Do I need a second photographer for my wedding?

There are just so many decisions to make when it comes to planning your wedding day I know it can feel overwhelming. You have to hire all of these different vendors and each requires a different set of questions or details to think about, yikes! So I want to start answering some of the most common questions I get so you can hopefully feel better prepared and more confident that you are getting exactly what you need and want for your wedding day!

1 - Do you want getting ready photos for both the bride and groom?

I know, I know, guys you don’t really care about getting ready photos. But, most of the time those photos aren’t really about you! Getting ready for your wedding day usually involves the people you love the most! Your parents getting to help you get dressed for one of the biggest days of your life and I’m guessing they are just thinking about how they got you dressed for your first day of school or putting your first onesie. Your best friends are there to help you relax, laugh, and calm any nerves. These moments can be so full of emotion and happy tears, but also huge smiles and laughs as the excitement of what is to come builds.

2 - Do you want the detail photos for both of you?

Obviously the bride always has more details to photograph (her dress, shoes, jewelry) but grooms also have their shoes, cufflinks, tie, watch. Getting both of these perspectives help create and tell a full story of your wedding day. The most important part of a day that having a second photographer there for is the getting ready because there is so much going on, so much to capture, and really I can only be in one place at a time and you’re most likely not getting ready in the same room :)

3 - How tight is your timeline and is there enough time for your photographer to capture everything?

While there are a million ways to lay out your timeline and how your wedding day flows, sometimes you just have to schedule doing family, bridal party, and some bride and groom portraits during cocktail hour. If this happens then there is no time for me to get detail photos of the gorgeous reception space that you have planned and created! There are many different scenarios that could happen, but again, depending on the size of your wedding, locations, or how detailed it is, having that additional photographer there to be able to multitask and photograph two things at once can be a must!

4 - How important are your wedding day photos to you?

Haha this may seem like a basic or silly question, but if you want to have a full and detailed story of your day captured then you really need to invest in the time and resources that it takes to make that happen. You have spent months and months planning for this very important day, you have created an experience for your family and friends to all share in, so really sit down and think what you want from that 10 or 20 years from now.

Over the last few years I have actually gotten the opportunity to be a second photographer for some of my friends and fellow wedding photographers! It really is fun for me to kinda take a step back and have fun, but it’s also great to see how other photographers approach and manage wedding days. I thought it would be fun to share the diversity of these weddings as well as they may spark some inspiration as you answer the questions above for yourself!

Images photographed while working for Laurelyn of Laurelyn Savannah Photography - www.laurelynsavannahphotography.com

Images photographed while working for April of Third West Studio - www.thirdweststudio.com

Images photographed while working for Jenna of Jenna LeRoy - www.jennaleroy.com

A Personal Post | A Fresh New Year Ahead

Whew. I don't know about everyone else, but for me 2017 was a crazy year! It was definitely a year of personal growth, and that in turn means changes for my business. Lessons that I thought I knew and beliefs I thought I had were just reinforced! I know I've said it many times, but I believe it now more than ever, that life is short and experiences with people are what matters! You honestly never know what life is going to throw at you and even though you think you've got everything planned and figured out, something will happen and you've got to adjust and change your course.

I like to think that one of my strengths as a photographer is my calm and easy-going personality and that lends itself perfectly to wedding days and even portrait sessions when the unexpected happens. But I also like to think that helps to attract the kind of people that I want to work with! I have been so blessed to have so many wonderful people that have come in to my life through my business, and I am honestly so grateful for the opportunity to preserve so many important memories for them! I have said numerous times that weddings and portraits should be about creating an experience, that's why I suggest making the extra effort to hike to an epic location or really think about the parts of the wedding day and things that matter the most to the two of you.

As you can see from the collection of images I've put together above I really try to practice what I preach in my life, but have I really done this in my professional life? Well I don't think I'm quite there yet in my professional life, but I'm more at peace with that! One of the new things that I've learned is that it's not always about the end goal, that the journey can be even more important! Haha basically I'm going in to 2018 with a more zen mindset. It's so easy to get caught up in the unfairness and unpredictability of life that I think sometimes we forget to just stop, slow down, and appreciate all that we do have. I'm grateful for my amazing friends and family, a very special guy that makes me feel loved and special, a job that I absolutely LOVE, and good health which allows me to eat all of the pie that I want :) Outside of that, I'm still working on improving and growing my business, but my focus now is about really creating those experiences that I keep talking about!

Explore North Workshop 2017 | Two Bear Lake, Wisconsin

I wanted to take a minute this week and share a little bit of our Explore North Workshop that we did a couple weeks ago!! This was the second year April and I hosted a workshop for photographers and this year we had the wonderful Emily join us as well to teach!

First, I have to just give a huge THANK YOU to those ladies and to all of the attendees, models, and creatives that helped to make this workshop a reality. I can't fully express what an incredible experience it is to host a workshop to not only learn and grow your business, but to just get away to relax, be inspired, and meet new friends!! We all drove to the middle of nowhere in northern Wisconsin and had a super fun and cozy week in our modern cabin!!

This year we did a styled elopement and an in-home couples portrait session! I've included some highlights below, but the highlight of the week for me was just getting to see everyone get excited and be inspired by their new surroundings and opportunities to shoot. I truly am humbled by this whole experience and can't wait to see what the future holds for more teaching opportunities :)

Elopement Shoot: Hair & Makeup - Lady Vamp Artistry  |  Flowers - Blooms by Brandi  | Models - Hunter and Nicole  |  In-Home Session: Models -  Ben and Kelly 

How I Became A Photographer | A Personal Post

This week I'm working through my backlog of images that have been patiently waiting to be finished (having a computer go down did not help my productivity!) and I came across this image and for some reason it just made me think of how I got started in photography! And seeing as how I'm juuust a little behind on blogging, I thought I would take a second and just share my story for those of you that don't know.

Growing up I never had anything even close to a "fancy" camera. I always had cheap point-and-shoots, but every time I filled a roll of film I could NOT wait to get it developed. Fast forward to high school when I finally took a formal photography class through a local university that was just a creative film photography class held at night for beginners. Even having the most basic of assignments (photographing lines, stopping motion, etc) made me so happy and excited!

You would think I would've gone to college to study photography, but it wasn't until I was almost done with my accounting degree and I spent a semester abroad that I decided life was just too short to spend 40 hours a week doing something that I wasn't passionate about. It was then I decided to go after my dream career and did a 180 from the corporate world and headed off for a formal photography education in Massachusetts! I was spoiled learning on medium format film and digital camera systems and all of the professional lighting gear we could want. After I learned what an f-stop and shutter speed actually were, I headed to New York City for a couple internships before moving to Boston where I finally started to shoot weddings and fell in love with being a wedding photographer.

This black and white portrait kind of made me wish I had shot it on film, which started the whole thought process of where I started on film, but it kind of inspired me to get back to those roots and going out to shoot just for fun and to never forget the pure joy and excitement that I feel when I pick up a camera. I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately on where I want to go with my photography business, but I haven't been doing enough of remembering why I started in the first place. I'm glad I saw this image today and it reminded me of why I started this crazy journey to begin with :)

Explore North Workshop | A Wedding Photographer Workshop

Hosting and teaching a workshop has been something I've been talking about and wanting to do for years. I am so SO excited to finally be making it happen and to be working with two other amazing photographers, April Violet and Shaunae Teske! Together we are all hosting the Explore North Workshop on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior.

Our workshop is going to be very unique in that all 3 of us have different styles and ways that we run our business, but we all believe in community over competition and we want to help other photographers grow their businesses and reach their goals. That's why we're going to be giving very detailed information on exactly how we do things. Blogging, client experience, accounting, organization, branding, and design are some of the main topics we will be talking about.

But wait, there's more! Haha I totally feel like an infomercial right now. What other things would be valuable to a wedding photographer? New portfolio images, a new head-shot for your website, networking with other photographers and vendors, and just a few days to have fun. As important as all of that other stuff is, being a wedding photographer is draining. You need to take time for yourself to re-charge and get inspired!! This is why we're doing this, and all of this is why we are so very excited to be making this happen :)