Terms and Conditions
Making An Appointment: Session prices and session dates are locked in upon receiving your Retainer. If you do not make your retainer, we cannot guarantee your session date will be available the next time you chat with us, as it is common for me to book 5 sessions in a matter of hours. It is your responsibility to check the cost of a session before booking. Click “Investment” to see current session prices.
Cancellations: All sessions require a non-refundable retainer when booking. If the session is canceled by the client for any reason, the retainer is forfeited. We have a limited number of sessions open every month, and unfortunately a canceled session isn’t something we can fill last-minute. If for any reason I (the photographer) have to cancel a session due to an emergency, I will always offer to either refund your retainer or schedule you on the next available date that works with your schedule! If the session is a particular event, I will do my best to find a replacement photographer for you.
Bad Weather: New Jersey has serious weather extremes, and each month comes with its own challenges. If your session is scheduled outdoors, and it rains that day, we will certainly work with you to reschedule or move your session indoors! We don’t move sessions more than 24 hours ahead of time for most weather related forecasts, since New Jersey weather isn’t always accurate more than 24 hours ahead (and even sometimes 2 hours ahead!) Some seemingly bad weather makes for great photos…like cloudy overcast skies are an awesome time for photos, and snow makes for gorgeous backdrops! So don’t be disappointed if the sun isn’t shining, your photos will be awesome! In the winter, there is always a chance of extreme cold or snow. We do photograph outside year round, which means to prepare for inclement weather! The same with heat in the summer, as New Jersey can be very hot. In the summer, we will always photograph in the shade, so keep that in mind when you are worrying about heat. All weather related cancellations are up to my discretion, we live in a state where most days you won’t get a perfect 70 degree day…but we will still get awesome photos! Statistically speaking only about 20% of my photos shown on the website or social media are going to occur during “perfect” weather conditions. If bad weather is anticipated and an indoor option is given, the client may choose to move their session indoors. If the client declines this option, I will provide alternative dates for the client to reschedule based on availability and do everything we can to reschedule you within the next 60 days. If 60 days passes without finding a suitable time, the retainer paid by the client is lost.
Arriving Late To Your Session: Many of our sessions are booked back-to-back, with only enough time to travel (or in the case of a studio session, clean up and reset) in between sessions. Therefore, the session time you booked is the time when your session will start, whether you arrive late or not. Please do give me notice if you will be late, as I will reach out to you if you are more than 10 minutes late, and if I have not heard I will assume you are not coming to your session. That means I will leave after 15 minutes and your retainer will be forfeited.
Payment: Any remaining money due is to be paid in full at the end of your session. This should be paid in either cash or check, I do not take Paypal or credit cards at the session. If you do not make payment at your session, your session will be on hold and no editing will begin.
Completion Schedule: We typically get photos out to clients in 2 weeks, but ask that you plan on a minimum of 3-4 weeks in case we have other obligations. If the photos will take longer than 2 weeks, we will always let you know ahead of time. This is in very rare situations.
Artistic Expertise: We capture many images during your session, and the edited images that you will receive will be selected by Stacey Heritage Photography. We carefully edit and review each image to ensure each photo is up to our standards. Stacey Heritage Photography will use her judgment regarding style and artistic input for the production of all selected images.
Digital Retouching: We want you to book with us because you love the work we have already done! As you can see, we love to keep things very natural, which means we keep things very simple in our photo editing process. If you are asking for major alterations (background removal, replacement of entire persons, body parts, or objects, etc.) and if we are able to accommodate the request, this will be a separate quote.
Health & Safety: The client is responsible for the child’s health and safety during all photo sessions. You or another adult must be present at all times to supervise children.
Backup of Photography Session: The client is responsible to ensure that digital photographs are adequately backed up after delivery by the photographer. Client is responsible for checking to be certain photos are present on any form of delivery (digital, email, CD, etc.) within 1 week of delivery. If loss occurs and I am able to recover photos, there will be a recovery fee for the time and cost involved in retrieving and editing photos if Client has lost photographs.
Communication. Communication is key when scheduling sessions! I do my best to respond within a few hours to any emails or messages. Voicemails can take longer to respond, simply because of my schedule. Whichever method of contact you initiate with me to book your session, is the way I will contact you, until I hear otherwise from you. I assume any communication sent from me has been received by you within 24 hours, that means if you are using a work email, or Facebook messenger, or other method of contact you do not regularly check once a day, you should provide me with a different method of contact in order to get ahold of you. I am not held liable for communications not received due to client not checking email/message/voicemail/messenger if the communication was sent 24 prior notice. I expect all clients to be reachable the day of the session by whichever contact method I was given, in case of emergency. If there are any concerns with the photos received from your session, please contact within 30 days as we do not guarantee to store photos after that time.
Gift Certificate Purchases: Gift Certificates are non-refundable and do have an expiration date on each Gift Certificate. Client must inform photographer if certificate is to be used upon booking session, and no retainer will be required. If cancellation occurs on a session where payment by certificate will be made, a non-refundable retainer will be required for your next session. Gift Certificate must be brought to the session to redeem or mailed ahead of session. Sessions booked with a Gift Certificate are handled just like other sessions and subject to the availability of the photographer. Client redeeming a Gift Certificate may upgrade a session for an additional charge for the different between the certificate purchase price and current value of the upgraded session.