Photography - payment breakdown

I've been told this as well. My photog required a $700 deposit and the balance due the day of my wedding. Is the photographer you've chosen well-reviewed? Have you asked for references? Don't be shy about it if you haven't already asked.

I DO think this is normal, but I also think if your gut is telling you something is up, definitely do some more research.

Our photography bill is due in full about a month before the wedding day. I absolutely trust our photographers though and have had dealings with them since we booked anyway (engagement photos and boudoir photos) -- I know we will get what we paid for.

But if your gut is telling you something is wrong, I would recommend listening -- or at the very least doing a little more research on them.

My photographer (and ALL of my vendors actually) required a deposit with the remainder due 1 week prior to wedding. In the case of the photographer, it was a 1/3rd down payment.

I think it IS normal practice, but I had to admit, I have felt very weird during most of the planning process. Like with certain vendors (most recently the baker) saying "oh you get the contract once its paid in full" or "after a deposit" etc. Very strange.

I've heard of contract after deposit....NEVER after paid in full. All of my vendors require full payment before or on wedding day. All of my vendors are already paid off...

All of my vendors also require full payment by or before the wedding date.

My original photographer required half down and the balance paid on the wedding day. Our current ones required a 1/3 deposit, 1/3 day of the wedding, and then when the photos are ready the remaining 1/3 before they are released to us. So I think that is pretty normal. Make sure you have a signed contract.

It's normal.

Mine required a $500 deposit, and the rest is due by 3 weeks after our wedding. I thought it was odd that ANYTHING would be due AFTER the wedding. We will pay him off before the wedding because I don't want to have to worry about forgetting anything. He is an acquaintance of FH - they graduated together. Our friends used him for their wedding, and we were very impressed with him and his assistant.

What I was surprised with, though, was the 4 page contract!! Well really 3 pages because one is just an info sheet on our location, times, etc. After reading over the contract, everything sounds normal. Any small questions/concerns we had, he explained to us. So ready to have this party!!

All our vendors require full payment a month before the wedding date, except our catering bill which isn't due until the monday before the reception. It's pretty normal. My MUA and Hair is due on the day.

Very NORMAL. All my vendors required a deposit with the remainder due the month before the wedding (photographer, florist, videographer, baker, florist, string quartet, etc). I don't think you're going to find anyone who's willing to wait to be paid until after you receive your digital prints.

Like everyone else said, it's standard. One of my BM is also a wedding photographer. I will say that she USED to allow couples to pay after the wedding and hold onto the images until they paid in full, but she found that most couples either try to haggle the final payment or will take their time. She obviously no longer allows this and required the final balance be paid 2 weeks before the wedding.

I paid 300 down. 50 percent of balance on wedding day and the remaining 50% due after we get pics. Same deal with video guy.

This is standard. my photographer requires full payment (without looking at the contract, this is a guess) at least 14 days before the wedding. if they end up staying over the contracted 8 hours, we get a bill after the wedding and we won't get our photos until the entire balance owed is paid.

we paid a deposit, a payment when we took our engagement photos (even though they were included in our package) and the rest is owed whenever, as long as it's before the wedding day.

All of our vendors required full payment before our wedding.

Yes, this is normal practice. For our photographer required less than half of the total payment but we went ahead and paid half. The rest are due 30 days before the wedding. If you are still skeptical, you can research other photographers and just ask them how much is their deposit.

I know of a couple that didn't get their photos until they paid everything.

Trust in your photographer-- if you haven't read reviews, try to contact their previous clients and ask them if they had to do the same thing. But, this is a common practice, even for our videographer. We made 50% deposit with them too.

Totally normal. It takes a lot of time, energy, and money to do a wedding shoot, and if the client doesn't pay, they don't recuperate anything. You won't find anyone reputable with a different policy.

Great, thanks for all that info! We had a very good meeting with them over Skype and will receive a contract after we pay our initial deposit, so it's not that I don't trust them... I've just heard a few horror stories about vendors skipping out on the day since they've already been paid in full. It's one thing to lose out on your payment, but I'd be devastated if we didn't end up getting any photos!! But hearing from all of you made me feel much more reassured, so thanks :-)

You have a contract to protect you if they don't show up. That's why they gave you the option to pay the day of.

It's normal. I am required to pay all of my wedding vendors in full - including photographer - before the wedding day.

I know that we're protected legally with the contract (like in terms of getting our money back), I'm more just worried that if they don't show up we'll have no photos of our wedding day!