I never imagined myself as a business owner. My plan was always go to college, get a degree, and start a career. I planned on working at that one career until I retired. Most people plan for this too and it totally works well for some. However, I always knew I loved flexible schedules, being creative, and after starting my school counseling job, I noticed that although I loved it, I couldn’t see myself doing it for at least thirty years. Still even while noticing these things, I never even thought of photography.

While planning my own wedding, I found myself loving everything about it. I said multiple times throughout the process, “like how cool would it be if I owned a venue/was a wedding planner/ worked at a wedding dress store/etc.?” It was always just a fun thought and never anything remotely serious though. When it came to wedding photography, I booked one of my mom’s friends who had a successful photography business. She had taken tons of wedding pictures and seemed so sweet and on top of everything. She was also very affordable and at the time, we were on a strict budget. I was excited for her to take my wedding photos and never imagined she would be the reason I’m now running a wedding photographer business. And spoiler alert: I don’t mean it’s because she inspired me…

On my wedding day, I was a NERVOUS WRECK. I have anxiety. I always have and now of the things that makes me the most anxious is being in front of a large group of people. I HATE being the center of attention. I was worried I’d fall, the rain would ruin the day, of getting totally off schedule, etc. One thing I never worried about was the pictures. I figured since I met with the photographer beforehand and basically told her, “look- the one thing I really want is just some cute portraits of Trey and I together. That’s the most important thing to me.” She reassured me that she had a system and it was under control and not to worry.

Well, we got SOOO behind schedule. I mean I finished hair and makeup about 10 minutes before it was time to walk down the aisle. It was crazy. Then everything after that went so fast it was a blur. I figured oh the photographer knows what she is doing, she will get the pictures. Until she didn’t. NOT a single portrait of Trey and I together on our wedding day. Imagine how I felt getting the album back. UGH. Before you get too worried about me. I’m fine and we got all dressed up again a few months later and had another photographer take lots of “wedding” portraits of us. It all worked out! (some pics from that below)

I know- you’re probably like soooo how did you end up being a photographer after all this?! Well, after the fiasco that was my wedding photographer, I decided to look into how wedding photographers usually plan their wedding days, how they run their businesses, and everything that goes into it. I started to find myself getting really interested in it. I asked for a camera that year for Christmas and took a 6 week course on how to shoot in manual mode. And boom! That’s how I started my photography business.

I feel SO alive while taking pictures. I honestly feel like God knew this was the career for me, but knew it would take something drastic to lead me that way. I mean I am a little strong willed and love consistency, so I would have never imagined a photography business for myself otherwise. There is always a blessing in hard times. I am so thankful for my sucky wedding photographer. I have her to thank for creating this burning passion I have today. Below is my favorite photo from our wedding.