Crisis narrowly averted

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rickryan.com

DJ Extraordinaire
ODJT Supporter
Dec 9, 2009
19,237
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Hendersonville, TN
www.rickryan.com
I screwed up. Wife and I did an itty bitty wedding this morning. An hour from home so I didn’t drive the van that normally has all my gear. Grabbed my ceremony rig and 2 k10s. Got to the venue and no power cord for the k10s, which is normally in the rig case. Finally found in my wife’s car trunk (had it there for emergencies). Man, that was close. Never again.
 
I screwed up. Wife and I did an itty bitty wedding this morning. An hour from home so I didn’t drive the van that normally has all my gear. Grabbed my ceremony rig and 2 k10s. Got to the venue and no power cord for the k10s, which is normally in the rig case. Finally found in my wife’s car trunk (had it there for emergencies). Man, that was close. Never again.

Oh yea, had another crisis to contend with. When we got here, the venue had hired another photographer, without the bride’s consent. Had to boot them, in addition to my own snafu.
 
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Oh yea, had another crisis to contend with. When we got here, the venue had hired another photographer, without the bride’s consent. Had to boot them, in addition to my own snafu.
You had nothing to do with that one. Why did you have to boot them as you said?
 
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You had nothing to do with that one. Why did you have to boot them as you said?

We have a rights of exclusivity clause. Don’t want to compete with another photographer for shots.
 
We have a rights of exclusivity clause. Don’t want to compete with another photographer for shots.
That potentially could have been tough since your contract is with the client and not the venue and I assume the other photog was with the venue direct. Thankfully they capitulated, but it could have been a scenario where the venue shows you their contract with the B/G stating the use of their photographer (maybe just for promo shots ??) and now the B/G need to rehash a contract mid-event.
 
I screwed up. Wife and I did an itty bitty wedding this morning. An hour from home so I didn’t drive the van that normally has all my gear. Grabbed my ceremony rig and 2 k10s. Got to the venue and no power cord for the k10s, which is normally in the rig case. Finally found in my wife’s car trunk (had it there for emergencies). Man, that was close. Never again.
We've all been there with something at some point. Even with a checklist, little things sometimes get overlooked. I had to run back twice to get a replacement cable when my "extras" bag was left at home and the cables failed (1 dmx, 1 audio). Thankfully, I was less than 5 miles away both time.
 
That potentially could have been tough since your contract is with the client and not the venue and I assume the other photog was with the venue direct. Thankfully they capitulated, but it could have been a scenario where the venue shows you their contract with the B/G stating the use of their photographer (maybe just for promo shots ??) and now the B/G need to rehash a contract mid-event.

It was no problem either way. I made them aware and the venue guy stated he’d done it without her knowledge. It’s very simple. Either they walk or our contract is in violation and we walk (with pay). I don’t really care either way. The venue guy admitted he screwed up, apologized and dismissed his photog.
 
It was no problem either way. I made them aware and the venue guy stated he’d done it without her knowledge. It’s very simple. Either they walk or our contract is in violation and we walk (with pay). I don’t really care either way. The venue guy admitted he screwed up, apologized and dismissed his photog.
I know it's in your contract, but it could have been awkward if the B/G inadvertently agreed to it in their venue contract (maybe without realizing it) and now have 2 conflicting contracts. Thankfully the venue did the right thing.
 
It was no problem either way. I made them aware and the venue guy stated he’d done it without her knowledge. It’s very simple. Either they walk or our contract is in violation and we walk (with pay). I don’t really care either way. The venue guy admitted he screwed up, apologized and dismissed his photog.
so you would walk out on your client over this leaving them high and dry on their special day? Never mind if they decided to take you to court or not. This backlash from social media could be a killer for your business.
 
so you would walk out on your client over this leaving them high and dry on their special day? Never mind if they decided to take you to court or not. This backlash from social media could be a killer for your business.

You have no clue moron.
 
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so you would walk out on your client over this leaving them high and dry on their special day? Never mind if they decided to take you to court or not. This backlash from social media could be a killer for your business.
Adrian Two is using Mix,s account again
 
Now that I'm back at a computer, let me address Mix's post. No, I'm not looking to leave a client hanging, I'm exercising my contractual rights. First order of business, the other photog introduces themselves and then asks if it's okay if they take pics. Here are the steps:

  1. Tell them "No, it's not okay." You give them a cease & desist notice.
  2. If they refuse, you let them know that you're going to the client to resolve it.
  3. If they continue to refuse, you speak with the client. If they don't fix it, they are in breach of contract.
  4. You give client notice that it's their final chance. If they choose to not fix it, yes, you walk, no money back and you'll likely win in court (if they go there).

As it was, I found out from my wife as we were driving home that no, the venue guy didn't hire this girl. She showed up and asked if she could shoot. He wanted portfolio, she wanted portfolio, so he agreed to let her. When I put the clamps on it, he knew he had screwed up and was in serious trouble. My wife said "Let's talk with the bride." and I told her "No, we're not going to bother our client with an extra stress on her wedding day. We'll handle this here and now." They backed down and quick and the venue guy apologized profusely. We let it go and went on with doing our job. The event produced some gorgeous material and we're going to let the venue guy use it for promo. We'll also likely send him a couple of huge portrait prints for his office.
 
You have no clue moron.
I have a clue. I get that you don't want someone inferring with the job you're contracted to do. I can't blame you for that. I just wouldn't walk out and not do my job.

How would you like if it was your wedding day and the DJ you booked didn't stay to do the job because of this? I would be highly pissed off. I invite all those people to attend my wedding and there's no entertainment. You would be lucky I didn't show up the next day at your house with the goone squad to tell you in a not so friendly way you shouldn't have done that.
 
I have a clue. I get that you don't want someone inferring with the job you're contracted to do. I can't blame you for that. I just wouldn't walk out and not do my job.

How would you like if it was your wedding day and the DJ you booked didn't stay to do the job because of this? I would be highly pissed off. I invite all those people to attend my wedding and there's no entertainment. You would be lucky I didn't show up the next day at your house with the goone squad to tell you in a not so friendly way you shouldn't have done that.
He's not really leaving them high and dry... there technically is another photographer there if her were to leave.

It's a touchy subject. I personally can see advantages to both sides of the argument of staying and working together or choosing to leave. In this case it was something the venue did without the bride and groom knowing, so it wasn't a big issue.

In NJ/NYC there are lots of dj companies that offer zap shot photography (essentially candid photos) with their TV packages... and that's something the b&g DO pay for... so it's always interesting to see how photogs handle that. As a photographer you don't want to disappoint the b&g and get them angry, especially when they paid for both... but you also don't want the zap photos to be mistaken as yours. We've been in this situation 3x in the past and 1 times our bride and groom gave in to the photogs and asked us not to capture anythign... but they were really really mad at them the whole night, and wouldn't be surprised if a nasty review was left. They were also not anything special in terms of skill and charged really low for the area, so the last thing they needed was negative word of mouth. The other 2x it came up, we came to a mutual solution that they would exclusively capture the formalities, and we could capture the dancing and random stuff in between. Couples were all happy we got along.
 
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Taso I hear what you said. What I read is that he said we would walk if an issue like this wasn't resolved due to what their contract says. So by saying we that says to me both his wife and him would be leaving. So the client will be left with no DJ and photog that they paid for.

Now if they did do such a thing because of such a situation and someone took them to court, I wonder if their contract would stand up in court?

Also keep in mind that we're not talking a little bit of money here. He says that his price for DJ and photog is $2,700. That's not pocket change. Now ask yourself this question. If you were the client would you just let it go if they bailed on you or would you have something to say?

Personally I would let it be known on social media what they did and take them to court. I wouldn't just sweep it underneath the rug.
 
Taso I hear what you said. What I read is that he said we would walk if an issue like this wasn't resolved due to what their contract says. So by saying we that says to me both his wife and him would be leaving. So the client will be left with no DJ and photog that they paid for.

Now if they did do such a thing because of such a situation and someone took them to court, I wonder if their contract would stand up in court?

Also keep in mind that we're not talking a little bit of money here. He says that his price for DJ and photog is $2,700. That's not pocket change. Now ask yourself this question. If you were the client would you just let it go if they bailed on you or would you have something to say?

Personally I would let it be known on social media what they did and take them to court. I wouldn't just sweep it underneath the rug.
I don’t think he meant the DJ part.
 
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