Covid 19 hit us all like a truck full of bricks. Life is unsteady and unsure at the moment and we cannot imagine what the future will hold.   As the wedding industry has inevitably been affected (and wedding photography with it), I wanted to have a think about what that meant for me and my clients. I have thought hard about the challenges you might be facing in planning your wedding – and the uncertainty you might be experiencing as restrictions ease and then go up again, with word on the situation changing every time we look at the news.   

I want to reassure you that your wedding day can still be as amazing as you have always imagined. I have personally come up with a few things I can implement into my business as a wedding photographer to help eliminate worry and uncertainty. I want to make sure I can help you in any way I can, within my ability as a small business. I am a firm believer in sticking together during a crisis! We have all been affected, in big and small ways, but as long as we continue thinking of one another, we can make the best out of a bad situation. 

Unfortunately, Covid 19 has affected both the wedding photography industry and my business in a pretty substantial way. The cancellations and lower contact rates have had a massive negative impact. But I want nothing more than continue to create art – to continue to capture the emotive moments of people celebrating their love, as a passionate wedding photographer.  

I know for certain there are small changes I can make in the way I operate my business to help you book your wedding without fear and insecurity, and to make it possible for you both to enjoy your wedding to the fullest. I want to ensure I am doing my part in helping you celebrate your love with minimum stress and financial risk. 

I want to assure you that I have fully prepared for the new circumstances, as a wedding photographer during the Covid 19 crisis, and am closely monitoring the industry laws and changes. I am ready to fulfil my role as your wedding photographer, wherever and whenever your wedding occurs, and am taking every precaution to ensure your safety at your wonderful wedding.

What am I changing, to help you?

1. The deposit will be lowered

   
   Many couples have had to make the hard decision to reschedule their wedding and with that, all their vendors including wedding photographers. However, picking a new date still does not guarantee things will go as planned. We are all still in the dark regarding the repercussions Covid 19 will have on our future and therefore feel hesitant making plans that are set in stone. 

    I understand this may worry you, and I am here to put you at ease. I will be lowering my deposit indefinitely, from £300 to £200, and hopefully make planning your wonderful wedding slightly less uncertain. 

    As an addendum, I want to make sure you know why the deposit is an important aspect of how wedding photographers operate. Once you book a wedding photographer, you pay a small portion of the overall price upfront, as a “deposit” or a “non-refundable booking fee” to hold the date. From that moment, the wedding photographer will turn down any other weddings on your selected date; in the event your wedding is cancelled, other opportunities have therefore been passed on, and the financial security of the small business is compromised. The deposit acts as a buffer in this scenario, and is required for the wedding photographer to be secure as a business. This allows the photographer themselves to feel secure, as this is our livelihood, and therefore to do our best work on every wedding we attend. We understand – and share – your frustration in this scenario; we want to be out there, doing what we love, and helping you celebrate your love. 

2. No re-booking fee

Usually wedding photographers have something called a rescheduling or re-booking fee. Should something come up and you need to reschedule your wedding but still want the same photographer, you would customarily have to pay a small rescheduling fee for the trouble. In short: in the case of a rescheduling, your deposit will not be lost, and will instead be applied to the new date; however a smaller re-booking fee is usually taken for the trouble of losing work on that date. 

In light of Covid 19 and the massive uncertainty, I am eliminating the re-booking fee for my services for the foreseeable future. Should you book me as your photographer, and you end up needing to reschedule, I will move your deposit to the new date free of charge and we will proceed with our arrangement with no extra costs incurred from your side. Simple and worry-free.  

However, I do want to ask that you let me know if you have wedding insurance. Most couples do and have been using their insurance policies to navigate through this crisis. An insurance company will most likely pay a rescheduling charge. As waiving my re-booking fee comes at my loss, and I am a small business that is struggling during this pandemic like any other, I would ask kindly that you let me know if you do have insurance; in this case I would ask the insurance company to cover a small rescheduling fee.

3. Monthly payment plan now available for re-scheduled couples

I am setting up extra payment options to help you with cash flow in the months leading up to your wedding. Finances are unsure for many of us during this time and I know a staggered payment is sometimes immensely helpful.   

Before: 

- Deposit in the amount of £300 paid upon signing the contract, to hold the date. 

- 100% of remaining fee due one week before the wedding. 

After:  

- Deposit in the amount of £200 paid upon signing the contract, to hold the date. 
- Either 50% or 75%, (to be negotiated) of remaining fee paid in monthly instalments until one month before the wedding. 

- Remaining 25% or 50% due one week before the wedding. 

4. I am now available for elopements

As large gatherings are no longer allowed for the foreseeable future, some couples may choose to have an elopement. Some are eloping now and planning a big reception in the future when the situation around Covid 19 is clearer.   I am now also doing elopement wedding photography to fill that need and hopefully provide you with nice memories even if your friends and family cannot come to celebrate with you. Elopements can be just as gorgeous as full-scale weddings, and they are definitely worth remembering through photographs. They can even be more intimate, and provide the opportunity for some incredible and emotive photographs.   As an additional bonus, the prints of photographs I take at your elopement will be discounted, so you can gift them to all your family members and friends that could not celebrate with you. That way you can still share the special day with them with this gesture.  Aside from that, if you already have a scheduled reception at a later date, but you want to elope now, I am offering a discount on your elopement if you officially book me for your future reception as well.  

5. I am available to book on shorter notice

In order to properly prepare for your wedding, I generally do not take bookings at short notice. Most couples book me months in advance for several reasons: to ensure their date is not taken by somebody else; so that we can iron out all the details and timelines of your wedding; and so we can potentially get to know each other through an engagement photoshoot.  However, I know many of you might have to make decisions on a shorter basis to accommodate restrictions, cancellations, and so on. Therefore, as long as I am able to ensure travel to your venue on your specific date, I will be available to book on short notice for the foreseeable future. Please contact me for further inquiries. 

What I suggest to couples?

• As we wonder whether weddings will be cancelled due to Coronavirus in the UK, it is important to thoroughly research all possible eventualities and make sure you follow the latest government information at gov.uk/coronavirus or at gov.uk/wedding!

• Your first point of contact should be your wedding insurance. Give them a call and have a conversation about how your coverage works in regards to the pandemic. Make sure you get a clear answer on possible postponements and cancellations.  Secondly, contact all vendors you booked and find out what their stances are in light of the current situation. Some might have different plans prepared for different scenarios we may face in the upcoming months. Your wedding venue, for example, might no longer accept a large gathering even though they are still doing events and weddings, but might not let you know until you contact them yourself. 

• If your plan is to move the date, make sure you first talk to all your vendors and see if that is possible. Prepare to have a few possible dates that work for you, and find one that most of them are available for. You might have to find new vendors for specific things, so ensure your non-negotiables are all free on the same date.  

• If you are looking for a new date, consider less popular dates in the week and avoid the weekend. It is also a good idea to consider the less popular, off-peak months during autumn and winter. You might think that an autumnal wedding is not for you, but they can be absolutely stunning! Just check out this beautiful autumn wedding I shot in a gorgeous vintage hotel in Stevenage, during November. Each season can offer its own charms – and who knows, perhaps your wedding will take on a whole new aesthetic that you will completely fall in love with. Choosing less popular months and days can be the key difference between losing your favourite vendors and most of your vendors being available - which will help transfer the bookings seamlessly and with less fuss.  I will always do my best to work with your chosen day, but make sure to reach out quickly, as my dates for 2020 and 2021 are filling up fast.

• Consider eloping and having a reception later for all your friends and family. With my help, you can share wonderful pieces of your elopement in the form of photographs with all those you love. 

• Finalise the new plan and set things in motion. After finding the dates your suppliers and venue are available, make a plan for how to confirm, communicate, and deal with your postponement. With me, the process is quite simple and you already know the key things I am changing to help you envision your new plan worry-free. If you are still uncertain how specific aspects of our contract will be affected, please do not hesitate to contact me. 

What you can do to help in return

• You can leave me a Google review or a Facebook review. It’s a simple thing, but it goes a long way in terms of helping my little business. 

• You can engage with my social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, etc. by commenting, liking and sharing and help me spread the word of my services. 

• You can keep recommend me to everyone who is getting married in 2021 and I will be grateful to you forever and ever! 

• You can share my blogs on forums for brides and grooms or in your other social circles. 

• You can pin my photographs on Pinterest, with the appropriate website links. 

• You can let me know you have insurance and minimise my potential financial risk during this strange and unsteady time. 

Final words

All of us are in this strange new situation together. If you are experiencing any worry or anxiety over your wedding plans, I urge you to reach out - we all are human, we all understand what it feels like to be unsure. And as your wedding vendors, we are here to help. I am personally available throughout all the days in the week and you can contact me with any query, worry or thought that arises. I will respond as quickly as I can, without any judgement.

Finally, remember that even though there might be situations that are outside of our control, there are always ways to work around such instances. There are a multitude of small changes you can make to ensure your wedding happens and is just as wonderful and amazing as you wish it to be. Nothing stopped people marrying throughout history and I am certain nothing will continue to. Our collective love knows no bounds, and the stubborn creatures that we are, we always manage to somehow find a way.

With love,

Taia Aida

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Taia Aida Wedding Photography