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Who Signs the Wedding Contract?
We've all seen the tv shows and the Youtube videos of the crazy bridezillas. We've heard the stories, and a few of us have even had the displeasure of dealing with one of them. One way to help protect ourselves is with our wedding contracts. Creating one with the perfect wording is an art unto itself, and even then it needs to be looked over by an attorney. Riff recently posted a situation that he's facing where the Mother of the Bride (MOB) wants to sign the contract instead of the bride. In true NoBS fashion, our Resident Curmudgeon Tom pulled no punches and told it how it is.
Originally Posted By: Riff
Julie has been in phone contact with a mother of the bride who is somewhat local to us; I have no idea where the bride is. Just before the bride's parents left for Mexico for a few weeks, they sent us a check to book their daughter's wedding. Sweet.
Sweet? With no contract? I do not consider that a booking. A check without a contract or a contract without a check is useless. Actually, worse than useless as it raises erroneous expectations on the part of the would-be client. They THINK they have the date... when they do not.
Sooner or later your policy of accepting checks like that is going to bite you in the ass.
Last night, Julie informed me that the MOB wants to take care of the contract as well. My instinct tells me that this is a really bad idea, and it'd be much better to have the bride's signature. Am I off base here? Is there a problem with the MOB signing the contract instead of the bride/groom?
The nibbles are already starting. Chunks will follow.
Long ago a lawyer advised me to have the fewest signatures possible on my contracts and I have always had ONLY the bride sign unless insurmountable overriding conditions made that impossible.
There are many reasons for this. All parties that sign your contract have an equal say in its performance. What if the MOB wants different photography than the bride? If the MOB signed, she has just as much right to say "no pictures between the ceremony and reception, there is not enough time" as the bride does to say "we would like some alone time shots between the ceremony and reception". How would Solomon divide THAT baby?
If the MOB alone signs, SHE is your client, not the Bride. What the MOB says will have to be what you do, unless you just enjoy spending time in front of a judge.
Another thing is if you have clients that pay for the wedding themselves and both sign the contract, what happens when the Bride finds the prospective groom sleeping with her prospective MOH and calls the whole thing off? Who gets any refunds? What if both parties then claim THEY paid the whole thing and want all the money? What happens if you also toss the MOB into that mess?
With one signature, all that goes away. One signature on the contract, one refund check to THAT person only. Done.
What if MOB has the money and is buying the photography, but you still want only the Bride to sign? Easy. I sell the MOB a gift certificate for whatever amount the Bride needs. She buys the gift certificate from me, gives it to the Bride, Bride gives it to me, done. That way, the MOB cannot come back claiming that since SHE paid, she has a say in the end result.
If all else fails, and a third party has to sign (which happens to me at times because I shoot some destination weddings here in Florida and south Georgia and never meet the bride until the wedding day) then you have to recognize that the person signing is your client and hope for the best. This is done by setting the proper expectations well in advance and talking to all the concerned parties to make sure they are all on the same page.
This worked EXTREMELY well for me in one of my last weddings last year. Local FOG paid for the photography. Came for the consult, did the research, hired me, signed the contract... But I made SURE he knew I was contacting the Bride to go over the photography requirements and he was fine with that. Even so, had he been a ass to deal with, I would have been stuck with him because HE was my client. As it was, everything was fine.
In the case you are dealing with at present, I would start talking to the Bride NOW and getting a feel for her expectations of the day so that if you get any contrary vibes from the MOB, you will be able to head off any incipient problems.
Tom