I get it, some people want a deal. I also get that some photographers need work. But at what price? Bridalnegotiator.com is new find a wedding vendor portal with a pretty unique take on the selection process.
As a bride the premise sure sounds great on paper. Pick your vendors from their list, set your price, the vendors you picked review the price, one of them accepts it and you save money!
Agh… the Priceline business model! Good for saving a buck or two BUT (notice how large the BUT is) have you ever noticed how there really aren’t Bed & Breakfasts listed on Priceline? Most wedding photographers are boutique single shooter studios with limited resources just like a Bed & Breakfast. They do not make a living based on quantity and if they truly make their living as a professional wedding photographer they simply will not have the margins to offer you a deal of a lifetime. So even if, as a wedding vendor listed on the site, you manage to score a decent paying wedding how will the clients, their friends and family be looking at you? Do you want to be known as the photographer that they scored a killer deal on?
So my prediction for a service such as this is it will be rife with Start-ups, Uncle Bobs, Moms with Cameras and Multi-shooter Chain studios who buy up random photographers on the cheap to fill the job.
So as professional wedding photographers is this even a service you would want to be associated with? Do you want to be a budget driven commodity? Let us know what you think in the comments section or discuss it with your fellow DWF Pro members here.
5 Comments at "Big Thumbs Down for Bridal Negotiator"
See a need and fill it.
Who cares what other people think about your business plan…. isn’t that what we boutique photographers have to say to ourselves when things aren’t going well?
B+B’s are offering two for one deals through such places as Stash Tea. Maybe they don’t use Priceline but they do use other branded high end connections to attract business.
So then Paul you’d be ok with everyone at the wedding know the bride got you on a deal site for a song?
As a small business owner I’m not ok with that. When I started, like everyone, I was cheap and with cheap came no respect and problems. When people place value on their photography all sorts of perks come along with that. Like being treated with respect and courtesy. The way this site is setup photographers are little more than a commodity. I for one do not really wish to be a commodity.
I agree with you about the commodity thing. However I cannot control what anyone at a wedding thinks about my prices. I am certain that many there would consider me to be WAY too expensive! Others would think I am a bargain. Some of those guests treat me with respect, some with disrespect….
How the client found me is not on anyone’s mind.
Being treated with courtesy has nothing to do with our price. One venue here in Pittsburgh treats ALL photographers, Videographers and DJ’s like third class citizens…. no matter what price they are charging the bride and groom.
I treat ALL my clients like the great people that I think they are,( no matter how they treat me.)
Shoot a wedding for free( i.e. for charity, publicity, or maybe for another photographer that doesnt want to pay up-even though its our own industry), and you are considered a saint, and get high fives from the wedding community.
Shoot a wedding for anything less than your published rate(even if its only a couple hundred bucks), and you are killing the industry.
We are such hypocrites.
BridalNegotiator seems to be an excellent place for wannabe photographers to hook up with cheapskate bargain-basement brides. If your ambition is to be the cheapest photographer on the block, this is the place to be listed. To me, it sounds like an incubator for wedding photography horror stories, and lots of litigation. See that long line of sedans lined up outside? Lawyers, waiting to sue photographers on behalf of disappointed cheapskate brides. Oh, have you read the legal agreement? Bridal Negotiator owns the copyright to your photos. If your photos “fail to meet the Site User’s expectations” and you get sued, you’re on your own baby. If your bride sues BridalNegotiator, you have to pay for their defense lawyer. And if you get hit by a bus the week before the wedding and wind up in the hospital, you owe Bridal Negotiator $1,500 unless you are laid up for at least 60 consecutive days. Still sound like a good deal to you?
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