19/08/2026
A reminder to book your people in sooner than you think (I had to send an email I wish I hadn’t had to send over the weekend)
Being a photographer in the wedding industry means you’ll sometimes receive enquiries from couples that are after your services on the same date. I’ve had this happen plenty of times. What I haven’t had happen, though, is below.
I’m a big believer in honouring those who enquire first, and who pay their booking retainer first for weddings and time sensitive bookings. No refunding someone to go with a booking you prefer more, or a booking that is going to give you more income. I honour those who are my first enquiry and are actively speaking with me until they either book or enough time passes without chatting / they go with someone else.
I received two booking retainers within 30 minutes of each other over the weekend, and it royally sucked. A lot. I had to refund the couple that sent theirs second, who techincally enquired second, and had to send the god awful email to let them know that I stuffed up.
Essentially, I had an enquiry from couple A over a month ago who preferred meeting in person - that meeting was on Saturday. Somewhere along the line, I wrote down couple A’s wedding date incorrectly in my admin. I only realised half an hour before the meeting that it was actually on the same date as couple B that I had been speaking with for the last week. For couple B, I’d been treating them as the first enquiry for the date, as I genuinely thought they were. But, I was wrong. I’d made a horrible mistake, and had to let couple B go.
It sucked. It sucked SO much.
Mistakes happen.
But hey. I’m only human.
If you’ve read this far along, thank you 🧡 I guess this is a post for me to reflect on the scenario as a learning curve. I need to be more careful with my admin and efficiency (the mistake was my fault, not technologys). It’s also a reminder to couples to book the vendors you’re after sooner than you think. While there are many vendors out there to provide work to everyone, sometimes you’re the vendor they truly connect with. So be sure to reach out as soon as possible.
📷 thanks to Lili during a misty photo play session