These friends were nice enough to give me their information packet along with the price list. This way I knew how much they paid. It was a higher amount than I had envisioned myself paying but I was really digging the work this guy had done and I checked a few websites to see the starting prices of others in the biz. It seemed to coincide with the other higher end photographers in my area.
Next step: make contact. I wrote the photog an e-mail where I flattered and dropped names. I told him about how I had been following his work and would be interested in finding out some prices and having a meeting. He promptly e-mailed back with his 2011 prices. BAD NEWS! His prices increased about 800 dollars from the 2010 prices my friends had paid. Bummer! At this point I was feeling low. I could barely afford the original price and now I had to try and do another 800, there was no way.
Cue the sad face.
I wrote him back saying that I was prepared to pay the 2010 price but just couldn't afford anymore than that. I asked him if he knew any other good photogs in my price range and thanked him for his time. To my surprise he wrote back saying he'd give me the lower price! Some times you meet good people while planning a wedding.
We met at a little coffee shop to talk about some details. There really wasn't that much to talk about since he was the first thing I was booking and I didn't even have a venue yet, but I talked about my vision for the wedding and he told me what he had to offer. A couple days later I made the deposit and sealed the deal.
Moral of the story: when you know how much some one else paid don't be afraid to try and get that price. I hinted around it in my e-mail not wanting to seem like I was begging but if that hadn't worked I'm sure I would have come right out and asked.
Did you always meet with multiple vendors before hiring one? Have to weasel some good prices out of some?
No comments:
Post a Comment