"Free" engagement shoot

Sounds like BS to me.

I'd say $500 is high for engagement photos.

We paid $200 for our engagement photos and that included the disk.

I wouldn't go, that sounds scam-y. A lot of photographers offer $175-$200 for an engagement shoot with the disk of photos to do with as you please.

Our engagement shoot and photos were included in the total package.

Sounds like bait and switch.

That is very scam sounding. Usually they go for 200ish.

ETA including photos

My photographer included the engagement shoot in our package price, but I wasn't required to buy anything. That seems fishy to me.

My photographer included the engagement session with our package for the wedding; but I've never seen an engagement session priced about $200, I wouldn't do it. We had something similar, we did our free session that we won from our local bridal expo, and then met her to see the proofs and decide if we wanted to order, and then she got extremely rude, we were only allowed to order certain things, she kept pushing extras we didn't want. We ended up not ordering any from her and had another session where the disk was included.

Seems extremely fishy. Not only that, but you should contact the Expo host that had them as a vendor and let them know of the situation as well. They may not want these people in their next Expo if this is how they are going to treat their brides.

Hi Justine! What does your contract say? Was the "free engagement shoot" written down as a policy, contract, or receipt anywhere?

So our contract is $200 for engagements.. BUT if we like them and want to continue with that photographer, he will put the $200 towards the deposit- thus making them "free"

Basically making sure he gets paid even if we back out.

(we did our pictures yesterday and he spent FIVE HOURS with us. We did a special shoot but he was awesome about accommodating us)

I would cancel it if I were you.

This is why the phrase "nothing is free, everything comes with a price" was coined. Cancel.

@wwLynnie in the email that I received for their special offer under the gifts section it does say free engagement shoot nothing about an additional cost.

What's the contract say?

I have seen at least one photography package in my area (NYC) that included an e-shoot for $500, but you get a discount on that if you booked him for your wedding.

Our engagement session came with our package. Did you already put down a deposit?

What company is it? I'm in Florida too.

Our engagement session was $225 with 2 hours of session time. 75+ photos on a disc with print rights. That is ridiculous!

Unfortunately we did I already paid 1/2 = $1700. And its non refundable or we probably would have cancelled them already for previous issues

I won our engagement photos. She had a little competition where people sent her their story and she chose the people she wanted to shoot for free. There was no money down, no promise to book with her. She even let us pick where in her area we wanted to go. She was about 1 1/2 away and we had to go to her but it was 100% free. Now as for the prints, she gave us a link to all of the photos she edited and then gave us 4 free prints. If you booked with her for your wedding you got access to all the prints you wanted. I wouldn't book with the photographer you're having a shoot with tomorrow. That is very deceptive of them and I wouldn't trust those types of people not to hide something from me when it came to my wedding.