Wedding photography contract checklist: what it should say, and how Lens & Vows handles each point

A contract is the only record of what you and the photographer agreed once the emails are forgotten. The disagreements it prevents are about things nobody wrote down: the hour the photographer left, the number of photos, a post on Instagram, a fee for driving to the Douro. The checklist below takes each point in turn — what a good contract says, why it matters, and how Lens & Vows handles it.

On Lens & Vows, what you book is what the photographer’s package describes, together with anything you and the photographer agree in writing in our messages; for the money that goes through us, our terms apply. If your photographer also sends a contract of their own, read it alongside them. Whoever you book, you can use this list.

1. Is the day described exactly?

• The date, and every place: where each of you gets ready, the ceremony, the reception.
• The hours, with a start and a finish — and whether they start at your door or when the photographer leaves home.
• Who will photograph: the photographer by name, and a second photographer if there is one.
• Whether travel between places counts in the hours.

On Lens & Vows: what is booked is the package — its hours among it — plus anything agreed in writing in our messages. The booking is confirmed when the deposit is paid, and the date is then blocked in the photographer’s calendar.

2. What exactly is delivered, and by when?

• A minimum number of edited photos, not a target — and whether black-and-white versions count separately.
• The form: an online gallery, full-resolution files, web-sized copies, an album and its size and pages.
• The delivery date, or a number of weeks, and previews if any.
• How long the gallery stays online, and how you download it.
• What happens if delivery is late.

On Lens & Vows: delivery — how many photos, in what form and by when — is what the package and your agreement with the photographer say. When the gallery arrives, look through it, and tell the photographer and us before you accept it if something is wrong. A balance paid through us is paid to the photographer after you accept the gallery, or automatically 14 days after delivery. How many wedding photos to expect has the published numbers.

3. What does it cost, and when is each payment due?

• The total price, with taxes. EU consumer law requires a trader selling at a distance to give the total price inclusive of taxes before you are bound (Directive 2011/83/EU, article 6). In Portugal, IVA is 23% on the mainland; the Azores and Madeira set lower rates.
• The currency, and who bears the cost of conversion.
• The deposit: how much, when, how it is paid, and what it secures.
• The balance: how much, by when, how — and a receipt for every payment.
• Anything that may be added: travel, overtime, an album, a second photographer.

On Lens & Vows: when the photographer accepts, you pay the deposit — 30% of their price — through us, by card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or MB WAY in euros; it is part of the price, not an extra, and includes our commission. The balance is your choice: straight to the photographer on their terms, with nothing extra (an arrangement between you and them), or through us by card in up to 3 instalments, the last 14 days before the wedding, with a 5% payment-protection fee shown before you pay. Prices are shown in the currency you choose; if you pay in a currency other than the photographer’s, each payment is converted when it is made, and you see the exact amount before you pay. Card payments are processed by Stripe; we never see or store your full card number. Until the deposit is paid you and the photographer talk through Lens & Vows; if you pay a photographer you found here outside Lens & Vows for the booking itself, we cannot protect that money. More in how deposits and payment protection work.

4. What if we cancel?

• Whether the deposit comes back, and if not, why.
• A refund schedule for anything paid beyond the deposit, by how far ahead you cancel.
• How to cancel: in writing, to whom.

On Lens & Vows: cancel with the Cancel the wedding booking button on your booking page, under My wedding — it shows what comes back before you confirm, and tells the photographer and us. The deposit is not refunded: it held the date, and the photographer turned other work away for it. Of the balance you have already paid through us — one instalment or all of them — you get back:

The 5% payment-protection fee is not refunded when you cancel: it paid the card fees.

5. What if the photographer cancels?

• A full refund of everything you paid, deposit included.
• Help finding a replacement, and by when.
• What happens if they simply don’t turn up.

On Lens & Vows: you get back everything you paid through us — the deposit and the payment-protection fee included — and we help you find another photographer who is free on your date. A photographer who does not turn up on the day is removed from Lens & Vows.

6. Can we change the date?

• Whether a change is allowed, how many times, and at what cost.
• What happens if the photographer isn’t free on the new date: does it count as your cancellation?
• Whether what you paid moves with the booking.

On Lens & Vows: one change of date is free, if the photographer is free on the new day.

7. What if the photographer is ill on the day?

• A named replacement of similar experience and style, and whether you can see their work and say no.
• Who arranges and pays for the replacement.
• A refund if no replacement can be found.
• And if one of you is ill: whether a date change is possible, and on what terms.

On Lens & Vows: our terms don’t treat illness separately. If the photographer cancels, for whatever reason, you get back everything paid through us and we help you find another photographer free on your date. If you can’t marry on the day, the free date change and the cancellation rules above apply.

8. Who owns the photos, and what may each of you do with them?

This is the point contracts most often skip, and Portuguese law has defaults worth knowing:

• Rights in photos made to order. The author of a photograph has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and sell it — but if the photograph is made on commission, that right is presumed to belong to the person who commissioned it (Código do Direito de Autor, article 165).
• Portraits made to order. Unless agreed otherwise, a commissioned photograph of a person may be published or reproduced by the person photographed without the photographer’s consent; if the photographer’s name is on the original, it must be credited on reproductions (article 168).
• Your image. A person’s portrait may not be exhibited, reproduced or sold without their consent (Código Civil, article 79).

Contracts often change the first default: many photographers keep the copyright and give the couple a licence to use the photos personally. That is fine, as long as it is written down. Check that the contract says:

• Who holds the copyright, and what you may do: print, share on social media, give to family, send to a magazine — with or without a credit.
• What the photographer may do: show the photos on their website and social media, enter competitions, publish them, give them to the venue or other suppliers — and whether you can say no, to all of it or to some photos.
• Your guests: whether the photographer may publish photos where guests are recognisable.

On Lens & Vows: copyright, and how you may use and share the photos, are agreed between you and the photographer; our terms note that most photographers keep the copyright and give couples the right to use the photos personally. Ask before you book if this matters to you, and put the answer in writing in our messages.

9. What happens to our personal data?

Photos of identifiable people are personal data under the GDPR, which applies in Portugal as everywhere in the EU. A professional photographer handling them for their business is responsible for them: when collecting your data they must tell you who they are, why they process it and how long they will keep it (GDPR, article 13); they may keep it no longer than needed (article 5(1)(e)) and must protect it, including against accidental loss (article 5(1)(f)); and you can ask for it to be erased in the cases the law sets out (article 17). Your own sharing of your wedding photos with family and friends is a personal activity outside the GDPR (recital 18). In Portugal, complaints go to the CNPD, the data-protection authority. Check that the contract or the photographer’s privacy notice says:

• What they keep, and for how long: the originals, the edited files, your contact details.
• Who else sees them: a gallery host, an editor, an album printer.
• What they publish, and how you withdraw consent.

On Lens & Vows: our terms don’t set how a photographer stores or uses your photos — that is part of your agreement with them, so ask the questions above. How we handle your own data on Lens & Vows is in our privacy notice.

10. Are the files backed up, and for how long are they kept?

• On the day: ask whether the photographer records each photo to two memory cards at once.
• Afterwards: how many copies, and where. A common rule is 3-2-1 — three copies, on two different devices, one of them off-site.
• How long they keep your files after delivery, and whether you can ask for another copy later.
• What happens if files are lost despite all that.

On Lens & Vows: not set by our terms — agree it with the photographer, in writing in our messages. Whatever they keep, download your gallery as soon as it arrives and keep your own copies in more than one place.

11. Who pays for travel and stays?

• Whether travel is included, and within what area.
• What is charged on top: distance, tolls, flights, a car, a hotel night, meals.
• Who books flights and rooms, and by when.

On Lens & Vows: what is included is what the package describes; anything else — a night in the Douro, a flight to Madeira — agree in writing in our messages before the deposit is paid. What a wedding photographer costs explains how travel moves the price.

12. What happens if the day runs over?

• The price of an extra hour, and whether it is charged by the hour or the half hour.
• Who can say yes on the day, and how it is paid.
• Meals and breaks: when the photographer eats on a long day.

On Lens & Vows: extra hours are not set by our terms — agree the price in writing in our messages, before the day. How many hours of photography you need shows how a Portuguese timeline uses them.

13. What if something goes wrong, and which law applies?

• How to complain, to whom and how fast they answer.
• Which law governs the contract, and where disputes are heard.
• The right of withdrawal. The EU’s 14-day right to cancel a contract made online generally does not apply to leisure services booked for a specific date (Directive 2011/83/EU, article 16(l)), so the cancellation clauses are what protect both sides.

On Lens & Vows: write to info@lensandvows.com first; a person will answer and try to put it right. Our terms are governed by Portuguese law, without taking away the protection that the law of your own country gives you as a consumer, and nothing in them limits your rights as a consumer. A booking keeps the terms that applied when its deposit was paid.

The checklist at a glance

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