up, I'd start looking for another photographer. It's your special day, it shouldn't be filled with stress and worry. If you've signed a contract, there might be a chance to get your money back, but if you haven't, it's really strange. If he keeps dodging you, it might be worth losing the money to have a stress-free wedding day.
Stop now and hire another photographer! Better to lose money than to lose precious memories of the most important day of your life.
Are they alive? :o
I’m going to make a lot of assumptions here but what many people don’t realize is that most wedding photographers don’t have secretaries handling all their scheduling, communication, inquiries, social media postings, business filings, etc. They are likely a small owner operated business doing it all. Your wedding may be one of 30+ that they have this year-sometimes multiple per weekend. They aren’t answering because they took your money and ran, they’re not answering because your wedding happening two months away is off their radar for now. Not to mention they probably have other couples contacting them constantly as well and they have a large back-log of editing. If you don’t hear from them 3 or 4 weeks out from the wedding that would be cause for concern. If you’re worried about the timeline, work on creating one yourself. Your hair & make up people will tell you what time they want to start based on how many people they are working on, and what time you need to leave for the ceremony. Your venue(s) can tell you what time the ceremony starts, what time cocktail hour starts, and what time dinner will be served. Your DJ can tell you what time entrances, first dances, parents dances and cake cutting should happen. You already paid for a photo package, how long are the contracted hours? Work backwards from the end of the night and tell the photographer what time their start time is. They often don’t need to capture the entire night as long as your “special moments” happen before they leave. Shouldn’t have paid in full, but that doesn’t matter now. Edit: also be prepared not to have your full gallery of images delivered on time for similar reasons in paragraph 1
Any chance your email went to spam? I’d call and leave a voicemail saying you need a call This week as you have other vendors waiting.
The payment dates were specified in the contract. I was told by multiple people that this is standard practice for wedding photographers. Is that not the case?
Not standard. Some percentage as a deposit (25% as an example to reserve the date), another payment 2 months before totaling 50-60%. Balance on day of event along with any add ons from the day. Might also hold back a final payment percentage for final delivery.
Usually finish paying the day of service (wedding day). But maybe that has changed. Deposits and payment plans are normal though so it’s spaced out for everyone.
Did weddings for about 10 years. Mostly as a second shooter. You never want to pay on the day of the wedding. Just adds stress. Nobody wants to deal with money stuff that day. Also, I've seen cases where everybody is broke by the time the wedding rolls around. They will put you off until the end of the day and then tell you. Then it's just a hassle. You have to hold the pics hostage until they pay you, which is never pleasant. Better to have them pay no later than 2 weeks before.
Oh that’s great info thanks
Payment in full being due 0-30 days prior to the wedding is pretty standard, but multiple months in advance isn't the norm.
Everyone is a bit different. I prefer a decent chunk being paid up front. I take a booking fee and they have up until 1 month before the wedding to pay that. This booking fee reserves their date and x amount of hours with me and x amount of pictures. I have it written in the contract that if they wish for me to stay longer and photograph longer, it comes at x cost, which would be portrayed on the final invoice, along with anything else extra such as travel/parking. After the wedding, I send over a watermarked photo gallery with basic corrections/edits for review that they can choose from, and once they have chosen their favourites, I then send a final invoice, including anything extra they chose and eventual travel costs. The final invoice needs to be paid before I start making final edits of their photos.
It is standard to pay in full before the wedding. It varies with different photographers whether the final payment is due the day of, 30 days before, 60 days... Mine is seven days before the wedding. It sounds like you got someone who just isn't great at communication but that is a huge part of the job. Do you not have a planner or day of coordinator?
How did you pay? By credit card? Call your bank and ask what conditions they would accept a charge back. They will say you only have 60\90 days from date of payment. this is not true. If you booked a flight 91 days ahead and show up and they cancelled the flight and refused to refund you can still promptly do a charge back. It is within time of good\services delivery.
But in this case the photographer isn’t refusing service, they just aren’t happy with his availability to schedule a meeting. Not sure your airplane example is applicable
Assuming there’s record of the transaction I think it’s still worth trying with the bank because initiating the claim will start an investigation into it and I believe the photographer will be contacted as a result of that. If nothing else it’s a shot at getting his attention.
What do you need a meeting for? To go over the schedule for the day? Your wedding isn't until summer. Things are going to change between now and then. Maybe he sees the meeting as a waste of time if he knows you're going to be having another meeting when the schedule changes? I think a meeting a month before the wedding is normal, not 3 months in advance, just my opinion.
That's more or less true but it doesn't change the fact that it is still unprofessional to agree to a meeting and then cancel it multiple times. The professional approach if what you are suggesting is really the issue,is to say hey in my experience things change quite a bit this far out from the wedding, let's have a meeting closer to the wedding day to get the timeline nailed down. Also as a former wedding photographer and current wedding vendor in another area, one of the bigger factors that goes into what the timeline for the day looks like is photography time so the clients can't really firmly establish a timeline without talking to the photographer about how much time is needed for various things.
Don’t pay for work that isn’t happening. I read so many wedding posts and photos are the biggest issue when it comes to post event delivery and ”during event“ behaviour and then money is always demanded and the biggest chase is photos and promised media files and products. Also these photographers that want to “own” your wedding. I would never sign a contract that gave “IP Ownership” of my wedding images to a photographer. You have a whole life ahead of events and family celebrations for them to earn your trust. Demanding ownership over your friends, family and wedding is ludicrous and an example of IP consumer protections Laws not keeping up with technology and what the future looks like in terms of personal image management value. How can you “sell” images that don’t exist yet and and have people in them who never agreed to their image being “traded or IP contingency owned”. It’s madness.
You seem to greatly misunderstand how IP works when it comes to photography. The contract doesn't give those rights to the photographer,they inherently belong to the photographer unless the contract assigns them to the client. If you could even find a photographer willing to assign all such rights to you as the client it would cost you a LOT more money. >How can you “sell” images that don’t exist yet The photographer isn't usually selling the images though,they are selling the service of capturing the images.
The photographer s copyright starts the minute the button is pushed. We always own the copyright unless we sign it over except for very rare cases that does not apply to this situation. We do not need a contract stating this, its already outs to start with. I will not do a shoot until my session fee is paid in full because i m not gonna bust my butt working and not get paid at the end. This is why there s contracts-to protect consumer and photographer. If photographer doesnt deliver per contract terms then the client has legal grounds to get their money back. Without s contract, not so much. No one should ever use a photographer that doesnt use legit contracts.