Almara wrote:
Due to confusion over dates, I forgot to go to one of the drawing classes I model for quite often. I did not realise until they phoned asking where I was and by then it was to late for me to get there. I've apologised as much as I can and they have confirmed I still have another booking with them soon. However I still feel very upset and hope I'm not alone in doing this. Has anyone else done this or have similar experiences they can share?

Bring donuts for your next class appointment and all will be forgiven!

Shot By Adam wrote:
About 2 years ago I booked a shoot for a small morning wedding. Bride, Groom, parents of both, and about 25 guests. I booked the shoot about six months prior to the wedding and, for whatever reason, I never put it on my calendar. Fast forward a bit, my wife and I decided to book a weekend getaway to Disneyland on that same weekend, which by that time I had completely forgotten I had a wedding to shoot. So off we go. 9:30 AM I get a call from the bride, wondering where I was as the wedding was going to start in 30 minutes. Actually, it was several calls. I didn't hear my phone ring because I was standing in like at the FUCKING MATTERHORN! I am literally getting into the bobsled when I saw my phone ring and I decided to answer it as I could tell I had many missed calls from that number. "Hi Adam. The wedding is about to start so we just wanted to make sure you were OK and on the way?"  I has to pause for a moment to comprehend what was going on. I told her I would call her right back. Just then the ride started and I started to have a panic attack, knowing I was 250 miles away from a wedding I was supposed to be shooting in 30 minutes. I called the bride back and  told her the truth...that I totally screwed up and I was about to completely ruin her wedding day. I thought about laying the "dead grandmother" routine on her but I decided to go with the truth and deal with the consequences. I told her I would see if I could find someone and I'd call her right back. I immediately got busy on the phone and called every photographer in Vegas I knew who had wedding experience and nobody was answering their phone. Suddenly, one got back to me...my friend Adrienne. I explained to her the situation, told her I'd give her the full pay for the shoot, etc. It turns out she was coming from meeting her father for brunch and had her camera with her as she wanted to get some photos of something earlier. She agreed to do it and 15 minutes later, she was shooting the wedding for me. I felt HORRIBLE over this, but the client was very happy with my fill-in and to make it up to them I created a free photo album for them as my way of saying sorry. The whole thing cost me a lot of time and money but I felt obligated to make them whole on this.

They later told me they respected me for telling the truth and taking care of the situation. They have even left me positive reviews online as well and a few months ago I even got a Christmas Card from them. I VERY narrowly dodged a major bullet on that one. Since then I've come up with a redundant method of keeping contracts and dates organized so this will never happen again but WOW was that stressful. Imagine bobsledding through the Matterhorn at Disneyland all while you're thinking of the wedding you just botched. It's a feeling I hope I never have again.

^
Integrity.

Jay  Edwards wrote:

Bring donuts for your next class appointment and all will be forgiven!

Haha, its a funny way to look at it but last year I had a model who thought a shoot wasn't going to happen, yeah yeah.... another flake story. I waited for her and she never turned up. When I asked her what happened she was really apologetic, invited me round to shoot at her flat and had breakfast of croissants and coffee ready when I arrived.

We had a nice shoot and I couldn't hold a grudge especially after the croissants. :-)

Shot By Adam wrote:
About 2 years ago I booked a shoot for a small morning wedding. Bride, Groom, parents of both, and about 25 guests. I booked the shoot about six months prior to the wedding and, for whatever reason, I never put it on my calendar. Fast forward a bit, my wife and I decided to book a weekend getaway to Disneyland on that same weekend, which by that time I had completely forgotten I had a wedding to shoot. So off we go. 9:30 AM I get a call from the bride, wondering where I was as the wedding was going to start in 30 minutes. Actually, it was several calls. I didn't hear my phone ring because I was standing in like at the FUCKING MATTERHORN! I am literally getting into the bobsled when I saw my phone ring and I decided to answer it as I could tell I had many missed calls from that number. "Hi Adam. The wedding is about to start so we just wanted to make sure you were OK and on the way?"  I has to pause for a moment to comprehend what was going on. I told her I would call her right back. Just then the ride started and I started to have a panic attack, knowing I was 250 miles away from a wedding I was supposed to be shooting in 30 minutes. I called the bride back and  told her the truth...that I totally screwed up and I was about to completely ruin her wedding day. I thought about laying the "dead grandmother" routine on her but I decided to go with the truth and deal with the consequences. I told her I would see if I could find someone and I'd call her right back. I immediately got busy on the phone and called every photographer in Vegas I knew who had wedding experience and nobody was answering their phone. Suddenly, one got back to me...my friend Adrienne. I explained to her the situation, told her I'd give her the full pay for the shoot, etc. It turns out she was coming from meeting her father for brunch and had her camera with her as she wanted to get some photos of something earlier. She agreed to do it and 15 minutes later, she was shooting the wedding for me. I felt HORRIBLE over this, but the client was very happy with my fill-in and to make it up to them I created a free photo album for them as my way of saying sorry. The whole thing cost me a lot of time and money but I felt obligated to make them whole on this.

They later told me they respected me for telling the truth and taking care of the situation. They have even left me positive reviews online as well and a few months ago I even got a Christmas Card from them. I VERY narrowly dodged a major bullet on that one. Since then I've come up with a redundant method of keeping contracts and dates organized so this will never happen again but WOW was that stressful. Imagine bobsledding through the Matterhorn at Disneyland all while you're thinking of the wedding you just botched. It's a feeling I hope I never have again.

If that was me I would probably immigrate and put myself down on a missing person's List. LOL You do good there.... I can imagine you must have felt awful!

Almara wrote:
Adam and Michael thank you for all your support and encouragement.
It is very touching. I fill more confident now. xxx

No worries. We all are prone to having something like this happen to us sooner or later. The key is, did you learn something valuable from the negative experience? If so, there is a win hidden in there after all. Just make sure that whatever wrong you committed, you have to make it right doubly so.

Shot By Adam wrote:
About 2 years ago I booked a shoot for a small morning wedding. Bride, Groom, parents of both, and about 25 guests. I booked the shoot about six months prior to the wedding and, for whatever reason, I never put it on my calendar. Fast forward a bit, my wife and I decided to book a weekend getaway to Disneyland on that same weekend, which by that time I had completely forgotten I had a wedding to shoot. So off we go. 9:30 AM I get a call from the bride, wondering where I was as the wedding was going to start in 30 minutes. Actually, it was several calls. I didn't hear my phone ring because I was standing in like at the FUCKING MATTERHORN! I am literally getting into the bobsled when I saw my phone ring and I decided to answer it as I could tell I had many missed calls from that number. "Hi Adam. The wedding is about to start so we just wanted to make sure you were OK and on the way?"  I has to pause for a moment to comprehend what was going on. I told her I would call her right back. Just then the ride started and I started to have a panic attack, knowing I was 250 miles away from a wedding I was supposed to be shooting in 30 minutes. I called the bride back and  told her the truth...that I totally screwed up and I was about to completely ruin her wedding day. I thought about laying the "dead grandmother" routine on her but I decided to go with the truth and deal with the consequences. I told her I would see if I could find someone and I'd call her right back. I immediately got busy on the phone and called every photographer in Vegas I knew who had wedding experience and nobody was answering their phone. Suddenly, one got back to me...my friend Adrienne. I explained to her the situation, told her I'd give her the full pay for the shoot, etc. It turns out she was coming from meeting her father for brunch and had her camera with her as she wanted to get some photos of something earlier. She agreed to do it and 15 minutes later, she was shooting the wedding for me. I felt HORRIBLE over this, but the client was very happy with my fill-in and to make it up to them I created a free photo album for them as my way of saying sorry. The whole thing cost me a lot of time and money but I felt obligated to make them whole on this.

They later told me they respected me for telling the truth and taking care of the situation. They have even left me positive reviews online as well and a few months ago I even got a Christmas Card from them. I VERY narrowly dodged a major bullet on that one. Since then I've come up with a redundant method of keeping contracts and dates organized so this will never happen again but WOW was that stressful. Imagine bobsledding through the Matterhorn at Disneyland all while you're thinking of the wedding you just botched. It's a feeling I hope I never have again.

Wow, thanks for sharing!  That must have been a moment where your heart stopped!  Well done for honesty and good on you for being so fast on your feet in finding a solution!  A wedding of all things, geez.

I did have a mix up last year, had two similar-ish sounding shoots, two days in a row and the photographers shared names that were comparable (something like one was 'Mike' and the other 'Mark').  I had received a text the day before (on Thursday) saying that shoot had to be postponed and for whatever reason I instantly assumed it was the shoot on Friday.   Come Friday, I was sat in my apartment in my sweatpants, sans make-up, pottering about, and I heard my phone (hate my phone so it's often on silent) - missed calls and two texts.  Answered to a fairly irate photographer asking where I was!  One of these things where, I was just like… 'oh F*CK!'.  As he had called me 15min into what should have been shoot time, and it was a four hour shoot, I offered to travel then and there.  Bloody opposite side of London.  Never packed, shoved make-up on, and run so fast.  I hate rushing, and I didn't know his area well, so panicking about being lost. Kept him updated on my journey.  I was 90+min late, but we ended up doing a decent shoot.  My memory is, he was grateful for both my honesty and effort.

Think the most you can do is be really sincere (perhaps do bring a token like cookies/donuts) and the make.sure.it.never.happens.again! Seriously though, we're all human though.