Happy 3rd Day of Spring and Happy Wedding Season! To us the first day of spring is synonymous with "wedding season." Our weddings this year span from April until late October and we couldn't be more excited! (We've been photographing weddings for over 7 years and every year is still exciting!)
It's not that weddings don't happen in winter, but there is definitely a lull in the winter from late November until March for everyone in the wedding industry. In the Midwest the reason is obvious: There's a ton of snow that brides don't want to slip around on and freeze in! Even elsewhere it's still considered a "down season," though. Luckily we've had couples start working with us sooner and sooner, so often our couples hire us 1 to 2 years in advance (with most opting for a year and a half in advance) and we're able to photograph their Engagement Sessions, get them awesome products, and get to know them and their families/ friends in the whole time leading up to their wedding!
The winter for us is a lot of working on very important things for our business (taxes, marketing, buying new gear/ programs, adding external drives to back up the photos and digital files even more, attending vendor events, etc) and working on things outside of weddings. While weddings are our main focus, we take late fall and winter to work on a lot of family portraiture, headshots (such as senior photos, corporate headshots, pet photos, etc.), and product photography. Jason has even done video editing as well as assisting and such for commercial companies in Chicago and Michigan! During this time we also meet with new wedding couples for the following years (2018 as well as 2019) and capture Engagement Sessions for many of our upcoming wedding clients!
Fantastic wedding photographers are definitely one of the first things that many of our clients are looking for for their wedding. In the order of wedding priorities, many times the first priority is their date, next is their wedding venue (many of the time these go hand-in-hand), followed by reception venue, and then often next is photographer! Our couples span the entire U.S. and we're so excited about that! From California, Arizona, and Colorado all the way to Pennsylvania down to Texas and around the Midwest in Michigan, Chicago, Indiana, and Ohio we absolutely love the diversity of backgrounds and love stories we get to witness in our couples! We're so excited to partake in the upcoming beautiful weddings at the Notre Dame Basilica, Amish Acres, barns in Michigan, country clubs in Chicago, St. Mary's College, rustic repurposed warehouse, Purdue University, Indianapolis, and all of the amazing locations that we get to capture the beautiful celebrations! We genuinely care about couples and lasting love, so our job is right up our alley. We love photographing genuine moments with real people, so we've always gravitated toward real stories over styled shoots created with models. This isn't too surprising if you know us. We're a real couple and we know what a long-lasting relationship takes and means.
We're thankful to work with clients who know the value of these lifelong memories captured in quality photographs. While many people value lifelong lasting photos, not all do and that's fine! For example (a real life example): Some people could care less about photography wanting only to spend only a few hundred dollars on it, then turning around and spending $7,000 on flowers that will die days later and likely won't be remembered. In the end, though, it's about what you want and prioritize. If grandiose flowers are what someone wants, they can spend their money how they see fit. We've learned to let these consultations go and breathe easy knowing that we work with our ideal couples! *On a semi related sidenote if you were wondering: Full-time wedding photographers max out at 25 weddings per year tops. Most photograph anywhere between 12 and 25 per year and we're so happy for it to be our full-time job!
Photography isn't about narcissism and that's where many get confused. Photography to us is about memories with the people you care about. We see our service and products as investments because they will truly last a lifetime and more. If we didn't deeply believe this, we wouldn't have invested money and difficult years of our lives on top educations in photography (BFA in Commercial Photography and Master's in Fine Art Photography). Because we know that people are investing in these precious memories, we make sure that our products are archival and can last up to 100 years (due to papers and inks used) and also keep our style of photography as timeless as possible.
Thanks for joining us this week for a view into our world: The ever-changing world of wedding photography! We truly love what we do and wouldn't be here without our amazing clients and those who want real photos outside of their cell phones <3 Here's to real, physical photos and quality work done by professionals!