For reference, I am a freelance photographer. The family I worked with yesterday has been a loyal client for 6 years now and are amazing, which is why I feel awful having to ask for more money but was underpaid by over $200.

Every year we do a 1-2 hour session, which we did again yesterday. However, my rates increased this year so when the mom began writing a check to pay, I misspoke and told her $225 (the price for a 30-minute mini session, not 2 hours). On top of that, she is old school so I always deliver their photos via dropping a flash drive off at their house vs my usual online galleries - so I add on a $25 fee to purchase the drive and for the travel expense. I mentioned the $25 add-on as I was telling her the new rate so she may have confused the $225 as already including the flash drive fee.

Here are the two opposing facts that are keeping me on the fence:

• I did forget to disclose the increase prior to the session because I hadn’t even thought about it, so yesterday was the first she was hearing of it.
• My rate was $300 for 1-2 hours before the increase, so she can look back at old emails and see the price before the increase - making it clear I did make a mistake. Updated rates are also on my public website.

So, what should I do and how should I approach this?? Or should I just bite the bullet and leave it be since they’ve been a longtime client and I didn’t inform them about the rate before the session?