Last weekend, in the span of one hour, we had two particular inquiries for wedding photography that gave us some insight into the flip side of weddings – how things are from the customer perspective.

The first message was for a Saturday in August 2007 – the client wanted to know if we’d travel to such-and-such-a-place and what the charge would be. The second was from a client that wanted to book ASAP for a Saturday in August 2008 and was hoping that this "first choice" date was still available. The August 07 inquiry was assuming that the date was available, and it was just a matter of picking a photographer. The August 08 inquiry was thinking the date could already be gone and was prepared to switch their wedding to a Friday to get us.

I feel bad for the client that contacts me now – often frantic – looking for a date in July or August of this year. All of that stuff was booked and confirmed a year ago. So I just apologize and send them on to a few other people who’s work I like, often knowing that they’re most likely booked too. It’s particularly bad when the client sends a very thoughtful message and comments on a particular picture saying why they like the work and that they really want us. Sometimes they’ll ask to be put on a waiting list – which is a lost cause I’m afraid.

These two inquiries made it abundantly clear that people don’t always know what they’re getting into when planning a wedding. The problem is that it’s not something you do every day, and hopefully something that you’ll do only once, so how could you possibly know when the planning should start. Seriously, who in their right mind would think of planning a party two years in advance?

So – long story short – we decided to stick this Booking Percentage Counter on the top of the News page at the wedding site. How does it work? We ask the computer for the number of confirmed bookings that we currently have between the start of May till the end of October and divide that by the number of events we’re willing to cover. Hopefully this will help those planning a wedding to put things in perspective a bit.

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