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Last year, I met Ashley and her mom at the gorgeous Fire Sky Resort to talk about working together for Ashley and Steve's much anticipated wedding. The second I met Ashley I fell in love with her sweet, sweet spirit. Her heart is FILLED with personality, GREAT style, and I REALLY just wanted to get to know her and hoped we could somehow be friends. It turns out we both love the same vendors and have a lot in common besides the same taste in wedding planning. Ashley is one of those girls that you could sit and talk with for hours just about life. Since we both work day jobs behind a computer screen, we would often e-mail back and forth about engagement ideas, wedding planning or just simply what's going on in our lives. I loved it.
During their engagement session, we all really got to know each other a little bit better. We definitely felt a bit more comfortable with each other after the cops showed up at the end of their e-session. What a funny experience! You'll have to check out their engagement post to see what I'm talking about... ;)
A few months ago, my friend Ashley Gain called me and was looking to work more in the wedding industry and was willing to help where needed. Ashley and Steve were so grateful and were ready to start planning a detailed schedule. Stephen and I both felt the wedding couldn't have gone ANY smoother! It was such a blast working with such amazing vendors and Fire Sky was the perfect place for us all to work together.
I was again reminded as to why I simply LOVE this job. I love that I get to know amazing people like Ashley and Steve and share in the beginning of their life together. Ashley and Steve, you both really have beautiful hearts and I adore your eager willingness to serve others. Stephen and I felt so blessed to be a part of this ceremony and we really can't wait to spend more time with you both! Click HERE to see a slideshow of the rest of the day. |
| I am OBSESSED with Ashley's dress. She had her jeweled belt specially made for her dress. I LOVE IT! |
| I loved their first look with each other. So much laughter... |
| Can you guys get more beautiful?!!! |
| UM HELLO GORGEOUS bridal party! Everyone was seriously BEAUTIFUL at this wedding. |
| i loved this photo... everyones hands were in the air... SO cute! |
| I loved this photo of the bridesmaids.. girls dont hate me for posting this.. you guys are just too cute! |
Since the beginning of my business, Stephen has been by my side supporting my every effort and dream to become a wedding photographer. It has been fun watching our relationship and business grow together from our beginning days of college until now. We are so excited to stretch ourselves even further together. I wanted to address this post specifically to those couples that are thinking about working together as photographers. I hear all the time that it's a "thought" that many have, but most are afraid to try. Honestly, it's not for everyone, but those of you thinking about it, it is worth giving it a try.
We were told many times that working together probably wasn't a good idea...but it was important for us to experience working together for ourselves. We gave it a shot... and for us it has been GREAT! I mean, spending all day and night with someone is bound to cause a few arguments... and believe me, we have had our share, but we've also gotten quite good at working together in all areas of our life. Stephen and I may be rareities or maybe just plain strange, but we honestly love being around each other all the time. I mean, don't get me wrong, we definitely need our time apart and GET our time apart, but it has been fun working together as a team!
We often see different perspectives in the work aspect, the communication aspect, and of course the visual aspect. It's a great balance to listen to each others perspective because it just makes you THAT much better than YOU are alone. I don't think everyone needs to work with their husband or wife, but I do think you can make it work with ANYONE. Working with a friend on particular shoots can help you see things differently. Ask friends for advice, editing suggestions or even location ideas because it's SUPER important to hear other people's opinions in every area of your business. I think it's even great to hire a friend or fellow photographer to help you on a shoot. An extra set of eyes always helps! This is how I believe you become a better business woman/man. I always ask at least three people close to me their opinions before actually making a decision because everyone has a DIFFERENT perspective.
For those of you that have thought about working together as a husband and wife team... I say go for it... BUT definitely set aside time for yourself. It's also important to nail down exactly what both your strengths and weaknesses are. Stephen's strength is in the behind the scenes numbers. He helps with the invoices, contracts and financing... You should have seen me in college math.. YIKES... and that's WHY my strength is behind the camera! Steve ALSO is quite good behind the camera.... I thought I would add a few photos to show his sneaky talent!
Another suggestion is finding your own thing besides your one business together. Stephen does some investments on the side and also is tweaking his golf game as he is hoping to possibly play professional golf someday. It's a nice break from each other as we have something new to share with each other at the end of the day. We do however struggle with working at home together. We often need to leave home and begin our work at different times of the day since its hard to constantly be at home. For us, work is hard to stop because we find ourselves editing even late at night. The downfall of this job is not having scheduled days and not having scheduled breaks like everyone else. I have found a way to fix this.... SET A SCHEDULE! :) Stop working at 5pm (like everyone else)... shut off your phone, your e-mail and stop working until the next morning. Also, for holiday breaks, it's OK to take a break too! Set up an away message on your e-mail. DON'T sit in your PJ's all day and watch tv re-runs. Ok ok, I'm totally guilty of staying in my PJs at least until noon some days but it definitely helps your day stay productive longer if you get ready earlier.
I have SOOO many suggestions and words of advice for those of you wanting to work with your spouses and I'd love to share them through e-mail! Shoot me an e-mail if you are looking for encouragement! I thought I would add a few images from a few of our favorite shoots this year. This is Stephen shooting Natalie and Reggie's engagement shoot....
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| We like wide open spaces... |
| We are always looking at different perspectives through the lens. This is Tarah and Josh. |
| This isn't Stephen. This is actually my brother Michael. Michael and our friend Steve are working on a business together as videographers. I will be posting a future post on them but for now, I had to share this photo of my brother Michael in action. It's great to have yet ANOTHER perspective through the lens :) |
| Stephen DEFINITELY helps when we do child shoots. He is a great distraction behind the camera. They always seem to laugh at him... (it makes sense right? :) This is little baby Annie. |
I first met Ashley and her mom at the Firesky Resort to talk about the possibility of shooting her wedding. I was enamored by how bubbly and adorable Ashley was. Her sweet personality was so easy to get along with and I loved hearing about her thoughts on wedding photos. Style was extremely imporant to her and I was THRILLED to chat about her thoughts on everything. We talked about centerpiece details, wedding dress styles and timelines. I felt an immediate connection with Ashley and I felt like we had been friends for years. I loved that we could talk about ANYTHING and I adore Ashley's style in clothing, taste in music and of COURSE wedding details. I knew we would be a perfect match! Her fiance Steve was able to join us once again for drinks at Firesky Resort and both our "Steve's" were finally able to meet each other. After getting to know both Ashley and Steve a bit better, I knew we would have a great time working with these two and couldn't wait to get started!
Steve and Ashley both met at Arizona State University while working together. Im sure it didn't take much time for them to both fall in love. Their personalities fit like a glove and they seem perfect for each other. It's easy to fall quickly in love with them!
We LOVED watching the two interact. They were so sweet and gentle with each other and it was SO easy to pull out their emotions in front of the camera. It's SO evident how MUCH they love each other. One thing I LOVED about working with these two are their humor and personality. Steve made us laugh numerous times throughout the shoot and we felt SO honored to be able to document such an awesome couple. To see a slideshow of the rest of the day, click HERE |
| My last post was about incorporating clothing and location and I feel Ashley and Steve put ALOT of thought into their choice of clothing which was fantastic! Ashley had kept me up to date with the direction they were going with clothing and we were able to find a location that fit their style. Ashley got her outfits from H&M and I LOVED how she incorporated a sassy flower clip! |
| Steve and I stumbled upon some bee boxes that were used to produce alot of honeycomb. Yes, there were still quite a bit of bees flying around but Ashley and Steve were quite the troopers! |
| There is just something about this photo that makes me smile. |
| Ok seriously... You guys are beautiful! |
| So..... Stephen and I like to live on the edge. .... and by edge I mean accidently trespassing?! Yep! We took our clients to private property. We figured it was ok since NO-ONE lives close by and NO-ONE is in sight except a few stray dogs. But no worries, those cops are ON IT! Don't worry they were really nice... just making sure we were ok. I guess we were in a BAD area ... so all I have to say is sorry to my clients. WHOOPS! At least we got some great shots and it made us laugh. Thanks mr cops! |
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