Scope photography as a provisional plan with stated assumptions, and keep it separate from a confirmed booking. Give your proposal the coverage, crew and deliverables you expect, mark what is assumed, and ask the photography provider what can be confirmed now. A date is not reserved until it is confirmed in writing, and the proposal should say so.
Proposals are written under uncertainty. The agency does not know whether it will win the event, the client may still be deciding on a venue, and the programme is a draft. Yet the client wants to see that photography is handled. The way through is to be specific about the plan and honest about the status.
This page belongs to our overview of agency and recurring event-photography commissions.
A provisional plan is not a commission
A confirmed commission has a date, a venue, an assigned crew, defined deliverables and a written quotation that both sides have accepted. A provisional plan has assumptions in place of some of those.
Both are useful. The danger comes when the proposal reads like the first and is really the second. If the client later learns that nothing was reserved, trust suffers. Say in the proposal what has been agreed and what has not.
What can reasonably be stated before the award?
You can state the coverage you recommend, because that is advice. You can describe the deliverables you expect to arrange, because those can be written without a date. You can describe the review process.
Be cautious about anything that depends on the provider's availability or on facts you do not have. Examples are a named photographer, a specific crew size on a specific date, or a delivery timeline. If you want to include them, ask the provider what can be confirmed now and in what form. Our guide to date holds, tentative reservations and availability checks explains the vocabulary.
Writing down the assumptions
The simplest tool is a short list of assumptions beside the plan. For example:
- Event date and venue as currently proposed.
- Expected guest numbers, or a range.
- Programme as per the draft run sheet.
- Coverage hours from arrival to the end of the main programme.
- Deliverables as described, with a selection process to be agreed.
If any assumption changes, the plan is reviewed. The photography procurement brief builder is a convenient way to capture these items for a client who will compare suppliers.
Prices and validity
If the client expects a figure, ask the provider for a provisional quotation with a validity period. Make it clear in your proposal that the figure applies to the assumptions listed. Our guide to photography quote validity when the event is still being approved explains how to word the dates, and the shared guide on planning a photography budget before the final venue is known helps with the range if the venue is open.
We do not quote figures on this page. Any provisional quotation from us is in writing for the assumptions you give us.
A hypothetical example
For example, an agency is one of three pitching to organise a regional sales conference for 300 people. The client will decide in three weeks, and the likely dates are a fortnight after that.
The agency's photography section lists the moments to be covered, proposes two photographers for the main hall and breakout rooms, and lists the delivery format. It states that the plan is provisional and will be confirmed after award, and that the provider has been asked to hold the likely dates. The provider has replied in writing about the hold. The agency can then show the client a plan that is honest about its status.
Keeping the commitment realistic
It is tempting to promise availability to win the pitch. The cost of an unsupported promise falls on the agency afterwards. Our page on keeping agency promises realistic when selling event coverage deals with this directly.
A sound approach is to promise what you control, which is the planning, the review process and the written confirmation, and to treat what you do not control, such as a specific date, as conditional until confirmed.
What happens at award
Once the client awards the event, send the final details and ask for the plan to be converted into a confirmed brief. The provider reviews the assumptions, answers what has changed and issues a quotation for the confirmed scope. Our tool for tracking changes, the photography scope change log, keeps a record of what moved between the pitch and the award.
If the event is part of a larger or repeating programme, see recurring photography with only some dates confirmed for how to mark dates in different states.
What to send us
Send the pitch brief, the likely date, the likely venue and what your proposal needs to say about photography. We will tell you in writing what we can state now, what we can hold and what must wait for the award.
Checklist
- Write the assumptions behind the photography plan: date, venue, numbers, programme.
- Ask the provider what can be confirmed now and what cannot.
- Label any price or availability as provisional with a validity date.
- Avoid naming a photographer unless that person is confirmed.
- State in the proposal that coverage is confirmed after award.
- Diary a review of the plan once the client awards the event.
Send us the pitch brief, the likely date and what the proposal must say about photography, and we will tell you in writing what we can state now and what waits for the award.
Scope photography for our proposalCommon questions
Can you hold our date while we wait for the client's decision?
Whether a hold is possible depends on the date and on what else is booked. Ask us, and we will say in writing whether we can hold it, for how long and on what terms. A hold is not a booking, and your proposal should not describe it as one.
How much detail should the proposal include about photography?
Enough for the client to understand what they would receive: the moments covered, the number of photographers proposed, the delivery format and the review steps. Avoid detail that depends on unconfirmed facts, such as exact timings or a named photographer, unless the provider has confirmed them.
What if the client wants a price in the proposal?
Ask us for a provisional quotation for the stated assumptions, with its validity period. Mark it clearly as provisional in your proposal. Our guide to quote validity when the event is still being approved explains how to handle the dates.
What happens if the event changes after the award?
Scope can change once the client confirms the details, such as the venue, date or number of guests. Expect to review the photography plan at that point. If your proposal said the plan was provisional, the revision will not surprise the client.
Scope photography for our proposal
Send us the pitch brief, the likely date and what the proposal must say about photography, and we will tell you in writing what we can state now and what waits for the award.
What happens next: You send your event details on WhatsApp. Our team reads the brief, asks what is missing, then confirms in writing whether the date, venue and coverage can be booked, with a quotation. Opening WhatsApp does not send anything, and a message is not a booking until both sides confirm.
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