Revisiting the $100 Wedding

Here is the link to the original entry: $100 Wedding

It's Friday 5:45pm, I just got a phone call from Joe1. He wanted me to shoot his wedding, in 2 weeks. A good friend of his brother in-law is offering to shoot his wedding for free. But he wants a "real professional" to shoot his wedding and his budget is $100.

I was both angry and wanted to "understand" Joe, so I started asking some questions, he was spending:

  • Flowers: $1300
  • Reception: $17000
  • Barista: $175
  • ...

In case you wonder what's a "barista", it's the coffee guy or gal that makes the espresso and the lattes at the fancy coffee shops, aka Starbucks... He was ready to pay more for a barista than a photographer! When I pointed it to him he said:

It's not easy being a barista, I can't do it. I can take photos.

So I reminded him that hopefully he was going to have only one wedding, but the latte can be done again or he could even cancel the lattes. I told him that I was not interested in having him as a client, and hanged up. I am not sure he understood.

In the heat of the discussion, I forgot to ask Joe where he got my name and phone number since:

  1. I am not in the phonebook
  2. I don't do weddings

People said I should:

  • Say yes and then cancel at the last minute.
  • Say yes but don't show up.
  • Say yes but do only $100 worth of work.
  • Say yes and use them as a learning experience since I don't do weddings.


  1. I was so infuriated, that I didn't think about it.
  2. I don't want to damage my "reputation" by doing "bad" photos.
  3. I don't think that I'd be able to sleep at night knowing that I will be doing "bad" photos.
 

1 not his real name ↑

Tags: Biz101 | Competition | Customers | Pricing