Wedding Photographers: What happens if you get sick?
About 1 in 5 couples asks this question when inquiring with a prospective wedding photographer. Maybe they’ve heard horror stories or maybe they’re just planners and prepared. Either way, it’s their right to have a solid, truthful answer. And, photographers, it’s your job to give it to them if you want to secure that booking.
So, what would you do if you got sick before a wedding?
With Covid running amuck, you can’t just show up in hell or high water anymore with a pack of tissues in one pocket and DayQuil pills in the other.
What if you or your partner gets pregnant and ends up due right before the wedding date?
What if you have a health problem that renders you incapable of shooting?
For the majority of wedding photographers, these are all possibilities but few are prepared for the worst.
My husband always says, “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” It drives me crazy but it’s the truth! Especially for this situation, you must have a plan in place. “Hoping for the best” is not a solution. It’s childish and unfair to your clients who are counting on you for their one best day ever.
There are two groupings of situations that I think we need to address here. I’ll start with the easiest: You have a situation where you know you won’t be able to shoot a wedding you are contracted to shoot in the future. This could mean you or your partner is pregnant and will be taking a maternity leave that will affect some of your weddings or maybe you find out you have some type of medical condition that needs attention mid-season.
The second one almost happened to me last year. I found out I had a mass that needed to be surgically removed (Read that story here). At the time I found out, I had 18 weddings left for the year. Luckily, after some discussion and tests, my doctors allowed me to finish my shooting year and scheduled my surgery for just after Thanksgiving during my off season (Read that story here). When I found out though, I had some tough decisions to make to prepare.
As soon as there was a real possibility that my year would go sideways, I emailed my amazing second shooters for the year and made absolutely sure they would step up if needed (even though I already knew they would), and then reached out to my clients. I emailed each of them individually letting them know what was going on and that if their wedding date would be affected, they would have options but that I 100% trust my second shooters to run the show if they needed to and I would still edit their photos in the end. By doing things that way, there would be no questions about editing style and such. I didn’t let them know what the options would be yet but I assured them that I had their best interest at heart.
Most wrote back that they trusted me and my judgment completely and that my health was the most important thing. I was incredibly moved by the outpour of love I received that day and the days following as the emails trickled in.
I didn’t have to follow through with anything but if I had been told that I had to go in for immediate surgery (it was to be a three month recovery, obliterating the rest of my season), I would have given my clients the opportunity to back out of the contract completely — just minus my portrait session fee if we had already completed their engagement session. If, for some reason we wouldn’t have already completed the session, and they wanted to back out, I would have given them a 100% refund and made it a clean cut. I probably would have also helped them find another photographer.
I don’t think any of my clients would have taken this option but I would have completely understood if they did. I believe that offering this option would have given them a sense of control of this unideal situation and would have solidified their trust and belief that I truly do believe in people over profit.
Will some back out if you offer this? Maybe. But I doubt most will if you have built a solid connection with them based on a foundation of trust.
If the clients would have decided to stand by me and allow my second shooter to lead, I would have first, given my clients a sizable discount, probably about $500.
Next, in this theoretical situation, I would also have to revisit my second shooter’s proposal to make sure they would charge me lead role pay for the additional image files/hr if it wasn’t already part of their contract (which it should be) and then hire a second shooter for them. Before hiring a second, I would give her the option to contact and select someone they like working with first. The new second photographer would still be contracting with me though and not with the new lead photographer, or associate photographer as we call that role in the biz.
I would mail memory cards for the associate and the second to shoot on (if they require memory cards) before all the weddings and then would retrieve them as soon as possible after each wedding. That way, I can get started on editing a few sneak peeks and a few blog photos, sending the majority of the rest off to my editor knowing I would be limited in my ability to do it myself.
In this first situation, my company would be financially out the discount to the client, the extra second photographer fee, an additional charge for the regular second to now associate shoot AND extra images to my editor. All-in-all, it would most likely have a $1.5K effect on the bottom line.
Now, what if it is a last minute sickness?
2021 was so generous to me to have this learning experience also happen. Lucky me! I got a call from the groom of the wedding from the previous weekend explaining that he and his new wife had just tested positive for their mandatory Covid test before leaving for their honeymoon….a wednesday. It was 9 days before my next friday wedding which would kick off the biggest double-header weekend of my year at two 5-star wedding venues that I was really looking forward to experiencing myself.
You guessed it, I also tested positive and just barely didn’t make the 10 day isolation period for those two weddings. The kicker was that I felt fine….I was so upset that I missed those days for my people. So, what did I do?
First, I told my clients ASAP. Next, I spent a lot of time on the phone with my second shooter both preparing her to lead for that double-header weekend but also contacting everyone we could think of to second shoot for her. It quickly became apparent that I wasn’t the only one this had happened to. 2021 was the year of “I can’t find a second shooter” to begin with and we all got a little desperate when people got sick.
As hard as this past year was to find qualified second shooters, I saw a community of people rise up to support one another like I’ve never seen before in this wedding community that can be a little unrelenting at times.
Anyone and everyone was helping out wherever they could.
I lucked out that another one of my go-to, regular second shooters was available and willing, so she filled in one day and another photographer friend who normally only leads her own weddings, canceled her weekend plans with her hubby to shoot as the second for the other. I was so grateful.
Now, none of this happened without the “cost of doing business.” I gave each of my couples a $1,000 discount for this crazy, last-minute change. I paid my second to associate shoot and then also paid two photographers to second shoot that weekend + gratitude bonuses for everyone for the last minute scramble. My business lost over $5K profit in a weekend. But, I didn’t lose a single 5-star review. I felt good at the end of the day that I not only fulfilled my contract with my clients but also delivered everything I possibly could to make their wedding days the very best I could.
It is part of my contract with my clients that I can substitute a photographer if I am otherwise unable to shoot but my clients 100% understood without needing to get “all contract-y” about it. I didn’t have to offer discounts to the clients or bonuses to the associates. I think everyone understands covid these days and that these situations will come up. It has certainly changed the expectation of showing up sick to work a wedding. But, I also believe it is imperative to the future of your business that these gestures are offered to the best of your financial ability. Understanding their humanness and perspective, the extra stress the situation created for them all, you must consider the possible reviews and word of mouth referrals this can affect down the pike. I received a new inquiry from one of these weddings I couldn’t shoot just this week and both of my second shooters still love working for me and have contracted for as many of my weddings this year as they possibly could. It’s worth the investment!
You must be open and honest with the clients through the entire situation, as difficult as it is and as much as you don’t want to bother them on their wedding week. Side note: if they have a planner, you might want to contact this person first and instead of the client themselves. They are humans too and I think as long as they are included in the conversation and know what’s going on and that you are doing everything in your power to make their day the very best you can, they will normally understand.
So, will you lose money in this scenario? Yes, lots….another reason to raise your prices! Will you keep clients for life? 100% The reviews both of those clients left on the knot for me, you would have never known that I wasn’t at the wedding myself. I attribute that to doing the right thing every step of the way. Maybe I didn’t make much money off those weddings but I kept my integrity and I still have the photos from those weddings to post to market for more work at those venues in the future.
Actual review from one of the weddings I could not shoot last year. 💕
What if you can’t find anyone? Well, your second photographer will have a lot on their shoulders. they will have the responsibility to shoot the entire day themself which will probably mean on-the-fly timeline changes and a very stressful day to pull it off. This is why it is SO important that the second shooter you hire is very close to the same experience level as yourself. You must be certain that if you cannot shoot that wedding, that you can rely on your second shooter to shoot that day almost as well as you would have. Editing style has no weight on this ability. You need someone who can run the show, pose every part of the day, show compassion for the people involved, take well-composed, in-focus photos, and represent your brand in your absence. It’s a big responsibility.
What if the couple didn’t purchase a second shooter and you get sick. This is a tough one when you’re starting out. It is really tempting to offer a lower price point package to not include a second. I did this myself when I was starting out. Whether you don’t know anyone to ask to second shoot for you, you aren’t prepared to instruct and lead that other shooter, or you aren’t charging your clients enough to cover this cost, I would not recommend shooting weddings without a second shooter for many reasons but the “what if something happens to you” is the biggest.
For that reason and several others, the second shooter is not a learning role. It is a contractor role.
When was the last time you hired a contractor to paint your house and that person was hopeful you would teach them how to paint on the job? Laughable!
When the lead photographer hires a second photographer they are hiring a contractor that should be trained in their field of work and able to do it completely on their own once they are given the instructions for the specific job they are contracted to complete (wedding). In the painting situation, you would tell them which rooms to paint what color but in the end, you trust they will do the painting themselves, right?
Are you prepared to send an invoice to the lead for your services?
How much will you charge?
Do you have a contract for them to sign?
Wait, what?
Let’s go back to the painter example. When you hire a painter, do you tell them how much you will pay them or do they assess the job, give you a quote and invoice you after it’s complete? Yes, the second shooter should be invoicing the lead for payment of their fee. We need that to show the contractor relationship in our tax filing documents.
When’s the last time you gave your painter a contract to sign? I didn’t think so. The second photographer should be providing a contract for the lead to sign….yup. I know. It’s not the way many do things but it is the way it should be done.
Do you want to be able to post photos?
Do you want to have a meal after shooting for X # of hours?
How many photos will you deliver to the lead per hour of shooting?
Will you provide the memory card or will you shoot on theirs?
Will you use your own equipment? If not, who’s responsible if something gets broken?
Do you have liability insurance?
What if someone gets hurt while you are posing them at the wedding?
As an independent contractor (and not an employee) this can be a gray area without a contract. All of these items, and many more, should be in your contract as a professional second photographer.
If you didn’t send (at the very minimum) an invoice to the lead photographer for your services to provide X# of photo files per hour of shooting, it’s actually an employee/employer role — just a super part-time, as-needed one. Did you dictate your pay rate and when you will get paid or did the lead photographer tell you what it would be and when she would pay you? One is a contractor role and the other is an employee/employer role.
Did that just rock your world?
Good! Because the way many lead wedding photographers conduct business isn’t quite the way it should work — for taxes…or life. Here’s the thing, many photographers who want to get into weddings are eager to second shoot to learn or for experience but are far from prepared to take on either role. But, we NEED more second photographers!!! — I want to change that and I’m starting with my local area.