building trust with your vendors

This year has brought to me MANY amazing experience working with my beloved clients. But, I want to highlight two of them, in particular, that stand out in my mind as absolute gems of the year.

when it comes to your wedding, you’re IN IT for a long time before your wedding day. If I remember anything, it’s that when the wedding day finally arrives, you finally feel like you can let out a big exhale + relax! This is a great thing, and a great feeling to get to have with the people you love the most. I believe I can help you get a little bit of the exhale started weeks, maybe months, before your wedding day with this little bit of how to.

I’ve never been a big social media guy. I think that it’s just a glimpse, and I don’t have my phone out for reel-ing or BTS because what’s more important to me is being present with you. BUUUUUT. (ooof, did you expect that!?) this year I’ve found that the people who are the first likes on my insta…their weddings were extraordinary experiences for me, and for them.

What does it mean?! It means that what you can do to help build your own confidence in how smoothly your day will go is follow along on some level: Facebook, Instagram, Blogging, email, text…with the vendors you’ve chosen. Be invested in them. See the work that they do on a consistent basis leading up to your wedding…and then be confident in your choice to have them be a part of your day. Trust yourself to know you did your job + made a wise choice. Do not micromanage ;) Be the couple getting married, and fully immerse yourself in your wedding, while you let the things around you unfold beautifully!

does this resonate with you!? are you in your planning process? get in touch today, I’d love to serve you!

the end of summer on film

this time of year is always weird. the sudden change in darkness (I’m being dramatic) seems to happen so quickly. We spend all the summer months feeling free to do photos at weddings as we wish, now it’s like, “y’all eat? let’s … uh… go?” (or not, if you’ve looked around, I’m not one to force anyone to do any photos you’re feeling meh about!

So as these scans came in this week, I’m loving reliving back to warmer and longer days. As this blog usually goes: enjoy a mix of all the photos from all the events in no particular order! If you’re engaged and searching around here thinking we might be a good fit, I encourage you to reach out! Let’s start a convo and see how I can serve you!!

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summertime (+ the livin's easy)

The absolute DELIGHT of summer weddings is that you can basically get away with doing photos in short bursts anywhere until about 9pm. Is there anything better than that? Long summer nights make me happy unlike anything else in the world. Not even as a wedding photographer, but as a whole entire human :)

so what, right? WELL! Whenever I get to talking with a couple about their day, we’re, of course, going through the timeline. The hill I’ll die on includes: Make sure you ENJOY your wedding day and don’t just schedule everything around the photos, kay? I say this with the caveat that: your wedding needs to be a summer wedding ;) I know I know, FALL THOUGH! But hear me out.

The freedom that comes with a summer wedding means you can schedule your photo time in a way without getting overwhelmed. If you’d like to do a first look, do that (those photos? they’re the best because you require about ZERO PROMPTING).

What’s great about first looks, and, well, me is that I won’t make you do anything that doesn’t feel right. I can pretty much guarantee my prep will sound like, “ok, you’re in line together, now….take it as it feels right. Do it your way.” There is way too much pressure in how we live now + all the wedding images our eyes consume to be perfect. Guess what? You’re going to see each other, it’s gonna be perfect.

So once that’s done! You get to spend the day with your partner! Such a relief, wow! What I do next is assess the day. Is it hot? How are you feeling? ready to knock out some portraits of one side of the bridal party? Need a drink? SO MANY OPTIONS BECAUSE, you guessed it (!), SO MUCH LIGHT LEFT IN THE DAY!

When it comes to couples portraits, here’s a controversial take: there’s enough time in the day that everything you choose to do is actually your choice. I’ve seen photographers insist on golden light photos…but guess what? I’ll never make you do anything. Don’t want to rush out after dinner? Cool, we’ve gotten enough during the day! (but here’s some goodness that you just have to see!)

what do you think? Is it relieving to get to make your own choices in this digital world of doing all the things we live in!? If you’re here for winter wedding advice, I’ll get ya on that soon, too!

a post of favorites - film favorites Part 1 of ?

I shared on my Insta how I had over 300 favorite of film photos, and like, who even would want to look at that many images PLUS most of them are my family (I’m biased, but those are my best work!) PLUS why would I make them into a reel. I’m nobody to just do something because the social media world says I have to! SO here’s part 1 of ??? to share my favorite, but not oversized heavy on images favorites of the year.

each roll (ish) I try to take a nice portrait of most kids, because they’ll still let me!

so that batch was within the January - August…what happened in august. Well. We have had the same photographer shoot our family photos since 2016 - because I’m a big enough believer in practicing what I preach: we go the extra mile + do whatever it takes to get Yan Palmer to our house when she travels. If you don’t know Yan, you should. She is a force. She’s part photographer part family therapist part magic! Once that session happened, I had a new found, re-woken NEED to shoot all the beauty and find all the light. Part 2 will come soon with the photos living on the coattails of Yan’s inspiration!

SLOAN + HAYLEY / SHARE WHAT YOU WANNA SHOOT!

I should know this, I’ve been doing this for long enough that I’ve definitely been through this cycle of learning before. Now giving it a permanent place on the blog will hopefully remind myself not to lose sight of it again!

What’s the lesson? Making art for art’s sake, that’s the goal! My newest reminder came in the form of reconnecting with Hayley over, what else? flowers! and ended with a late summer night spent with their dahlia patch.

I’m endlessly inspired by my couples - and it sounds silly because everyone is just a little bit the same, aren’t we? But getting to come into a space, and read your vibes, energy, love - it’s the thing that changes from shoot to shoot.

so the point, beyond the awesome time I had shooting with them is that mid summer I decided, I’m going to share what makes me happy - not the algorithm, not what I “should” share….and that’s what got Sloane, Hayley + me reconnected.