Frequently asked questions about professional wedding photography | Nic Cleave Photography FAQ's

Nic writes and contributes to national wedding magazines across the UK regularly. You may find some of these articles useful. Click here to read previous editions of Nic's published work in UK wedding/bridal magazines.

We've seen your website and like your work. What should we do next?

Please contact us either by email or phone. The first thing we need to do (after offering you both our congratulations,) is to check that we are still free on your chosen day. The next stage is to invite you both to come along and meet us.

At the end of the meeting we will provide you with a pack of information and current price lists to enable you both to review our services and products at home. Many couples want to confirm their booking at this point, so we'll assist you with completing our simple booking form and ask you to leave a booking fee, but if you'd rather go away and have time to think, this is fine.


How do we book you and how much is the booking fee?


To secure your wedding photography booking with us we require just two things. A non-refundable booking fee of £300 (minimum,) and the return of our standard booking form. Because of the high number of enquiries we receive and the limited number of weddings Nic covers in a year (35), we do not hold dates open. You are of course free to contact us as often as you like to check that your date is still free.


We haven't set a date or chosen a venue yet but would like to book you. Is this possible?

Yes it is. We have worked with many couples in this situation and have even had couples change the date of their wedding because Nic was already booked on their first choice. We'll accept the booking form and booking fee to secure your date, and then work with you as you meet your venues to ensure that you choose a date that Nic is still free on.


When do we pay the balance due?

We require full payment on or before two months before the day of your wedding for all services and products requested. (Earlier payment is not a problem if preferred.)


Are there any extra 'hidden' costs?

No there aren't. We provide clear pricing information in our information sheets provided to couples at our meetings. Just to recap, here is a complete list of supplementary charges for mainland UK, effective as of Jan 1st each year.

VAT: All prices include VAT at the standard rate.

Mileage: For venues outside the 'South Wales' area is charged at £0.55 per mile, after the first 30 miles from our studio.

P+P: Wedding packages collected from our studio are free of P&P. If not collected, the following courier charges are made for delivery to UK mainland addresses:

CD's/DVD's and 'Thank You' cards:  £1.99 each.
Finished prints: £3.99 per order.
Main albums £25.00.
Parent albums £9.99 each.
Canvas/Block mount prints/Framed prints: £25.00 each.

Festive season wedding package supplements: Wedding coverage from Dec 24th until Jan 2nd inclusive: Premium packages + 10%, Classic packages + 15%


What happens if your prices increase or packages change before our wedding day?

Our package prices are guaranteed at the time you book us, no matter how far in advance that may be (up to a maximum of two years.) We do occasionally have to increase our prices as our suppliers increase theirs. Your chosen photographic coverage and album, together with any of our other optional services that are selected at the time of booking, are guaranteed. Services and products ordered later are charged at their current prices at the time of ordering, as displayed on this website.


Are your prices fixed and is there any discount for cash or just taking a few photos for us?

Yes and No. Our prices are carefully worked out to ensure that we can cover all of our overheads/running costs/insurance etc from the 35 weddings a year that Nic photographs. We can't therefore adjust our charges and unfortunately can not offer any discounts for 'cash' payments. Please note that we often receive two-to-three times more enquiries than we have booking spaces available, especially for the most popular dates of the year.

All of our clients already receive the same level of excellent service and value for money from us, which is another reason we do not offer discounts.

We often receive calls asking if we can "...take just a few photos during the ceremony and then a few afterwards..." Of course we can. However if this is all you require we will still have to charge you for one of our standard packages
. Please note that our packages are charged on a per-wedding basis, and not on the length of time we are with you on the day itself. Sometimes Nic may attend a wedding for as little as 6 hours, but more common is an attendance of 8-12 hours. Our package prices do not change as a result as we only ever accept one booking per day.


How long should we allow for photos on our wedding day?

This depends on how important the photographs of your day are to you.
10-20% of the couples who hire us request that Nic does not take any formal posed group shots, however the majority of couples will request that he takes a series of more formal group shots.

For couples with an average group of 100 guests who require
Nic's 'standard' group shots at their reception venue, together with a series of more 'intimate' bride and groom shots, we would suggest allowing at least two hours, if the shots are not to be rushed or limited in terms of variety and creativity. Obviously the actual amount of time set aside for your photos will depend on many factors like the weather on the day, choice of venue, time of service and serving of food at your meal, size of wedding party, the types of shots requested etc etc.

We provide our couples with an idea of how long to allow for their photos after discussing their requirements with them at our face-to-face meetings.


When and how do we pay for extra prints, extra albums and your other products?

At the time of ordering and in full. We require advance payment for any extra services ordered from us. Once your payment has cleared, your order will be processed.


When and how will we receive our prints and albums etc?

Complete packages are usually collected from
our studio. If preferred we can send your package by courier to your home or work address. Album and print orders will vary depending upon the time of year. From receipt of a print order, we would normally hope to get your prints to you within 2-3 weeks. Storybook albums can take up to 3-4 days to design and then up 4-6 weeks to be printed and bound and shipped back to us. These times may vary and we will keep our couples informed of any unusual delays.


Digital Enhancement v's Digital Re-Touching...?

All of the images from your day are taken through an extensive digital process before you get to see the proof prints. They are colour and contrast corrected with any major blemishes removed. We then further enhance your selected images that go into your album or are chosen for prints etc. Nic is a professional photographer so this 'Digital Enhancement' is part of his standard service to his clients.

However occasionally we are asked if we can..."make people dissapear..look 10 years younger... lose weight...add people who weren't in the original photo...remove complicated background scenery elements etc..." These requests are for 'Digital Retouching' and go beyond the realms of Nic's 'Digital Enhancement' of his work.

Digital retouching is a profession of it's own and these kinds of major changes to photos are best left to the professional re-touchers who are qualified graphic artists and illustrators (not photographers,) if the final prints are to look 'natural'. We have a re-touching company we can use if requested, but the costs are usually around £100 per hour (plus VAT,) and as they aren't included in our packages, they will of course have to be passed on to clients.


Do we have to include a wedding album?

No. Those couples who do not require a wedding album are free to select one of our main packages with a CD of high resolution images instead of a traditional album. A full range of luxury albums and parent albums is then available separately if required.


Can you supply smaller Parent albums and framed prints etc?

Yes we can. We can supply parent albums for any of our storybook packages and can supply 10 x
10 inch mini reportage album which holds either 20, 30 or 40 8 x 6 inch prints.


Does your photographic coverage include any prints?

Yes. Our two main album packages include all of your proof images (250-300,) supplied in a printed 'proof book' you to keep. This proof book will arrive within 10 days/two weeks of the wedding, probably while you are still on honeymoon!


Can we still order extra prints?

Yes of course. You are free to order any of the photographs from your day as extra prints in a variety of sizes in colour, sepia toned or black and white finishes or as selectively coloured photographs.


Why do you charge more for selectively coloured photographs? (Black and white prints with small hand-coloured areas.)

Because it takes a long time to process a selectively coloured print. We therefore have to charge more for this style of print when ordered. (Please note that any selectively coloured proof images will need to be re-processed if ordered as prints and album images.)


Why is there a minimum print order of three prints?

Every time we receive a print order we have to pay bank and postal charges to cash your cheque send our work off to our pro-lab, and then securely to our clients. We also have to invest time in processing the images that have been ordered. Unfortunately this means that we have to set a minimum order amount of three prints.


Can we order extra albums and services after the wedding day?


Yes you can. We archive your wedding photographs and can accept extra album, print, canvas print, CD and DVD orders up to
one year after your wedding day. Prices will however be charged at current rates when ordering.


How many photographs will we get and what time and photograph limits are there?


This depends on your chosen level of photographic coverage. When asked to cover an all day wedding
Nic will provide from 275 to 320 individual photographs, but again the exact number depends upon each couple as no two weddings are ever the same. Remember that you get to see every photograph from your day in our 'Proof Book,' which you can keep.

We do not impose limits on our photographic coverage.
Nic arrives when requested in the morning, and can stay as late as you need him. Photographic coverage ends after the speeches with our most popular 'Premium' packages, but Nic can stay later if required. We charge £12
5 per hour or part thereof from the end of the speeches (or start of the meal for Classic packages,) until we leave. The extra payable is invoiced at the same time as you receive your proofs.


Will we get to see all photographs taken?


No. As a professional photographer part of Nic's service is to selectively edit the images he takes so that you don't have to. Experience has shown us that when couples are faced with more than 300 images, selecting 60-90 for an album becomes an almost impossible (and very time consuming,) task. Rest assured that only duplicates and the
occasional 'unflattering' images are deleted from the final set of proof images you'll get to see.


How long will it take before our photographs and albums are ready?


Our aim is to have your proof prints ready within two weeks of your wedding, (though often this can be closer to 10 days.) We aim to return all print orders within 2-3 weeks of receiving them, and all
storyboard and reportage album orders within 4-6 weeks. (Our storybook albums once designed in-house by us, can take 4-6 weeks to be returned to us.) Once you have returned from honeymoon, your on-line galleries will be made available for friends and family to view for four weeks. We also select 10-12 images for display on our blog as a 'sneaky peak' within a few days of your big day. Friends and families can leave you personal messages below your images and many couples turn their blog sneaky peak into quite a community!


How can we view our photographs after the wedding?


Couples choosing an album package will receive all of their photographs (275-315,) as a printed proof book to keep, and be able to view an on-line slide-show of all their images. Couples choosing a digital package will have an on-line gallery of all their proof images which will be available for 1 month.


Can we choose the photographs in our album?


If you have chosen a storyboard or storybook album, we will ask you to select any images from your proofs
that you definitely don't want to see in your storybook album. Nic then selects either 60-70 images( for the storyboard albums,) or 80-100 individual images for a storybook album, that he feels best tell the story of your day and custom designs your album for you.

If you have selected our traditional reportage album, we'll ask you to select a pool of up to 90 photographs from all of those taken, and further select 8-10 images that you would like as large prints in the album.
Nic will then select the rest of the images from your 'pool' and design your reportage album accordingly, using a combination of different style page overlays, that may include from 1 to 6 individual prints per page. Reportage albums can contain from 45 to 90 individual photographs.


Can we
proof the album design before you order it?

Yes you can if you have ordered a reportage or storybook album. Just let us know and we'll arrange a time for you to come to our studio to check the design of your album before we send it off for printing. We include up to 5 image changes free of charge which
can be made during the meeting, and then charge £20 per image change thereafter, to cover the extra time involved in making further changes.

Most couples however trust Nic to design the album himself without needing to proof the design before its ordered. Of those who have visited us to proof their album, most only ask for a few changes to be made.


What's the difference between the DVD slide show and the CD of original images?


The DVD slide show included with
our main album packages does not contain any physical photographs which can be emailed or printed. It is a professionally authored digital show of every photograph set to music. It will play on most home DVD recorders and on most home computers.

The CD of original high resolution jpeg files, contains all the original individual photographs from your wedding day. These images can be emailed and printed, used as wallpaper and screen savers etc. In effect this disc is a complete set of the negatives from your wedding photographs. They are the same files that
Nic uses to prepare your print and album orders from. Please note that images supplied on our CD's will be technically perfect but will not have been prepared for printing. For this reason most of our couples come back to us if they require re-prints or enlargements as prints made at home will not do justice to the investment you have already made in your photography. The CD will not contain any black and white, sepia or selectively coloured images, and no 'fully processed' files (as seen in your prints or album images.)


Can you recommend any other wedding service providers we may still be looking for?

Yes we can. We only recommend companies and people that we have worked with before and know to provide the same high level of professional and friendly service as ourselves. Planning a wedding is not something that most people have experience at doing before. Therefore if we can be of any help in suggesting other vendors and providing their contact details, we're only too happy to assist you.


We are currently living overseas or in another area of the UK but will be getting married in Wales. Can we still book you as our wedding photographer?


Yes you can. We have very quickly developed a reputation for providing high quality wedding photography to couples in this exact situation. We ourselves planned a wedding overseas whilst living and working
abroad and fully appreciate the extra challenges that this can present. We have worked with couples who live all over the world, and of course all across the UK. We are always ready to help in any way we can.

If you are planning to return to Wales before your wedding, we can arrange a time to meet at your convenience. We simply email you all of our forms and information sheets and can accept
internet banking transfers for deposit and final balance payments. Then you only have to post your completed booking form back to us to guarantee your day. Later when you are able to visit us in person, we can discuss the finer details of your package and of course show the full range of work and services etc.


What's the process once we've sent you our booking fee and returned your booking form?


As soon as we have received your booking form and
booking fee we will send you a pdf receipt by email. We will also include a 'Balance Due Statement' which will confirm your chosen level of coverage, size and style of album, plus any optional services and products you have selected at this time. You will see exactly how much the balance payment will be, and we will provide you with the final due date. You are of course free to pay your balance at any time up to the final balance due date. You will also receive our 'Wedding Day Questionnaire' pdf which we will ask you to fill in over the coming year/months before your big day.

Two to three months before your big day we will ask you to send back your Wedding Day Questionnaire, to allow us to check your final details and plans.

The week before your wedding we'll contact by phone in the evening to check on any last minute changes to your plans.

As many couples book us 18/24 months before their wedding day, we are available to answer any questions you may have throughout the time that passes between you booking us and your wedding day arriving. We enjoy building a comfortable relationship with you, which means that you should feel at ease calling us with any questions which you may think of, and we always enjoy hearing how your other preparations are going.


Do you photograph same-sex civil partnership ceremonies?

Yes. We have no problem photographing your same-sex civil partnership ceremony and Nic has experience of covering this type of day for a number of couples.
Click here for more information
.


Do you photograph winter weddings?

Yes.
Nic has extensive experience of creating breath-taking wedding images even during the short, dark, cold winter months. Visit our gallery page here to see stunning images from winter weddings we have photographed.


Do you charge any extra for winter weddings?

No we don't. Even though it may be technically more difficult to photograph a winter wedding, we do not charge a single penny more for this service, (unless it's at Xmas/New Year.)


What would happen in the unlikely event that you were unable to attend our wedding?

Firstly, Nic would need to be hospitalised or physically unable to make it to your wedding, to not be there. In the unlikely event of this happening, or of an accident/breakdown on the way to your wedding, we would of course keep you fully informed of the situation.

If  ill or hospitalised before the day of your wedding, we would try our best to find a replacement photographer from those that we network closely with. Rest assured we would only be happy with another photographer who we feel would be able to provide a similar level of service and photographic style. (We of course would do the same for our colleagues.)

For those couples who are not reassured by the above, we can recommend several wedding day insurance companies that will provide insurance against situations like this, should you be unfortunate enough to have them happen to you.


Do you have insurance?

Yes we do. As a professional photographer
Nic has invested in full public liability insurance to cover himself for accidents on public or private property and he also has professional indemnity and of course equipment insurance, with multiple back ups of all his essential equipment.


What's your cancellation policy?

All cancellations must be advised to us in writing by post. We can not accept emails or telephone cancellations for reasons of client security.

Our
booking fee taken to secure your date and booking is non-refundable. If you cancel your booking due to a date change and we are still free on this new date, we will not charge you a second booking fee, but will expect full payment for your wedding photography package at the time the new date is agreed and confirmed.

For weddings that are cancelled at any time from booking confirmation up to
six months before the day, we charge 50% of the remaining balance payment. For weddings cancelled within six months, we charge 80% of the remaining balance. If we re-book your date with another wedding we will refund your cancellation fee in full. However, as most of our clients book our services 12-18 months in advance of their big day, we are unlikely to re-book a date that is cancelled within a year of the date.

Obviously we appreciate that the reasons for
canceling a wedding are usually serious and personally distressing, however we run a small family business which is based on trust and good faith. We take a limited number of bookings up to three years in advance and most months end up being fully booked 12 to 18 months prior to the date. Once we have confirmed a date we often receive many other requests from interested couples who are getting married on the same date. These are always referred on to other photographers, so when a cancellation occurs, our business turnover and family income for the year can be seriously affected, which is why we have such a strict cancellation policy which will be upheld in all situations regardless of circumstances.

By signing our wedding photography booking form, all couples are deemed to have read, understood and agreed to this cancellation policy, and it is followed in all situations.


We've seen your website and love your photography but we live far away and are unable to meet you. We're worried someone else might book you on our date?

As mentioned above, we work with many couples who are planning their weddings in Wales from other locations in the UK and the across the world. Unfortunately as we receive so many enquiries throughout the year, we do not hold dates open. If you have contacted us and been told that your date is still currently available, you are more than welcome to contact us as often as you like to check that this is still the case.

Many couples in this situation are desperate to ensure that we are not booked on their date. On request we are able to email you our booking form (together with all our other information,) and can accept retainer payments by cheque or
internet banking transfer. Once the booking form is then received in the post, your date is guaranteed.

Please be assured that many couples confirm their bookings with us in this way, without even meeting us based on the strength of our website. Although meeting you before your big day is not absolutely vital, we would strongly suggest that you make an appointment to meet us just before the big day when you arrive in the area, so that you will both feel comfortable with us on the day itself.



We've met another studio who offer two photographers. Isn't this better than just having one?

Nic works extremely hard to ensure that his coverage of a wedding day is as unobtrusive as possible, yet he is still able to produce award-winning images on a regular basis. When working with his wife Diana in the past, he found that guests naturally expected him to 'take over' the running of each wedding they photographed. Waiting for the stereotypical 'orders' to be shouted at everyone. This situation arises all the time when there are multiple photographers photographing the same wedding.

This is not Nic's style and is not the reason his reputation has grown so quickly across the UK. Many studios who offer 'two photographers' will simply hire a second shooter for the day. This person may be a great photographer, but there is usually a good reason as to why they are working for someone else!


We've met another studio who offer photography and video packages combined. Won't this save us money over hiring two individual companies?

Yes, sometimes it will. But like everything in life, it usually follows that if you want the best quality product, it's often found from a specialist supplier. Nic believes that videography is a specialist discipline of it's own, and he would never attempt to provide this kind of service to his couples in a 'professional' capacity, as he is a stills photographer.

We can recommend a fantastic specialist videographer who's style compliments Nic's still photography perfectly. Contact us for details or mention it when you meet us.


We found another photographer who offers storybook/reportage packages cheaper than yours. Why should we book you?   

Don't make the common mistake of simply comparing the contents of packages between different photographers. If you wish to have poor quality photography in a 'pretty package' then book the cheaper photographer. If you're on a budget and the quality of your photography is still important to you, spend your budget on the quality of your photographer, not the contents of your package.

A shoe-box of consistently high quality, award-winning photos can always be mounted in a luxury high quality album at a later date when you have won the lottery, but poor quality photos in a pretty album will always serve to remind you of the mistake you made in the choice of photographer for your special day! Obviously budgets are important to most people, but our simple advice is always to spend as much as you can afford on your photography, even if it's not with us! After the big day, other than your dress in a box in the attic, it's all you'll have left to look back on.

We also sup
ply only the finest quality albums available anywhere in the world. As with everything, you get what you pay for, and quality costs. We have seen some packages from photographers in the UK that cost less than the actual trade costs of the albums we supply to our couples! It doesn't take a genius to work out exactly what the difference is!

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Frequently asked questions about wedding photography