Wedding Album Policy

[jeff haynie]

Just curious what editing policies or written processes other photographers use for wedding albums. For instance do you work with the bride on which images to include? If so how many changes do you allow before the album price increases? I'm sure there are other things to consider as well that I haven't thought of yet.

I haven't run into any issues, yet, but thought it could get out of hand if a "Bridezilla" were to appear. Therefore I'm looking into establishing official policies for my studio for this and many other issues - I want to be proactive rather than reactive.

Thanks in advance.

[christie kohlhaas]

My official written policy (that they sign off on) is that they are locked into pricing for 90 days from the time they received their album online. I pre-design and album for them and they are allowed up to 2 edits. The edits can be from major scope to tiny scope but they can only do it twice. If they send me an email saying remove page 12 and add pic 1234 to page 4 that consitutes a change just like a 5 page email with 500 changes. They can send me 2 emails with changes after that it's $250 for each additional edit. I require all changes to be done in writing and I prefer email changes so I have a copy on my computer too.

All albums are as-is. After the album design has been finalized I send them an email confirming that everything is correct. It says that they have checked every detail of the album, including all spelling and understand that once an album has been ordered changes cannot be made and all orders are final.

My wedding collections all include an album or album credit if the want to upgrade albums. I then require 1/2 of the balance of the album to be paid when ordering the album and the other half when it's delivered. My policies also state that albums must be picked up within 30 days of when I receive it or they may be disposed of, forfeiting any money paid. (I have 3 young kids and I don't like clients albums and images sitting around here.)

[Marie Leslie]

My wedding clients choose their images for the album and then we design it. If they turn in their choices and start the design process within 60 days, they have a 3-4 month delivery and the price is guaranteed. After that, it is whatever prices are in effect at the time they order and delivery time is increased to 6 months. They are allowed to preview the completed album online and have one opportunity to make edits. Once it's done, they sign off on it and it goes to print.

[Kristi Baer]

All of our wedding packages include an album of some sort, and of course everything is 100% paid before we ever photograph their wedding. We include a wedding album worksheet with the couple's contact sheets/DVD they get as their previews. On this worksheet they can have as much or as little input into what images are included. Some brides prefer to leave it blank or write down very few favorites, others select almost all images. For any of our flushmounts, we do the layout and have it approved before sending it off to the printer. For traditional albums, we design start to finish and send to lab before bride sees it.
We inform all of our brides that we do our album design on a first come, first serve basis. The sooner they turn in their worksheet, the quicker they get into the line up. From the time we receive this sheet at our studio, we quote them a 6 month turnaround to have it in their hands. Some albums take much less time and happen to come in during our slower months, so the brides are really excited if they have it in 2. This extra cushion gives us the time we need to make sure we can get them all out even during our busy times.
We've encountered 2 "bridezillas" that took advantage of our time doing layout changes, but in the end, I think they both walked away very satisfied. We did change our wording that we would be happy to make any necessary changes to their layout 1 time.

[Guest]

After the bride and groom select the images for their album we have a design ready for their approval within two weeks.


The album goes online and they receive a Phaser printout. They have one week to review and request changes. After the changes are made the album is sent to H&H. We promise delivery in 6 to 8 weeks. We rarely exceed those times.

~Gregg