The short answer is well over 90% of wedding photographers don’t offer a money-back guarantee, but I do!

There are several reasons the vast majority of wedding photographers don’t offer a money-back guarantee, so let’s look at each one in turn.

Photography is subjective

One person may love a photograph and another might hate it.

One person may think they look great in a photograph and another may think they look awful.

One person may think a photograph is hilarious and another might feel it’s inappropriate.

My approach is to have a couple of Zoom calls with all of my couples to establish what they want from their photography.

I ask questions like:

What’s most important to you about your wedding photography?
Describe your wedding in 3 adjectives?
What group photographs would you like?
Who are the important people who I would necessarily realise are important (an uncle who’s like a second dad, or maybe you have godparents etc.)?
Are there any family conflicts I need to one aware of?
Is it critical I get a photograph of every single guest?

I also create a moodboard with each couple to establish what they do and don’t like. I do this because one person’s ‘quirky' is another person’s ‘ridiculous’ and one person’s ‘romantic’ is another person’s ‘cheesy’. So, although I have a definite style (I like to think my photos are full of life, love and laughter), there’s definitely some wriggle room.

What happens if you miss an important photo?

Another reason most photographers don’t offer a guarantee is that they could always be accused of missing something / someone important.

Again, subjectivity could come into this. Is it important to get a photo of every single centrepiece, even if they’re all largely the same? Is it important to get a photo of the dress hanging up in the morning?

What happens if you don’t photograph someone who’s not on their official group photo list? After all there could be over 100 guests and it’s not always easy to know if you have a photo of everyone, especially as some people leave early. The only way to counter that would be to have a painfully long group photo list but then that would take over the whole day.

With so many guests and so many elements and variables it’s impossible to get photographs of everything and everyone from every angle and every permutation.

That’s why I try and set expectations in the Zoom calls so that couples realise what is and isn’t possible in advance.

People might take advantage of you

Weddings take about a week’s worth of work so the thought of having to give all that money back is horrifying. And of course it might be impossible because the money is required to pay bills. To risk all that when you may feel you’ve not even done anything wrong is even worse. Won’t people just be completely unreasonable just to rip you off?

What I’ve found from hundreds of weddings is that if you give 100%, work you ass off on the day and treat the couple and their guests well then they’ll treat you well in return.

Wedding photography is such a personal service where you’re working really closely with the couple and you become friends. When you’ve become friends then the last thing a couple wants to do is ask for their money back, especially if there’s no clear and strong reason why.

So why do I have a money-back guarantee?

I always try and look at things from the couple’s point of view. We’ve all heard horror stories about wedding photographers being rude, useless, disorganised etc. Photographers ripping off couples is infinitely more common than the other way round.

By having a money back guarantee written into my contract it’s my way of showing that I trust myself to do a great job so the couple can trust me too.

Trust is the key word because it’s not just about how talented the photographer is it’s also about their service and how they behave on the day. You could end up with a talented photographer who’s rude or disorganised.

When should wedding photographers give money back?

If you buy a holiday and the hotel is a bomb site and the swimming pool has algae floating on it and the food gives you dysentery then you’d probably me able to get your money back. Why should photographers be any different? We provide a service and if our service sucks then we should be held accountable. Poor photographers give good professionals a bad name.

In my opinion here are some issues which might warrant a refund or partial refund:

If a photographer misses (or gets blurred / unusable shots) critical parts of the wedding
If a photographer takes significantly longer than they said they would to supply the photos
If a photographer is late
If a photographer’s photographs are nowhere near the standard of their portfolio
If a photographer forgets any specifically requested and agreed upon photographs

Have I ever had to give money back?

Yes I have. It has happened 3 times and all 3 occasions were when I was new to photographing weddings and making some mistakes. I consider these 3 refunds like paying for an education to learn valuable lessons.

Refund 1

I forgot to get photographs of the bride and groom with the bride’s parents. It was because it started raining during the group photographs and I forgot to come back to do that shot. They also felt I should have taken more photographs in general and they were probably right.

I offered them a partial refund initially so they could have their hair and makeup done again and go back to the venue to get the group photo done. They requested all the money back so I gave it to them. It felt a bit unreasonable of them but it was a valuable less to be diligent with the group photos and to take more photos in general. When I started I used to deliver around 250 photos but I now deliver a minimum of 500 and often 700+.

Refund 2

I took a very blurred shot of a bride with her grandmother so I gave them a partial refund.

Refund 3

On another occasion it was a combination of factors including me being a beginner, various challenges on the day and the bride being a naturally rather grumpy and negative person.

I gave them back all their money even though the bride was being rather unreasonable on a number of factors (eg. She wondered why there were ‘only’ 3 photos of his grandma, even though she left right after the ceremony).

Another lesson learned. I’d had bad vibes from this couple (mostly the bride to be honest) when they booked me so I shouldn’t have let them book me.

Conclusion

So in all my years of photographing weddings I’ve leaned that virtually every couple will treat you to a similar level to how you treat them. In all 3 cases I could have performed better (and certainly would do now) and I learned a lot and improved my service accordingly.

It’s why I have over hundred 5 star Google reviews and dozens more on Facebook and no reviews that are less than 5 stars. Plus, the guarantee helps with my marketing and sales because it shows how much I care about doing a great job for my clients. So ultimately it’s has more than paid for itself and everyone wins.