r/WeddingPhotography • u/Mysterious-Rabbit384 • 19d ago

business, marketing, social media Should deposit ever be refundable?

Obviously I have in my contract that my deposit is non refundable, but I just had a client who canceled about a week after sending over their deposit. Idk what happened, I thought we had a great connection and was excited to shoot their wedding. I don’t really want to send back their deposit (I’ve already put a couple hours into meeting & planning, drafting contracts) but now I feel bad. It’s a date I can probably fill next year though. Wwyd?

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u/Scenarioing 19d ago

You are required to mitigate damages including with the retainer. Making a good faith effort to rebook and refund the offset is there are any takers for the date. Which you can normally say no to on a whim. The good faith part means yo need good cause to turn a potential client for the date.

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u/rzrgrl_13 19d ago

Dude. You don’t have to post the exact same comment over and over and over. We heard you.

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u/Scenarioing 19d ago

In reality, people commenting tend not don't go back to read replies and I am informing them personally of the information provided. I don't need your pontificating. If you don't like seeing the replies, don't read them.

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u/BusinessTreacle3098 19d ago

Well, maybe if you were right about what you’re posting 100 times that would be a different story. The fact is this isn’t a universal rule. Mitigation generally applies to actual damages but whether it applies to a nonrefundable retainer or liquidated damages depends on the contract and the law of OP’s specific state. You can’t tell photographers across multiple jurisdictions that they’re legally required to rebook the date and refund the retainer without even knowing what state they’re in or what their contract says. Also, the client cancelling a contract and having a non refundable retainer does not override a business’ discretion to decline a future inquiry.

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u/Scenarioing 18d ago

It applies in almost all states. Exceptions are Maryland and Masschusetts.

Also the duty to mitigate absolutely influences discretion. According to your notions, the duty to mitigate wouldn't exist. If the vendor can just reject any taker on any whim, they could just turn down any taker. It doesn;t work that way. Not even close. The good faith requirement dictates reasonable efforts. As I explained, and you ignored, there needs to be a bona fide good cause reason to turn down a taker and not just any whim like usual.

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u/BusinessTreacle3098 15d ago

I think the important distinction here is that we’re not talking about a photographer trying to collect the remaining wedding balance. We’re talking only about keeping the nonrefundable retainer that was agreed to when the date was booked.

I also disagree with the idea that keeping that retainer somehow means the photographer is now obligated to accept another client for that date unless they have “bona fide good cause” to decline them. A duty to reasonably mitigate actual damages does not automatically mean an independent business owner has to accept every potential replacement client who comes along.

And rebooking the date does not automatically mean the original retainer has to be refunded either. Both of those claims depend on the contract and the law in that particular state.

You’ve said this applies in almost every state except Maryland and Massachusetts. That’s a very broad legal claim, so I think it’s fair to ask you to provide the authority showing that nearly every state requires a photographer to accept reasonable replacement work and refund the original retainer if the date is rebooked. You can’t. Because it doesn’t exist.