A difficult day

Thursday night was a difficult night. I had arranged to go and see a really nice couple about Photographing their Wedding next June. They had first contacted me a week or so back but we could not get together until Thursday due to work commitments. We had a good chat, they liked my work and I was fairly sure they would book me but I never like to take a booking at the first meeting, it seems like hard sell somehow. I think it’s better that the couple have the opportunity to chat about it after I have gone.

I set off home in the snow, when I arrived there was a letter through the door, it had not been delivered by the postie but it was stamped. I now know that it had gone to a neighbor by mistake and they had put it through the  door for me. In this envelope was a booking form and deposit cheque for  a Wedding, it was the same date as the couple I had been to see. Digging frantically through my emails I found an email enquiry going back 2 months from this lady. She had emailed asking if I was free and if I could send a price list, I get emails like this all the time and always say that at the time of writing I am free. However, this lady had just sent in a booking form. I wasn’t sure what to do and I wandered round the house for a while thinking about it. I finally came to the conclusion that I had to go with the people that had “officially” booked me first. So, I emailed the couple from Dundee and explained the situation, they emailed back saying how disappointed they were as they had already filled the booking form and were planning on posting it.

I feel really bad about this as the couple from Dundee were really lovely and for various reasons their Wedding was going to be different, very colourful and I was very much looking forward to photographing it. I struggled to get to sleep that night! I’ve decided that I must firm up on the booking process, I’m quite lax in the amount of time I give people to confirm their booking with me but from next year I’ll be a lot stricter, I never want this situation to develop again. So, if anyone reading this plans to book me, please do let me know as soon as possible and remember, the booking is not confirmed until I receive the form and deposit.