Because the party must go on

You've been planning your wedding for months, maybe years now...you've gone through the time-consuming effort of finding the perfect vendors, venue, outfit, and most importantly, partner, for your wedding. And now, you're being forced between the decision of rescheduling or canceling altogether due to a world pandemic.

A sentence that we never imagined we would be writing.

If you're reading this that means that we're the lucky humans you've chosen and trusted to document one of the most precious and memorable days of your life. We want to take this time to reiterate how much we value the connection and relationship that we have already established and how vital sustaining that healthy relationship will be come the day of your wedding. That being said, due to how stressful of a time this is for everyone, we want to do everything within our power to maintain transparency and an open channel of vulnerability with each of my couples. We want you to feel safe sharing your needs with us moving forward. We want you to know that while we are your photographer, we are also someone who cares deeply about you, our couples, who inspire and support us as we chase this dream of documenting the power of love.

We realize that some of you are in the service industry and have been forced to file for unemployment, some of you have lost your jobs and your healthcare that follows, some of you have mortgages, parents you take care of, medicine that is becoming increasingly harder to afford, and family members that live abroad.

Every single one of you has a multitude of stressors that are involved not just with the fears that come with a pandemic, but also the fears that arise with planning a wedding and having invested so much money into a day that you have awaited with excitement. Which is why we wanted to take a moment and put together a page that not only shares our Covid-19 rescheduling policy but also provides resources that will hopefully make this stressful time, less stressful.

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Covid-19 Rescheduling Policies

1. Clients may reschedule to any date within 2020 in which we are available. Your retainer will be applied to your new date and all rescheduling fees will be waived. A rescheduling contract will be required to secure your new date.

2. Clients may reschedule to a peak Saturday in 2021 in which we are available for. To book a peak Saturday in 2021 the remaining balance will be due and 50% of my 2021 booking rate [per time contracted] will be applied as a change fee. Change fee is waived for non-peak dates: Friday, Sunday or winter (November - January).

3. Clients who choose to cancel their wedding altogether are subject to the terms agreed upon in our contract but have the option of transferring monies paid to an alternate service for future use.

To be fair to couples whose wedding is being directly affected by Covid-19 the above Covid-19 rescheduling policy is only applicable to couples who are being immediately forced to reschedule their wedding due to government and state mandates. Couples who are not within a 4-8 week window of the current estimated end of the government mandated Shelter in Place will be subject to the rescheduling clause outlined in their contract.

Thank you for understanding.

Now that our rescheduling policies have been shared we are sure you have questions - many of which that we would probably have if we were individuals being affected by this virus. We believe open communication is important, and as a small business in a global pandemic we have no option but to be vulnerable with you, the wonderful humans who have made the choice to support our small business. Some of you are in the event and service industry and some of you are even in the wedding industry and understand first hand how delicate our booking seasons are. But to simplify answers and questions, we're listing them below in a Q & A format to hopefully answer your questions without forcing you to read any further lengthy paragraphs that may not pertain to you.

Thank you! 

We will be in touch
with you shortly!

We hope the questions above provided some insight as to why these policies are in place. If after reading the questions above you find that your questions went unanswered, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at hello@aprilandpaul.com.

Q: What if you're not available for a date that the rest of our vendors are? 
A: Unfortunately, when you move your wedding to a date in which we are unavailable for it is still considered a cancellation.
If you would like to retain your entire vendor team and not lose your retainers/fees paid it might be a good idea to consider Friday’s, Sunday’s, as well as weekdays. 

Q: In the instance we go with a date that you’re not available, can we get a partial refund?
A: This is dependent upon our contracted terms, however, for couples who are choosing to cancel we are able to offer credit of monies paid towards future services.

Q: Our wedding is not until Fall (August-November) should we reschedule now?
A: We are strongly encouraging couples whose wedding date is not being directly affected by a state mandated Force Majeure or whose date is not within a four to eight week window of when the Force Majeure is expected to end to hold off on rescheduling. Right now, vendors and venues are working over time to provide available dates to their couples who are being directly affected by state and government orders.

Q: We're looking at several dates in which you're available, can you reserve those dates for us while we're deciding on what to do?
A: For our couples who are already booked with us, we are providing the option to "stronghold" 2 dates in which we are available. Meaning we will hold two dates for you without a retainer until you decide which date works for you and your entire vendor team. In the instance another inquiry hopes to book the dates in which you have held, you will have the first right to refusal. However, without a signed contract for the new date we can only hold a date for 24 hours once a new inquiry has been made.

Please only stronghold a date once you have contacted all of your vendors about their availability and feel confident that you will move forward with one of the dates held.

Q: Can we reschedule to a date in 2021 without a fee?
A: Yes! You can move your wedding to any Friday, Sunday or weekday in 2021 at no additional cost so long as it’s within a 12 month window of your original date.

Q: Why is there an additional fee if we choose to move our wedding to a Saturday in 2021?
A: This is a wonderful question, and one that is going to require us sharing a bit about how our small business survives year in and year out. As  full time wedding photographers, we have 38 Saturday’s per year to make our income for the year (this excludes Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 12 Winter Saturday’s between November-January).
Our small business depends on booking these 38 Saturday’s with new income so that it can sustain itself for the year and continue to grow as a small business. Consider, hypothetically, that about 25+ of our current 2020 couples request to move their date to a Saturday in 2021, that would leave us with 13 available Saturdays in 2021 to make new income for the year.

Our business could not financially sustain that impact, which is currently a very real and dark reality for many small businesses, especially in the wedding industry. Which is why we are asking our couples to meet us half way and to consider the other 327 days in the year to get married at no additional cost to them.

For couples who would like to move forward in booking a prime Saturday in 2021 we are requiring that the remaining balance of their current contract as well as an additional 50% of a new collection fee at my current booking rate. Please keep in mind that many vendors are not providing this option to their clients, however, we are willing to take a 50% loss of profit per Saturday in 2021 for the couples who are already booked with us and feel that a Saturday in 2021 is their only option to move forward.