Policies & Procedures and Terms & Conditions

Please read carefully, understanding you will be held to these posted terms and conditions and policies and procedures by booking with Ever After, LLC. We are happy to answer any questions or clarify anything, but please ask before you book. We want to ensure you have a great experience so understanding our policies will ensure there are no surprises.

Studio Hours: We are open by appointment only. We do have some evening appointments available but they fill up fast. Please consider your schedule, understanding most meetings and correspondence will take place during daytime business hours. We will return your call and respond to emails during the week in the daytime.

Communications:  Speaking in person or on the phone is our favorite way of communicating with you to book or answer questions about your session.  We do use Email to forward information to you, as it offers us all the luxury of having our correspondence in one place. Although we may have initially connected with you on social media, it becomes even more important to email us moving forward. If you are given a photographer’s direct cell phone number, please understand that text messaging is not a reliable nor effective way to book a session.  Call our studio at 571.434.0009 with any questions.

Booking: A non-refundable Reservation Fee is required for securing our services. Preparation for your session/event often requires a great deal of coordination.   Your Reservation Fee is required to hold your date.  Our booking process is online. Your Portrait Session date and time will not be secured until payment is received.

Rescheduling/Cancellation of Portrait Session: As a professional photographer, and in order to give you the best, most relaxed session possible, Ever After Portraits limits the number of sessions that we photograph. That way, our attention is totally focused on you and your experience. Because reserving your date requires Ever After to turn away other business, we reserve the right to charge a $100 fee to change your date.  

If you have extenuating circumstances, we will work with you to reschedule one time at no additional charge. We understand that emergencies do occur, so we allot one emergency reschedule per session. Any further cancellation will result in forfeiture of that session and of the Reservation Fee. If you are more than 15 minutes late for your scheduled session, and no contact has been made with the studio, you will lose your scheduled time, and your Reservation Fee will be used to compensate the photographers for their time.

We reserve the right to reschedule any session due to photographer illness, personal emergency, or inclement weather.  If a session cannot be rescheduled due to photographer’s cancellation, we will refund your session fee.

Rescheduling/Cancellation of Ordering Session:  Please don’t reschedule unless necessary as it may be several weeks or even months before there is another opening.  The first reschedule is complimentary.  We know sometimes emergencies happen. Otherwise, rescheduling is $100. However, in the following situations, it would be best for you to make a new Ordering Session appointment:

• Your spouse is unable to come (All decisions makers must be present at the Ordering Session)
• You are ill
• You would have to come with your child/children
• You are unable to stay at least four hours

Inclement Weather: If we find the weather to be less than optimal, we reserve the right to reschedule. We can reschedule your shoot to our next available opening.

Missed Appointments: If you do not show up to a scheduled meeting prior to or after your shoot, we reserve the right to charge you a $25 inconvenience fee. Our time is valuable, as is yours, and with our services in high demand we all must manage our schedules well. This goes both ways and if we goof, we will make it right and offer you a $25 credit.

Missed Session: Ever After Portraits turns away other prospective clients and prospective business in order to hold your scheduled portrait session time.  If you do not show up to your shoot or you arrive more than 15 minutes after the session start time, you will forfeit your session fee and your session will need to be rescheduled. We likely have appointments after yours and cannot extend your allotted time.

A Regular Session: This type of session is what we specialize in. A Regular Session lasts about an hour. We will have a consultation either on the phone or in person before your shoot. We will also have a Design Session before your shoot, where we will style your session, including clothing suggestions, and discuss wall art and products.  You will have a chance to review our available products and get a general idea of what you would like to purchase from your session so we can shoot accordingly.

A Limited Edition Session:  Limited Edition Sessions are booked at the studio’s discretion and only offered a few times a year. Sessions are generally theme based and on a set date chosen by the studio. These are listed on our Calendar and are generally announced on our Facebook page, so stay tuned there!

Other Cameras:  No camera equipment other than our photographer’s is allowed in the photo session.

About Timing:  You should know what to expect, so here’s a little about Timing.

Immediately after booking, we will ask that you look around your home and send us snapshots of any wall you might consider hanging portraits. We will use those snapshots in your Design Session.

We will ask that you schedule your Design Session within 7 days after you book us for your Portrait Session.  One Design Session can be held in person or over the phone and allows us to do our best work, so it is required and must be scheduled before your portrait session.  If a Design Session is not held prior to the Portrait Session, your Portrait Session will be postponed.

We will schedule your Ordering Session within 1 to 2 weeks after your Portrait Session.  We require all decision makers to be present at the Ordering Session, and it is Adults Only!

After you order your products at your Ordering Session, we will retouch your images within 3 weeks and send them to you to approve.

Once we receive your approval on your order and final payment, we will allow 1 week for an internal quality check and your products will be sent to print.  Product turnaround can vary depending on our current volume of orders and the vendor. Each product, lab or vendor has a varied turnaround time.  Producing archival quality products take time. Some items take longer to produce (for example, our handcrafted Masterpiece frames).  In general, you should have your order delivered to you within 6 weeks. 

Not every session is put up on our blog, but if your session is one of the ones we choose, after your Ordering Session, some of your images will be on our blog within 2 weeks.

Post Session Ordering and Products: One in-person ordering session is included in the reservation fee. In-person ordering sessions are held in our studio.  We require all of the decision makers to be present.

We do not offer proofs that leave the studio.  All orders must be placed at your Ordering Session.  It is at this time you will make your portrait selections, and place your order.  Your family may also order at this time. Any portraits that you want, family members want, or friends want, must be ordered at the Ordering Session.  Signature to our contract indicates that it is understood that the images from the portrait session will be deleted after the ordering session even if no order is placed and that your session fee will not be refunded.

Proofs are not shown retouched – proofs have basic color and exposure corrections done, but do not represent the final quality of prints.  While Image files are available for purchase, proofs have no value; so after an ordering session; unordered images are purged.

Due to the custom nature of our photography, all orders are final and non-refundable once ordered.  Approval of proofs is required before any products are sent to print.

We prefer that our clients pick up their orders directly from us. However, prints and some products may be shipped to you at an additional cost, and must include insurance.

Albums are designed with no less than, on average, two images per page. Pages could have as many as 6 images or as few as one image, but generally are designed with 4 to 6 images per two pages. Some pages may have more, some less, to allow for design with similar images.  Images ordered for the Album are final and cannot be changed at a later time.

Due to the custom nature of our photography, all orders are final and non-refundable once ordered.  Approval of proofs is required before any products are sent to print.

Periodically we add new products and update pricing, so pricing is subject to change without notice.

Ordered images will be retained for six months to accommodate reorder requests.

If no Ordering Session is held, unordered files are disposed of.

Payment for Products:  We accept full payment for prints and products at the end of your ordering session (via cash, check, credit card or Paypal); however, we also offer a no-interest layaway plan.  When full payment of the layaway payment plan is complete, products will be ordered.

No products will be sent to print until payment is made in full.

There is a $25 fee for any bounced check.  If you bounce a check, you must pay for your order and bounced check fee in cash.

Christmas Cut Off Dates: For orders to be delivered by Christmas, you will need to have completed both your shoot, ordering session with your order placed and fully paid for, by November 15.

Image and Print Quality: We provide archival-quality photographic prints and products, color corrected & calibrated to print as we see on our computer. Any digital images you see (on our website, blog, social media sites, or that have been provided directly to you), may vary from their intended appearance, depending on your computer’s display and settings. In addition, Ever After, LLC cannot guarantee the results or quality of photographic prints made by client or by client’s chosen labs. For consistent, quality results, made to last a lifetime, please purchase your prints directly from Ever After, LLC.

Digital Images: Digital images purchased or provided are for personal use purposes only, unless otherwise expressed (such as for our commercial clients). We include a print release for photographic prints only, and they may be printed up to 8×12 inches. These images are full frame, meaning cropping will occur when you print with most labs. Digital files may NOT be used to make your own canvases, or any other large photo products, without our express written permission. You also do not have artistic license to alter the images in any fashion.

Please back up all digital copies of your photographs in two places. We recommend an external hard drive or flash drive, as well as online cloud storage.  Ever After, LLC will make every effort to retain ordered files for up to 3 months from the date of your session but cannot guarantee storage.

Sharing and social media: You cannot, at any time screen capture proof images or design proofs for any reason. You do not have artistic license to download images from Facebook or any other place published. Do not crop out our watermark. We can provide some images to share on social media after your order, at the studio’s discretion.

Artistic Integrity: We hold discretion for the final images we release based on many factors, including image quality, image relevance, and brand reinforcement.

Image Quality: We will choose the images that best represent the subject and are technically sound with proper exposure. This means that we try to eliminate a great deal of redundancy. We produce stellar images, offering variety and moments.  We emphasize quality over quantity.

Portrait Image Relevance: A portrait session is meant to show the genuine expression and flattering representation of a subject. That will always be our primary focus and will dictate how we spend our time on your shoot. Your desires and expectations are voiced during our consultation, and requests need to be explained ahead of time. Changing the shoot while in process is not something we can accommodate.

Brand Reinforcement: If you like our style, value quality products and exceptional customer service, then you are in the right place. We release images that reinforce our artistic style as these images will live on as a representation of our business. Requests that we feel do not uphold our brand or are outdated may not be something we can accommodate.

A WORD ABOUT COPYRIGHT

Copyright is protected by the Federal Copyright Law. It is unlawful to copy or scan any images without permission.
Even though the pictures may be of you or your child, the photographer still owns the copyright to the image. In order to control the quality of the work produced, the photographer is the only one who can crop, modify, or order any image produced at this photo session. Ever After Portraits retains the copyright and ownership of all images of the photo session and reserves the right to reproduce images for portfolio, display, website, self-promotion, advertising, photo contests, or any publication. Clients are not allowed to reproduce any images produced by the photographer for any purpose without written consent.

All images are copyrighted by Ever After Portraits and are protected by United States Copyright Laws (USC Title 17). It is illegal to copy, scan, reproduce, or post images online in forums elsewhere without the written permission of Ever After Portraits or alter in any manner, including, but not limited to, electronic scanning via personal scanner or reproduction via photo lab or self-service kiosk. Violators of this federal law will be subject to its civil and criminal penalties.

OUR GUARANTEE:

Our Iron-Clad, 100% No-Hassle, No Excuses EVER Guarantee

We want you to be completely thrilled with your portraits.  Together, we will invest considerable time, effort and expense in their creation.  We feel you deserve to have the very finest work possible that can be created by a professional photographer.

If for any reason your images aren’t as you expect them to be (regardless of fault) at your Ordering Session, we will throw them away and you may have additional ones made to your liking, at no charge to you.  Or, if you don’t wish to have additional images made, your portrait session fee will be refunded.  If you have purchased additional sessions and are not thrilled with the results, those portrait session fees will be refunded.

We earn our reputation one client at a time—with quality, caring and friendliness as our hallmarks. We appreciate your confidence in us.

Be sure to Check out our Privacy Policy here — where we explain that we don’t share your info with a third party and other valuable info!

 

GENERAL TERMS & CONDITIONS

Excellent customer service is our goal. We view terms and conditions as tools that help us ensure that clients have a wonderful experience.

A Reservation Fee must be paid in full to secure your session date.

Sessions must be during the week.

Weekend sessions can be scheduled for an additional fee.

Baby sessions will generally last an hour (two hours for Newborn Sessions) and will be held at our indoor or outdoor studio.

Other policies listed below regarding PAYMENT, DESIGN SESSION & COMPLETED SURVEY, ORDERING SESSION, PRODUCT ORDERING & PAYMENT, GENERAL POLICIES and COPYRIGHT apply to Maternity, Newborn and Bebe Coterie.

Newborn Session

The Newborn Session is scheduled in the first seven days of life, when your baby is still bendy and super sleepy. The Reservation Fee for this session is $250.

Newborn, plus Add-On Maternity Session

Book a Newborn Session and add a Maternity Session at the same time for only $100 more, $350 total.

Bebe Coterie Policies

Included with this year-long Bebe Coterie Baby Plan package are three custom photo sessions which document your child as a Newborn, at 6 to 8 months (sitting), and at 12 months (standing/walking). The fee for this package is $750.

PAYMENT FOR BEBE COTERIE BABY PLAN is required up front and in full to guarantee session availability. Please note: Your sessions will not be secured until payment is received. Our Reservation Fee secures your session date and covers artist’s time/talent only. No products are included. No substitutions of session or products are available in this program. The Bebe Coterie Baby Plan is non-transferable and expires when the child is 18 months. All three portrait sessions must be of the same child.

A DESIGN SESSION allows us to do our best work, so it is required to fulfill the agreement to photograph your sessions. The Design Session is typically by phone, but we can do it in person as well, so you are most welcome to come to our studio. We always do a Design Session before the first Portrait Session (Newborn) so we are on the same page regarding colors, props, etc. If a Design Session is not held prior to the Portrait Session, your Portrait Session will be postponed. When we set the date for your Portrait Session, we will also set a date for your Ordering Session.

SCHEDULING AND LOCATION OF SESSIONS
For our Bebe Coterie Baby Plan, all three sessions will be held in our fully equipped indoor or outdoor studio.

All appointments must be scheduled at the same time following baby’s birth so that we can guarantee session availability — this way you won’t miss out on a session because our calendar is full!

For the best possible outcome for your exclusive session, the Newborn Session MUST occur within the first 7 days.

Call us immediately when the baby is born at:
Office: 571.434.0009
Call or text our cell: 703.501.0777
or EMAIL us at Mindy@EverAfterPortraits.com

If you do not contact us, and the session cannot be held before the baby is more than 7 days old, we will require that the Newborn Session be held at our studio before the baby is 10 days old. If the session does not occur before the newborn is 14 days of age, the session will be forfeit.

The Newborn Session generally lasts 2 hours and can take as much as 3 hours, as we generally like to allow time for the baby to settle into sleep, be fed and changed when necessary.

The remaining portrait sessions will generally last an hour and will be held at our indoor or outdoor studio. In addition, at least 35 proofs will be available for ordering.

Parents, sibling and grandparents are welcome, but we cannot combine sessions with other families.

For the Bebe Coterie Baby Plan, you should plan for the sessions to include:
Newborn — Baby and both parents
6 to 8 Months (sitting up) — Baby
12 month (standing/walking) — Baby, both parents, and grandparents

Depending on availability, weekend sessions can be scheduled for an additional fee.

In order to give you the best, most relaxed session possible, Ever After Baby Portraits limits the number of sessions that we photograph. That way, our attention is totally focused on you and your experience.

Ever After Baby Portraits turns away other prospective clients and prospective business in order to hold your scheduled time. If you are more than 15 minutes late for any scheduled photo shoot, and no contact has been made with the studio, you will lose the scheduled time, and your session fee will be used to compensate the photographers for their time.

ORDERING SESSION

For a Newborn Session or a Newborn Session with an add-on Maternity Session, we offer Rewards which can mean as much as 20% off.

For Bebe Coterie, our Rewards pricing applies to the entire year and can mean as much as 20% off.

Each session must be ordered from before the next Portrait Session is held. Images must be ordered within 60 days of your Portrait Session.

You are under no obligation to purchase any portraits, and there is no minimum purchase required.

All orders must be placed at your Ordering Session, which will be at our studio. We do not offer proofs that leave the studio. It is at this time that you will make your portrait selections and place your order. Your family may also order at this time. Any portraits that you want, family members want, or friends want, must be ordered at the Ordering Session. It is understood that the images not ordered from the Portrait Session will be deleted after the ordering session. Due to space constraints, this is true even if no order is placed. Because you will have had the option to purchase, your session fee will not be refunded.

PRODUCT ORDERING AND PAYMENT

Due to the custom nature of our photography, all orders are final and non-refundable once ordered Approval of proofs is required before any products are delivered.

Your signature to our initial agreement indicates that you understand that any portraits that you choose to purchase must be paid for in full before products are delivered.

ALBUMS: Albums are designed with no less than, on average, 2 images per page. Pages could have as many as 6 images or as few as 1 image, but generally are designed with 4-6 images per 2 pages. Some pages may have more, some less, to allow for design with similar images. Images ordered for the Album are final and cannot be changed at a later time.

Layaway payment plans are available. With 25% down, no interest is charged. Payments must be completed before your products are delivered. Simply make the payments in the amount and for the term that you choose; when payment is complete, your images will be delivered.

Ever After accepts cash, check, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, American Express and PayPal. There is a $25 fee for any bounced check. If you bounce a check, you must pay for your order and bounced check fee in cash.

GENERAL POLICIES

There are no refunds of any kind. In the case of a move, you may use the remaining sessions as credit towards items purchased at your Ordering Session.

While image files are available for purchase, proofs have no value so after an ordering session, unordered images are purged unless an album has been ordered.

Ordered images will be retained for six months to accommodate reorder requests. There is a minimum reorder fee. If no Ordering Session is held, unordered files are disposed of.

We reserve the right to charge additional fees in the event anything is redesigned or retouched more than three times.

Concerned about privacy? See our PRIVACY POLICY HERE!