The Wrath of Bridezilla

I am gonna try to explain things objectively, but the client for this project was a pain in the ass so I decided to call her bridezilla. 

At the end of September holiday, the client who is a former teacher of mine back in Singapore contacted me and ask me whether I want to make her wedding invitation using watercolour. I was interested because I can learn more about watercolour. The projects at the beginning was fun because I get to experiment different ways of using watercolour. So, the last week of the break, I used my time to paint all the assets for the invitations and a caricature of the bride and groom. She did not give much creative freedom when it comes to the design and she gave me a list of things that she wants in the design such as the flower wreath, the beetle car and the caricature. I told her that I will be busy during term time, so we negotiated, and I told her I can give her a week to finish everything during Christmas Break. She agreed to that. 

Bridezilla starts to get demanding on the very small details of the invitations. I get where she's coming from because everything in a wedding has to be perfect. I even painted the map even if we did not agree about because initially the plan is to get a screenshot off Google Maps and place it at the back of the invitation, in which she asked for expanding the map in return, which I did. At this point I am starting to get annoyed as she is taking too much of my time and I doubt that I am willing to pursue this project further. So, I did not tell my intention to stopping halfway, but I messaged her asking about payments.

Since this is the first time I have ever had (what I consider) a professional freelance job, I want to be transparent with my client. So, I did the maths and decided to send a picture of my calculation to her. 

I calculated the expected additional work hours too in case I have to continue to pursue this project further.

The number actually scared her, and that was her reply. Reading it again does not make me want to come back to Singapore in my whole life. Her reasoning was not even solid because I have been approaching the project in a professional manner and I did a personally customised wedding invitation design for her, while 'online custom wedding (invitation) designs' that she is referring to might be made from existing templates that is customisable by the request of the customer. 

And, of course quoting dodgy website. Foul play.

She keeps on being persistent when I fought back to get the money that I deserve, while being getting really personal about things. It is not worth the time trying to get money off her since I might ended up hurt my pride as an artist even further. So, I decided to settle with 400 SGD (£240), roughly half the price that I expected to be paid. Lesson learnt: Occasionally, I'll get clients like this, who can't appreciate the process of making art as much as they think they could because they don't think like an artist, they think like a businessman who wants to get the best value for themselves while not thinking about the welfare of others.

My  professional reply

In the end, I happily stop working for her although I did not get paid what I deserved. Maybe I should be more of a snob when it comes to work because people might take advantage of me for being too nice to them.

So, I ended off the commitment in a professional manner by making an invoice with terms and conditions that I won't give her any more service and printing advice. I don't care of how it turns out, I cut my ties from her, and congratulate her on her wedding day out of formality.