Tag Archives: Wedding Photography

Day 3051 – Fallback Friday To A Fun Behind The Scenes!

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This came up in my On This Day today, and I wanted to reshare! Such a fun wedding, and a fun behind the scenes post.

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Originally Posted 11/17/14
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Whenever I do a behind the scenes, I try to include at least one “nice” picture of us….

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But we tend to attract fun and silly clients, so the “nice” pictures don’t last long…

<img src="https://365daysofmarriage.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/day_1955b.jpg?w=584&quot; alt="day_1955b" width="584" height="389" class="alignnone size-large wp-image-8889" /

When the couple is eating dinner, we tend to kind of sit back, relax a little and watch the action. Bret decided this was the best spot…

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“Ha ha, I’m just kidding guys, you can enjoy your meal in peace.”

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“Sherry, will you tell me a story? It’s a good time, right?”

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Bret always seems to get the cake body guard task…

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“Ummmm, yea, I took a bite….is that ok?”

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And to finish out….I love this shot kicking back with the bride showing her some fun shots. 🙂

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Day 1714 – How Did I Get Here On My Photography Journey? Or God Has Other Plans

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How did I get here?

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.”
Psalm 107:2-3

I am a wedding photographer and my journey starts where most photographer journeys start. One day a camera found its way into my hands, I discovered the joy of creating something out of nothing, something to last forever and I didn’t look back. I took pictures of my siblings, the dog and the outdoors.

Then one day, a friend asked me to photograph his wedding. I had no idea what I was doing and looking back, I probably shouldn’t have taken the job! But, thankfully, it all worked out well. Half way through post-processing, I found myself thinking, “Why on earth would anyone want to do this? It’s so much work!” But then, the pictures were edited, the albums designed and I was smitten. A few weddings later, I wanted to go steady with this wedding photography thing. After about my fifth wedding, I was truly in love and knew I was made for this.

Have you ever felt that way about something? That overwhelming, heart bursting, “THIS IS IT!” feeling? If not, I pray that you do tap into that part of your soul that God has placed in you. Your purpose. At the time, I thought it was just a fun job. It was a great part time gig! Thankfully, the jobs I worked through the years allowed me to do photography on the side. The retail job wasn’t as easy to work around, but thankfully weddings are booked way in advance, so I could take off. And I was still in the early stages of the business.

After the retail job, I landed an IT job, with perks of on the job training in the programs that I needed for my business. What a blessing! Learning about what I loved and getting paid for it! A few years later, I was working as an admin assistant and I knew this would be my last job. After a few jobs that lost steam after about a year (because I wasn’t doing what I was made to do), I knew I wouldn’t go for another “filler” job. In the midst of this “last job” I married my best friend, biggest fan, business partner (even though he didn’t know it yet) and love of my life, Bret.

For years, I longed for the day I would go full-time in photography. I have never dreamed about something so long in my life.

“A loving heart has waited long to see;
Those words will be fulfilled to which she clings,
Because her God has promised faithfully” Streams in the Desert – July 1

I read these words through tears. All evening, I had been searching for the answer. Only a few hours ago, I was offered the new position at my last 9-5 job. As soon as it was offered, I knew my dreams were coming true. When Bret came home from work, I read him what I found. His first response was, “it doesn’t say she!” After I pointed out the words, he agreed that this was God saying yes. That was the moment I started the third most exciting journey of my life, full time photography.

The first greatest journey was when I asked Christ into my heart, the second was when I said I do to my husband. This love of photography had started roughly ten years prior. I took photos of everything and anything. Then I was asked to shoot a wedding of a friend. When it was all said and done, I was in love. I spent the following 8 years growing my business. I had to work the 9-5 jobs to pay the bills but I always dreamed of the day I would be a full-time photographer. It had such an allure. It seemed like THE perfect job. I mean, wouldn’t you want to work for yourself? Make the rules? Make your own schedule? It’s the life!

I’m sure if you’re already a small business owner, you’re laughing at my naivety. I’m laughing at myself. What a crazy road it’s been so far. The past two and a half years that I have been full time have been the hardest, most blessed, most tearful, most joyful I have experienced yet.

The area that is the most exciting is that even when it is darkest, God has given us exactly what we need when we need it. Not what we want when we want it.

Everything I do is for His glory…and if there is an area that I don’t give Him glory…you better believe He loves me enough to challenge my thinking.

This is me at one of my first weddings. Even then I was loving my clients and crying when I gave toasts to them. 🙂

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Day 1353 – Thank God For Snow Days!!!

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Today, it snowed. It’s still snowing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen snow this late in the year! I realized either today or last night that all the weird weather started when Bret got here…we had those two big snow years back to back…then no snow….and now weird spring snows. I’m blaming it all on Bret. But, I was SOOOOO thankful for the snow today!

So, my Sunday was just a little crazy. I attended church and heard an AMAZING sermon about palm Sunday. There were things about Christ’s triumphal entry that I never knew and it made me so much more thankful about how God is in control of all the details, big and small, in our lives. I’ll try and blog about that another day, but if I don’t, just ask me!! 🙂

At church, I met with one of my grooms (I love photographing my church family!) and we finalized his contract.

Had a little time to kill so I got to read a bit of my current fiction I’m reading.

Then I went to a going away party for a few hours. I got to see a TON of people I haven’t seen in a long time. It was such a sweet time. 🙂

I took a quick break at Panera Bread to update my blog (it feels soooooo good to be caught up finally!)

Then I drove up to Elkton to meet with a couple, who booked me on the spot thank you very much! 🙂

THEN I drove back down to Bel Air to deliver the Rupert album at about 9 at night!

I was so tired when I got home, but I was able to stay up to finish the third round of the contest….which has been super successful by the way! I’m so thankful for the contestants and their friends and family!

Unfortunately, I got a bad night sleep…which was not good because I had a breakfast meeting with some of my favorite vendors. It was so hard to get up this morning! I got up in time to go but didn’t think it would be wise…being so tired and driving in the snow (which I don’t think is too bad driving wise…) But got a text that it was rescheduled.

No joke, I went back to bed. I have no shame in saying I slept a good long while after that. I can’t remember the last time I slept in! Ahhhh. I feel so rest and so ready to take on the week! I only have about 4 things on my calendar this week and I am very thankful for that! Keep a look out for all the updates/new things I do!! 🙂

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Day 771 – A Day of Rest

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Today I stayed home from church. This may be a surprising thing…why would a Christian, who loves her church and meeting with her fellow believers stay home?

Here are a few of the things that ran through my head:

Bret has to work this morning, so I’d be going alone anyway…
Tif is coming over later, so I won’t have much time to rest today…
I really don’t want to go…
A lot has happened in the last few weeks and months, mostly with quitting my job to pursue my dream of photographing weddings. I really haven’t taken the time to sit down and talk to God about it…

It was really the last reason that kept me home. Let me give a little back story…

One of the things Bret brought to our marriage was a desire to practice the sabbath. This is something I really hadn’t done in my many years as a Christian. I mean, I went to church and was a little lazy on Sundays…but never really and truly disciplined myself to rest. I didn’t realize how hard it was for me to rest until I met Bret. Even a few weeks ago, I was questioning what I could and couldn’t do on the Sabbath….”if I edit personal pictures, is that work?….if I read a book about photography, is that work?” He wisely answered that if you’re not sure, it’s probably not ok. I am also trying to move past the feeling of “oh my gosh, I have SO much to do! How can I stop for a WHOLE DAY?!?!?” It is getting easier as I practice it more.

So! I primarily wanted to wrap my head around all that God has been doing in my life with the photography. I do want to point out that I very very very much prayerfully considered quitting my job. But after that initial “Hey God, is this ok?” I haven’t spent time talking to Him about what He wants out of me now. Bret left for work, I made myself a cup of tea, grabbed a stack of books and got started.

I wrote in my journal for a a few minutes and felt led to read Ephesians. When I opened my bible though, I landed in Philippians.

“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7 ESV

This has always been a loved passage of mine. I especially love the “peace of God” bit. The fact that we have access to a peace that we can’t understand, is really awesome.

After this, I jumped over to my ESV Study Bible and read this: “Paul echoes Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount that believers are not to be anxious but are to entrust themselves into the hands of their loving heavenly Father, whose peace will guard them in Christ Jesus. Paul’s use of “guard” may reflect his own imprisonment or the status of Philippi as a Roman colony with a military garrison. In either case, it is not Roman soldiers who guard believers – it is the peace of God Almighty. Because God is sovereign and in control, Christians can entrust all their difficulties to him, who rules over all creation and who is wise and loving in all his ways. An attitude of thanksgiving contributes directly to this inward peace.” ESV Study Bible p. 2287

After this, I jumped into a book I haven’t read for months. MONTHS, maybe even longer. I’ve had it for a very long time. Just a few pages into reading, the author references the scripture I JUST read. As soon as I saw the “do not be anxious about anything” I started to cry. What love that the Master of the universe. The Creator of the world. The One who holds the stars in place. The One of lets the sun rise and set. Who loves us so much to send His Son to die and rise again as payment for our sins. Gave me this gift of His perfect timing. It was truly overwhelming.

“To put it even more simply: In every situation…prayer + thanksgiving = peace”
Choosing Gratitude – Your Journey to Joy. p. 66

I was further overwhelmed at this point, because I realized (again) that I will be able to attend the ladies bible study at church this Fall! (Choosing Gratitude was the book they did last time) It meets on Tuesday mornings, so, up until now, I haven’t been able to attend. I am so excited to see how God will use my new, flexible schedule!

Then I read a few other books and decided it was time to eat. I had leftovers from last night and cut up a cantaloupe. My Pampered Chef knife cut through that thing like butter. It was the first organic cantaloupe I’ve ever had…it cost about 4 bucks, so I was curious to see how good it was….and it was pretty tasty!!! Probably won’t be a regular in our shopping cart, but still a nice treat.

I sat down to eat in front of my computer (that’s really sad, if you think about it…) and started looking through my Facebook newsfeed. I follow friends and a number of photographers. One of them is Jelly Bean Pictures. They posted this really wonderful article about rest (Note: this article is not online anymore). Again! How timely! It was a really reassuring article and reminder that not only is rest good for my spiritual soul, but also my business soul. I have found over the last few weeks, since I have been taking a Sabbath every week, I am less stressed and I am enjoying my life more. Granted, I’m sure a part of that is the fact that I quit my job and can finally jump in with my photography, but I know it’s more about training myself that Rest is OK!

p.s. As I’m writing this, I’m thinking about how I need to add tags to all of my posts and want to do so now…but I’m going to finish this post, grab a puzzle and watch Say Yes To The Dress. 🙂

p.p.s. I finally added tags to all my posts starting 12/11/11….I’m up to 253 posts….which I had started on 8/21/11! Ah well!