Photographer/Videographer down payment questions.

Nope. It is a lot of money but I think 50% is pretty standard for a retainer.

Think of it this way, the more you pay off now, the less you will have to pay off later when you start paying for other high ticket items like catering/alcohol.

Ours wasn't quite that much, but we also had to put 50% down.

I only met with 2 photographers and 1 of them required 50% up front. The one we chose to go with only required $500 up front.

All of my vendors required a 50% retainer. I know it seems like a lot, but it guarantees your date and your don't have to worry about a larger balance at the end.

50% is normal

Yes, 50% is normal

We had to pay 50% to our photographer when we booked. Sounds normal

That's normal.

Only vendors I've talked to that dont require 50% down is the caterer. I'd rather pay them 50% and have it over and done with.

Thank you all so much for your input! I feel better about that email now!

It's standard with most vendors including me. If a wedding is very far away, time wise, I will split the retainer up into two 1/4's, but the second one has to be in a year out. You might ask if that would work for them.

This must be highly dependent on geography because the highest amount we've had is 1/3 of the anticipated total catering cost.

I guess it depends. It doesn't seem unlikely though. We were lucky that our photographer asked for only 25%, but we did 50% anyway. We felt better about putting up more money once we booked

My photographer also required a 50% down payment. No where near that amount though.

50% was required from ours too

I budgeted for 50% because I think that's normal. Most of ours were less though. DJ was 1hr deposit so $130, photographer was 25% and venue was 30%

I had a 250 down-payment. Our videographer is a rare find though, we were really lucky to get him.

We had to put down a 50% on our videographer as well

I met with 3 photographers. One required 50%, one that required 25%, and one that only required 100 dollars down. Just depends on the business.

100.00 down isn't a pro.