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I learned a lot about Natalie and Reggie at their engagement session a few months ago. I feel in love with their bubbly colorful personalities and their HUGE hearts of love. The thing I LOVE about Natalie is her unfailing ability to make Reggie laugh. No matter what they are doing, they are ALWAYS laughing. When Stephen and I arrived at her house to photograph the tiny details as Natalie prepared for the day, she embraced us both with excitement as she told us about the wedding details. I think we were almost as excited as she was!
We headed over to Brophy Chapel to photograph the groomsmen and as we were driving, we noticed tiny raindrops on the windshield. Phoenix had been experiencing A LOT of storms the week prior and we all prayed for sunshine. Better yet, the day was perfectly cloudy with spots of sun. It was perfect. Natalie purchased white umbrellas for everyone just in case.
After the ceremony, we headed out to the beautiful Tempe Center of the Arts for the reception. Although it was freezing outside, Natalie and Reggie bared through the cold and posed so graciously for the camera. I feel honored to have been apart of this day and we feel so thankful for the generosity that both Natalie and Reggie's family showed us. You guys are both such BEAUTIFUL people and I couldn't be happier with how the day went!
The jewelry below was given to her by her grandmother and great grandmother. |
| Natalie has the prettiest skin! |
| Reggie loves batman and i thought it was so cute he actually found cuffs on ebay! |
| This was SUCH a sweet moment. I definitely had to hide behind the pillar while I wiped a few tears away. |
| I LOVED the beautiful vintage car they rented! |
| They are ALWAYS smiling! I love it! |
| Reggie is so sweet around Natalie. He is so kind hearted. |
| Natalie is seriously STUNNING. |
| This is one of my favorite photos of the day |
| One of Natalie's bridesmaid made her veil. |
| The venue had a beautiful negative edge pool in from of the reception venues. it looked stunning from inside. |
| Natalie and Reggie had someone actually design their cake topper for them! TOO cute! |
| Reggies aunts and uncles decorated the entire reception hall! GORGEOUS! |
| Natalie and Reggie surprised EVERYONE at the wedding with dragon dancers! What an awesome experience! |
| I must say that there were A LOT of good dancers at the reception!!! |
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. |
A few days ago, Stephen and I had SO much fun photographing Natalie and Reggie in downtown Phoenix! I cannot say enough about how fun this couple truly is and how dang CUTE they are!! Natalie was SO prepared for this shoot. I was so impressed with how she sent me photos of their outfits so we could find a location to match their clothing choice! I think it worked together great! I was even more impressed when Natalie handed me a pink box tied with a hot pink bow full of her special red velvet and cream cheese frosting CUPCAKES! (is your mouth watering yet?) Can you believe that? I'm pretty sure they are the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. Im convinced Natalie and Reggie need to open a cupcake shop! With their awesome personalities and incredible sense of fashion, I'm 100 percent positive their shop would take off.
We took a few moments during the session and chatted about how they both met. Natalie's eyes lit up as she said "online!" Yep! They met at Match.com. Im seriously convinced Match.com is awesome. I mean Natalie and Reg are a perfect example of two adorable people finding love! Natalie mentioned Reg was her first date and last. It was SO much fun to watch these two interact and we fell in love with both of their personalities. They are so full of color and life and it meant so much to us to spend the afternoon with them. We are SO excited to shoot their wedding this coming January! To see more of the day, click HERE |
| I fell in LOVE with Natalie and Reggie's condominium lobby. It was SO full of color! |
I seriously LOVED this area by the complex! There was a lot of broken glass on the ground but it ended up looking like sparkling crystals.
I LOVED that Natalie brought her own flowers for the session. It really added a pop of color! |
| This was my favorite part of the session. BOOK READING! Natalie brought her Harry Potter book and Reggie brought his Batman comic book. It really helped pull out some of their personality! I LOVE it when couples bring things that represent them! |
| Reggie laughed while carrying all the books because Natalie says he usually carries all her shopping bags. :) Just another nice thing the guy should do right? |
| Yes, Stephen was watching for cars! |
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