I got to know Kate and Brad a little bit better through email over the next few months, then even more at their engagement session. I kept falling more and more in love with them. When their wedding day arrived, we were suppose to have some rain, but God had other plans and gave Brad and Kate one of the most beautiful wedding days that ever existed. It was perfect! It made me so happy for them!

Brad and Kate, I love you guys! I wish we lived closer to each other so that we could hang out more! Thank you thank you thank you for allowing me and Will to be a part of your day. It really was a blessing. It was such an incredible experience that will always make me smile :)

99% of the photos you’ll see on this blog took place on Kate’s family’s property. I loved that aspect of this wedding. It was so personal to them. There were so so many big and little things that I loved about this wedding, but instead of writing a book by listing them all here, I’ll talk more about them all throughout this blog…. Here are some of my favorite photos from this gorgeous wedding!

I was blown away by Kate’s gorgeous bouquet!! Stunning!

I love this photo!

“the one my heart loves”   *SWOON!*

I really loved the bridesmaids’ bouquets!

The guests entered through these doors to the ceremony site, which was Kate’s parents’ front yard. The altar was on the front porch. I love it!

Oh and they made all of these benches. YUP!

One of Kate’s bridesmaids, who lives in Australia, was 8 or so months pregnant and her doctor didn’t think it was wise for her to fly, so she couldn’t make it to the wedding :( So what did Brad and Kate do? They hung an ipad at the altar and Skyped with her during the ceremony so that she could still be a part! She even wore her bridesmaid dress while she watched and had a “Brad and Kate Wedding Viewing Party”!  I love these people, oh my gosh!

Oh course they traveled to the reception site this way… :)

One of the most amazing receptions I’ve ever seen.

Love this idea!!

With Kate’s aunt and uncle. From what I’ve heard, this woman played a huge role in making this wedding as beautiful as it was. She did an amazing job!!

Just as the sun was about to set, we snuck off to get a few more photos in Kate’s dad’s wheat field. I am so so happy that we were able to take these photos there!

Using the combine (I hope I got the name right!) for the bouquet toss…

….and for the getaway :-D

Ceremony Venue: Kate’s Partents’ House, Hybart, AL

Reception Venue: Gaines Farm (Kate’s Dad and Brother’s Farm) Hybart, AL

Caterer: Dale and Janice Griffin, Franklin, AL

Bride’s Cake: Jeanie Maness, Camden, AL (friend of the family)

Groom’s Cake: Pastry Art Bake Shoppe, Birmingham, AL

Florist: Bill Albritton, Albritton’s Florist, Camden, AL {& Mary Skinner (Aunt)}

DJ/Band: Paul Alexander, Porta Party DJ Entertainment, Selma, AL

Hair and Make-up: April Collins, April’s Place, Camden, AL

Decor: “It was a family affair– I am so blessed to have SO many people willing to help out!” – Kate

This is such a big, in-depth topic. Probably too long for one blog post. So today, I just want to share with you my journey over the past few years and an overview on how I recently found my balance between work and personal life. Buckle up… this one is a little lengthy, but hopefully helpful to someone out there.

Two years ago, which was my first full year doing photography as my full time job, we were so excited about all the wedding inquiries we were getting that we booked with anyone and everyone who wanted to book no matter how busy I already was. The result? Multiple photoshoots per week and weddings almost every weekend, sometimes 2 or 3 weddings in one weekend. This was great for business, but bad for me and my husband. Between weddings and shoots, editing, and just every day business running, I had no free time to just relax and I definitely didn’t have any free time to spend with my husband or friends. I had no real structure to my schedule because with everything I had put on my calendar, there was no way it could be structured. I just had to go with the flow and hope to get everything done in time. And though I thrive on being busy and productive, I think it took a toll on me… and Will. At the end of that year, me and Will decided that we needed to cut back and find structure with my schedule.

The following year (last year), we did a little bit better. I tried to cut back on how many weddings and photo sessions I did per month. That worked out pretty well at first, but I quickly broke the “rules” we had set and fell right back into my busy, hectic schedule. I started working in the morning and often didn’t stop working until it was bedtime… or even later. There were nights where Will and I barely spoke to each other because I was working all night. I think I still had the mentality of “If I am not constantly busy and staying up til 2am editing every night, then I’m not being productive” and “I have to book a wedding every weekend in order to be successful even if that means I sacrifice having a life.”

Yup. I really thought this way. Not good. It was as if I found my value in now many weddings and shoots I could do. And I didn’t even realize it until recently. I am so thankful that something clicked this past Christmas. I don’t know what it was, but something inside me shifted and I knew I needed to make a change. I realized that overbooking myself was not a sign of success. It was a sign of me not having my priorities straight. As much as I love weddings and I love everything about what I do for a living, I didn’t realize how much I was missing in life. I was missing a personal life. I was missing time with my friends. I was missing time with my husband. I didn’t have time to cook a good meal in the evenings. I didn’t have time to read a good book. I didn’t have time to get coffee with a friend. There was just no time because I had so much work to do. And I had brought that upon myself by not having the guts to say “no” every now and then — Not having the guts to not be 100% busy all the time.

So, this year, we decided that I truly needed to cut back on weddings and photoshoots. I didn’t need to be busy working 98% of the time. I needed to find the balance between work and personal life. And guys, I think I’m finally getting there!!

Now, we have limited ourselves to just shooting 2, maximum 3 weddings per month and about 5 photoshoots per month. This is perfect for me… for us. It allows me to work normal hours 8am-5pm, Monday through Friday, with just a few exceptions on wedding weekends and photoshoot evenings, of course.

Because I am not over-booking myself anymore, I can now shut my computer off most evenings when Will gets home from work. I can spend time with my husband now without feeling guilty because I have so much work that needs to be done. Sometimes, I even cook dinner! We now spend most of our evenings together. This time is so precious. I am also able to serve my clients better when I am not overloaded with work. It’s a win win situation!

We wanted to take things one step further. June, which is normally our busiest, most hectic wedding month of the year, is going to be our “off month”. Yep, that’s right. No weddings in June. We’ll have our Saturdays free! CRA-ZY!  I know I’ll miss weddings and I’ll be DYING to get back to shooting them, but I also know that the time I’ll get to just breathe and spend with Will will be so worth it!  Though we’re not shooting any weddings in June, I’ll still be doing some photoshoots, so that’ll satisfy my  photography hunger. It’s all about that balance :)

Tomorrow will be the first Saturday we’ve had in a looooong time where we don’t have anything on our schedule. Nothing. We’re SO excited!! Haha!  We don’t remember the last time we had a free weekend! Seriously! I’m not sure we’ll know what to do with ourselves. We may sleep in. Maybe I’ll make brunch for us. Maybe we’ll curl up and watch movies all day. OR maybe we’ll go fishing or hiking somewhere. The sky is the limit! We’re really looking forward to this time to just relax a little bit and spend time with each other.

I don’t know if I covered the topic of “Finding The Balance” very well in this blog, and I’m sorry about that. Haha! But, I did think it was important to share this part of our crazy lives with you guys. Hopefully some of you can relate and maybe this will help some of you to find that balance in your own lives. Leave me comment!  I’d love to hear your thoughts!

So this will be it for the ”dirt” blogs. There are only so many photos of dirt one can take. The next New House Progress blog will hopefully be a little more interesting! Perhaps with some concrete or something ;-) Happy Wednesday!

This was my first time doing a shoot like this and let me tell you, I loved it! I love capturing real life excitement and joy! And what’s more exciting and joy-filled than those first few days after someone finds out they are pregnant? What really made me love this shoot even more was that we did it at Adam and Hanna’s home. So personal, so cozy. Perfection.

So if you’ve forgotten or missed part 1 of the Starting Your Photography Business blogs, you can check out part 1 here.

I figured you might be interested in continuing this journey with me through some of the steps to starting a business. So, in my last blog, we started out talking about choosing the right name. Today we’re going to talk about the next few steps in starting your business.

Get a business license

Your current local laws probably require any individual or company that engages in business to pay a license fee. Depending on the type business you’re opening, the fee will vary; however, for our purposes a photography license for a business operated out of the home is generally less than $20. Simply put, get a business license before you start doing business. It’s not expensive and it allows you to operate your business LEGALLY. Also, it’s tax deductible…so Win Win.

Get insurance

Again, this may seem a little obnoxious; however, it’s one of those things where you weigh the costs. It may set you back a few hundred a year, but it’s way better than losing your house in a lawsuit.

Scenario #1

Mr. Budlight had a few too many at the wedding reception you’re photographing. While he may have broken your tripod during his fall, he also broke his leg and wants to sue you. Now that general liability insurance doesn’t seem like such a bad purchase after all. 

There are three different types of insurance we carry:

General Liability

Equipment

Indemnification

The scenario above is a great example of reasons to purchase general liability insurance. If you’ve purchased $30,000 in camera equipment, you definitely want to cover it with insurance should something break. You can just ask your insurance agent about a policy for your equipment. Still hesitant? Most of us insure our cars and they aren’t worth that much. Just think about it.

Side note: Generally, business equipment will not be covered by your home insurance. Ask your insurance agent to confirm.

The third type of insurance is indemnification. The base definition is: insurance that protects you against loss or damage. The easiest way to look at this is through another scenario.

Scenario #2

You’re driving to a wedding with your equipment in the trunk of your car and someone rear ends you. Not only have they destroyed your car, but your equipment is destroyed. Your client is not as understanding as you had hoped and even though you offered a full refund and tried to make things better; your client hires a lawyer and sues you.

Heaven forbid you ever find yourself in that situation, but if you ever did, indemnification insurance would be a life saver. Want some good news!? It’s not expensive and it’s easy to obtain. In fact, PPA (Professional Photographers of America) members have the option to pay an additional fee on top of their membership fee to obtain this service. So for a yearly fee of around $300 you not only get to opt in to their indemnification trust, you also get all the other benefits of being part of this great resource.

I hope this has helped to point some of you in the right direction! If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask away and I’ll be glad to share any input I have!

Stay tuned for Part 3 (Contracts) coming soon!

-Will

We first worked with Colby from Southern Wedding Films about a year and a half ago. We instantly loved this guy and his fun personality! Since then, we’ve had the pleasure of working with him at several more weddings. He is so great to work with and produces great work! He has a way of capturing the real joy and emotion of a wedding day and he does it in a very non-invasive way. Perfect! I have been really excited about sharing this blog with you because if you don’t know how awesome Colby is or how awesome his work is yet, you will after reading this blog!

Before we get into the interview part, I wanted you to see some of his work from Trent and Hannah’s wedding that we shot together last August! Enjoy! (I borrowed this from the Southern Wedding Films site)

Now let’s Get To Know Colby from Southern Wedding Films!

-How long have you been a videographer?  I was working in TV when I first picked up a video camera.  That was back in 1996!  I was hooked right then!

-What do you love about capturing special moments through video?  Those special moments are sooo different when it’s through video! I like that a couple gets to not only see what I captured, but experience it from a different view and also see things they didn’t see or know was going on.  Like a mom helping her daughter get into her dress while her favorite aunt or her sister was holding back tears right behind them.  That’s the good stuff!

-In your opinion, why should someone consider hiring a professional like yourself for their videography needs?  Our clients choose us not just because they love our work, they choose us because they trust us.  They trust that we take their wedding day just as serious as they do.  They trust that we’re prepared and dedicated from beginning to end and that we’ll be there to cover all the moments happening that day and deliver a video that ‘wows’ them!

-What are your hopes and dreams for your business in the next 5 years?  We’d like to see more couples choose to have an awesome video as a part of their wedding day!  And of course, choose us to be a part of it!

-How would you describe your style?  Rather than point, record and put footage on a DVD, we see our role as being a storyteller!  Our videos are the story of a couple’s wedding day when two families come together and it’s also the story of the transition of fiance to bride… and bride to wife!  We love that!

 

-What is your favorite part of your job?  The best part is getting that raw emotion during a wedding!  It doesn’t matter who is tearing up, but seeing those tears fall always puts a big smile on my face!  And then I start tearing up too and hide behind my viewfinder so no one sees me…

-If you could give one piece of advice to someone who is considering going into this business, what would it be?  Only venture in with both feet into the fire if it’s something you’re passionate about.  Period.  If anyone looks at it as a side job or a hobby, then they are cheating themselves and the couples.

-What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business thus far?  The fact that Erin Lindsey wants to profile me and put it on her blog!  That’s saying something!

 

Chocolate or Vanilla?  Vanilla… with a big helping of chocolate sauce…

Favorite Childhood Memory:  Marathon sessions on the classic Nintendo playing Punch-Out, Wrestling, Super Mario Bros, Metroid and Contra.  There.  I just showed how old I am.

Guilty Pleasure:  It’s called ‘Phish Food’ by Ben & Jerry’s… and it’s the ultimate in ice cream.  I’ve been known to down a few pints of it in one sitting.  It’s bad.  I have a problem.  Anyone who has ever had it knows exactly what I’m talking about.  Anyone who hasn’t yet tried it… don’t go down this path.

Favorite Movie/TV show: TV: Dexter, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and HIMYM.  Movies: Braveheart, Pulp Fiction, Vanilla Sky and of course… Airplane!

What is your weakness (i.e. chocolate, cute puppies, etc.. haha)? I crave chocolate.  Man I love that stuff.  See ‘Phish Food’ reference above.

When you aren’t working, what do you love to do with your free time?  I deal for casino parties from time to time.  I also run about 8 miles a week and can be found at the gym 4-5 days a week.  At home I can be found changing diapers and fixing a bottle in under 90 seconds when under the gun!

What makes you laugh?  Anything with Leslie Nielson (like Airplane! or The Naked Gun movies) and Family Guy or 90′s Simpsons.  I love slapstick comedy and not a day goes by where I don’t try to incorporate something from them into my day to day life.

 

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?  Probably out west.  I’ve always been partial to Las Vegas and the desert heat and the mountains there.

First thing you think when you wake up in the morning:  It’s 7:04am.  My 6 month daughter slept through the night again!  WOO HOO!

 

 

If you have worked with Colby/Southern Wedding Films before, be sure to leave a comment telling us what you loved about them!

So apparently, you’re suppose to give paper for your first anniversary present, cotton for your second anniversary, leather for your third, linen for your fourth, and so on. Last year, for their second anniversary, Rudy gave Jacki a paper gift: photos! Yup! We did a 1 year photoshoot! This year, the gift is suppose to be cotton, so Jacki planned a cotton themed scavenger hunt for Rudy to discover when he got off work that ended with dinner at Cotton Row! How creative! I followed Jacki around as she left the clues at a few spots around town that had significant meaning to the two of them. The final clue brought Rudy to Cotton Row where me and Jacki were waiting on him. We took a few quick photos of the two of them together, then I left them so that they could enjoy their romantic dinner at Cotton Row.

I had so much fun with this shoot not just because I love Rudy and Jacki, but because it was unique! They are such a fun couple, so this fun scavenger hunt really was the Perfect Date Night for them!

Jacki left an outfit for Rudy to wear for their date.

First clue drop off spot: Home Depot! Rudy and Jacki have been spending alot of time here lately while they’re working on their home.

Next clue drop off spot: The country club where they play golf. Country club dude wasn’t sure what was going on at first ;-)

And finally, the place where Rudy and Jacki got married… kinda. They got married at The Lumberyard which is attached to the Lone Goose Saloon.

Next, we headed to Cotton Row to wait on Rudy. It was so sweet when he arrived :)

Jacki searched all over the place to find some cotton, but didn’t have any luck. So what did she do? She MADE some cotton using twine, paper, and cotton balls. Brilliant!

A photo with last year’s photo :)

Happy Anniversary, you adorable love birds! :) I hope it was everything you hoped it would be and more! Can’t wait til next year ;-)

I was thrilled to have Jessica, from Jessica Sparks Photography, as my second shooter! This girl is so fun to work with and she is so talented! I couldn’t have been more excited to see the beautiful images she captured! Thank you, Jessica! You are amazing!!!

I feel like every wedding we do I fall more and more in love with my job.  Jillian sure does know how to work a camera! And Fred wasn’t too bad himself ;-) They made my job extra easy and extra fun! Thank you, Fred and Jillian, for allowing me to capture your love! I am so excited for this new chapter in your lives!

Here are some of my favorite photos from this gorgeous wedding!

One of my all time favorite wedding moments :) During Fred and Jillian’s First Glimpse, we realized we had an audience! Haha!!

Beautiful, beautiful bride.

I love these next two beautiful shots captured by Jessica <3

I loved this moment…. That look in Fred’s eyes as he is about to take his bride’s hand gives me chill bumps!! <3

Another precious ceremony moment. Fred wiping away Jillian’s tears. Beautiful!

We were able to sneak away right at sunset to get a few more fabulous shots. I am so in love with these! Please let me bottle up that sun!!!

Me and Jessica and Cody, their awesome videographer, with the bride and groom! Yay!

First Dance. LOVE.

Another favorite that Jessica shot!

I love Annabella at nighttime.

Every bride needs a pair of comfortable dancing shoes! :-D

Catering/Cakes: Becky Hartley
Venue: Annabella at cedar glen
Videographer: Cody Edger Photography
Hair/Makeup: Made Ya Blush
Flowers: Bishops Florist