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Standard Contract
Hi Lacey--
Depending on your price point, I would think it might scare potential clients away charging the entire amount up front.
I've done a 'Gift Certificate' once in the past for a Christmas/Anniversary Gift, so my experience is limited, but here's what I did. I normally handle the contract signing and 30% deposit at the initial sitting/photo shoot. Since the gift was being given as a surprise and I wouldn't be doing any actual work (short of printing up the gift certificate) before the holidays, I had the gift giver sign a standard contract with the addition of a non-refundable 10% preliminary deposit. The remainder of my normal 30% deposit was handled at the photo shoot and from there the portrait proceeded like any other commission.
My 'gift certificate' was done like a horizontal greeting card and stated on the front:
'In honor of the 35th Anniversary of your Wedding, A portrait of __________ has been commissioned by ______________.
Note that it says 'has been commissioned by _______' it is a nice way to notify the recipient of the gift of the commission, not really a 'gift certificate' that's just outright redeemable in the traditional sense. I guess to fully protect yourself, you might want to state somewhere that the final delivery of the finished portrait is condition on the gift giver fulfilling the terms of the commision agreement. . .? (I didn't in this case.)
On the inside it included information on the portrait process, etc. and how to contact me and get things started. In this case, the gift giver as well as the recipient were subjects in the portrait, so it was easy to maintain contact with the client throughout the process.
I'd consider that the gift giver is your 'client' in this case -that's who you're contract is with-and you'll want to collect final payment from the client prior to releasing the portrait., although you will be working to also please the recipient. (Note: If your model's release is incorporated into your standard contract, remember you might also need to get a separate model's release from the gift recipient, for example, if the gift giver is a grandparent, . . .)
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