personal opinion

Looking for a wedding photographer? I might be the one for you if...

Selecting vendors is one of the hardest parts of wedding planning. There are so many options out there! It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a florist, baker, or photographer, you’re going to find a lot of choices. While at first glance, it may look like everyone offers the same services, upon closer inspection you’ll begin to notice a lot of differences. While budget can be a factor in your decision making, and aesthetics may be another, it shouldn’t be the only thing that helps you finalize your choice. When it comes to photography specifically, you’re going to be spending your entire wedding day with this person (where you go, they will follow). Photography is also one of the only things that leaves you with a tangible good that isn’t just purely physical….its emotional and captures your memories of the day so that you won’t ever forget those big and little moments that made it special. Picking your photographer will be one of the biggest decisions you make, and I’m not just saying that because I am one. After talking with many married women over the years, the one thing I think I hear all too frequently is how they wish had a different photographer, or had “budgeted for a better one.”

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So, I might be the photographer for you, if….

  • You want a stress free day. Not only do people continually tell me I’m a calming presence, I’m also super experienced when it comes to wedding day timelines. I work with all of my couples prior to their big day to help them figure out a schedule that is going to work. Do little things still go wrong, do people still run late? Of course! But I’m skilled at getting you back on track. I also have an assistant that is there to not only lend me a helping hand, but you as well. We are more than happy to help you however we can to make sure things go smoothly. We (usually) can help you bustle or button a dress, find that missing shoe, track down Uncle Bob who likes to disappear for family photos, or make up a half hour of time that somehow mysteriously went “missing”.

  • You like true to life photos. Not only does my color lean toward more true to life than “light and airy” or “dark and moody”, but my captures do as well. I believe in letting moments unfold naturally and capturing the real moments of the day, not staged ones.

  • You don’t just like a “say cheese” experience. While yes, we will capture what I affectionately call the “Mom Shots”, aka looking at the camera and smiling, I also will give you prompts to engage you in nature interactions and moments to get the more candid feeling, genuine expressions.

  • You want someone to be as invested in your day as you are. Oftentimes I end up becoming friends with my brides because we work so closely to make the biggest day of their life the best day. Nobody else at your wedding wants everything to be as perfect as you, except for maybe me. And I don’t say that lightly, I truly mean it.

  • You don’t want a photographer in your face all day. I get it, you like your personal space, and so do I. Officiants love me and often call me a “photo ninja” because they don’t know how I get the shots I do when they never even see me. I like to blend into the crowd and “work the outer edges” so that people aren’t always just smiling for the camera, as this allows me to capture all those great candids that nobody saw me get. I oftentimes have guests come up to me during the wedding and say, “oh you should go get that shot over there,” and I smile when I get to reply, “I already did.” I feel like one of the things that makes me good at what I do is because you don’t notice me, unless I want you to. I can command attention when I need to, like formal portrait time, but otherwise I promise, you won’t know I’m there.

  • You want great photos, but you also don’t want to spend your wedding day feeling like that is all you did. I know a lot of couples, and families, dread formal photo time. I promise you, I’m quick and it will be painless. The one compliment I always get from everyone, is how they appreciate how quickly family formals go. “Most efficient photographer I’ve seen,” often are the words people use to describe me.

  • You prefer a more laid back affair. I have shot weddings from 650 guests to just 4 being present, but it isn’t just about size. If becoming Mr. and Mrs. is the most important thing to you, and you’re not going to sweat the little stuff, and you just want everyone to have a good time, then that’s the style of wedding I like to be a part of. More often than not, my weddings are at a more casual, country venue or “small town” atmosphere - I rarely shoot weddings in downtown large city venues.

If this sounds like we are a match, message me and we can chat about your wedding day. I look forward to talking with you.

Dates available are limited each year - when you hire me, you get me, not an associate photographer, so I only 1-2 weddings per weekend and a max of 4 weddings per month.

Top 5 Reasons I love Photographing Weddings

A little backstory first….when I first became a photographer over 15 years ago, I swore I would never shoot weddings. I hated everything about them. Mind you, my only real experience with weddings at this point in my life was attending them as a small child (and being forced out onto the dance floor to try and catch a bouquet surrounded by crazy women). Fast forward to someone I knew begging me to shoot her son’s wedding when I was in college, me saying ‘no’ a million times before finally agreeing to do it. I shot that wedding, loved every minute of it, and I was hooked.

Fifteen years later, I still love shooting weddings every bit as much as the first (probably more so since now I don’t have butterflies in my stomach the whole time). I have literally shot hundreds at this point. I have never counted, but I estimate I’ve photographed at least 350 weddings over the years, and that is probably underestimating it. There are a lot of things about shooting weddings that some photographers hate - it is a high pressure day with emotions running the gamut, quick pace, and a lot is at stake since it is a day without do-overs. I’ll just say it, weddings are stressful, and that isn’t for everyone, but I thrive in that kind of setting.

Here are some of the reasons why I personally love photographing weddings….

1) There is always a technical challenge to solve. I love that every wedding is unique and offers a new set of challenges. Weddings are a lot like novels, especially dramas. Every wedding is always a new cast of characters with new plot twists, locations, and other variables to figure out and make come together. Even with a completely well planned out wedding day, there are always challenges for the photographer to figure out and “make it work moments”….whether it be the lighting, the weather, timing, or simply finding the right backdrops for every shot in a not very picturesque setting. Every wedding presents a new set of challenges, and for someone who hates monotony, it makes for a fun day of work every single weekend. Being able to stay creatively engaged to what I am capturing makes my work so much stronger, and weddings provide just that type of environment for me.

2) Weddings are inspiring. So many moments, wonderful people, details, and places to explore! Not to mention, the fact that a wedding represents so much hope and happiness. Yes, weddings may be stressful, but in the end, every single wedding is a celebration and gathering of people who come together because two people fell in love. If that doesn’t give you inspiration to work from…..

3) The friendships I’ve developed. I have become close friends with several of my brides over the years, a few of the guests I’ve met, and most importantly, many of the other wedding vendors. Weddings have allowed me to meet some truly wonderful people I would not have met otherwise, and for that I will forever be grateful. I get to work with tons of talented individuals who share the same passions as I do, and I always look forward to seeing their faces when I show up to work….photographers have kind of a lonely existence otherwise. Without employees, these wedding vendors becomes a large network of co-workers in a sense, and family in another.

4) The variety. No two weddings are ever the same. One summer I was at the same venue SIX weekends in a row, and I never got bored. Every single wedding is always different, and amazing….new details, new challenges, and a new love story to capture. That never gets old.

5) I get to preserve history. This one is definitely my main ‘why’. How many people can say they get to preserve history? A few, but not a lot. Capturing moments of time for forever, well, that is absolutely priceless and will always make my job worth it. I also get to capture moments that escape the day - since I get to be places with the groom the bride isn’t, and vice versa, I get to provide them with a visual story of their day they were not able to experience otherwise, and that is priceless and very rewarding to me. And let me tell you a quick story…I just had a past bride write me and tell me her daughter came to her asking about the day her and Daddy got married. Being able to sit down with her and show her their wedding album was a priceless moment for her, and one I was able to help facilitate. She said she was so thankful to have someone who truly captured the emotions and every moment of the day for her to share with her daughter….priceless.

Favorite Love Quotes for Valentines Day

I love to read. While I do love to write as well, I find it hard to express feelings as written words, so I love to collect phrases and quotes that express what I sometimes can not find the right words to say myself. I have boards upon boards of saved quotes on Pinterest (and you’ll see some favorites of mine scattered throughout the website and posted along with picture on my social media from time to time). What better day to share some of my favorite love quotes than Valentines Day!?!?! Here you go!

My personal favorites…..

“I choose you. And I’ll choose you, over and over and over. Without a pause, without a doubt, in a heartbeat. I’ll keep choosing you.” -The Chaos of Stars This is my absolute favorite of them all. I loved when I showed up to shoot a wedding this past fall and a large canvas hung on the wall where you walked in that had just this quote. If there is one thing I have learned about love, it is a choice you make, moment to moment, day to day, year to year.

“Fall in love. Maybe it doesn’t have to be with someone. Fall in love with music, art, dancing in the dark, car rides at 1am, the glistening of the stars, the colors of the sun as it rises, the smell of flowers, the feeling of adrenaline that takes over your whole body and suffocated your lungs with joy, good friends who bring out your best, silence, noise, fall in love with the little things that make you feel most alive and find purpose. Fall in love with life.” a.s.b.'

“I promise to love you fiercely if only you’ll crave me madly.” - Alison Malee

“Let’s fall in love as if the world was on fire and there is nothing left, but ash and us.” - Ruby Fransicso

“The sun loved the moon so much he died every night to let her breathe.” - unknown

“Someday someone won’t be afraid of how much you love. They won’t stay on the shore; they’ll meet you in the depths.” - via bl-ossomed

“Like any canvas, you just need to wait until the right painter comes.” - Emily Marie McBride

“We are all a little weird and, life’s a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” - Dr. Seuss

“I will love you as long as the sun burns in the sky, as long as the moon shines its light into the dark night, until the raging blue oceans become calm and run dry. I will love you until the end of time.” - Christy Ann Martine

“I don’t want you to love me because I’m good for you, because I say and do all the right things. Because I am everything you have been looking for. I want to be the one you didn’t see coming. The one who gets under your skin. Who makes you unsteady. Who makes you questions everything you have ever believed about love. I want to be the one who makes you feel reckless and out of control; the one you are infuriatingly and inexplicably drawn to. I don’t want to be the one who tucks you into bed; I want to be the reason why you can’t sleep at night.” - Lang Leav

And some other great quotes about love for fun……

“I may never find words beautiful enough to describe all that you mean to me, but I will spend the rest of my life searching for them.” - unknown'

“I’m so lucky to be yours. I don’t know who can handle me like you do.” -unknown

“I love you, in ways you’ve never been loved, for reasons you’ve never been told, for longer than you think you deserved and with more than you will ever know existed inside me.” - The Love Bits

“What is done in love is done well.” - Van Gogh

“I love you. After all this time. I still love you. It’s always been you. It was you yesterday. It was you today. It will be you tomorrow. And for the rest of my life. It will be you.” - unknown

“I always wanted you. Even before I knew you. It was you. You were the chapter that I didn’t know the words to, but always knew existed. And when I finally found it and began to read, I knew I was home.” - JmStorm

“I’m the lucky one who knew you, who still loves you, whose life will forever be divided into a before and after because of you.” - scribbles and crumbs

“He loved her, of course, but better than that. He chose her, day after day. Choice: that was the thing.” - Sherman Alexie

“Stay away from people who make you feel like you are hard to love.” - Quoteistan.com

“I think it’s beautiful, the way you sparkle when you talk about the things you love.” - Atticus

“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” - thinkpositive.com

“A great relationship is about two things. First, appreciating the similarities, and second, respecting the differences.” - unknown

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” - Dr. Seuss

“We feel in love, despite our difference, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created” - Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook

“You have me. Until every last star in the galaxy dies. You have me.” - The Love Bits

“He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” - Emily Bronte

“I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.” - Bob Dylan

“And in the end I will seek you out amongst the stars. The space dust of me will whisper “I love you” into the infinity of the universe. - unknown

“No matter what happens to use, every day spent with you is the best day of my life.” Noah, The Notebook

“Fall in love with the person who enjoys your madness. Not an idiot who forces you to be normal.” - unknown

“The goal is to laugh forever with someone you take serious.” - unknown

“You will never be able to escape from your heart, so it is better to listen to what it has to say.” - Paulo Coehlo

“I just wanted to know you breathed and moved in the same world as me.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald

“I found you without looking and love you without trying.” - Mark Anthony

“For all the things my hands have held, the best by far is you.” - unknown