2014 has brought along so many beautiful love stories, precious couples, and unforgettable weddings! We have certainly been blessed to have the chance to work with so many couples who have shared so much of themselves with us and given us the chance to help us see this is exactly what we need to be doing with our business. The course of the past several months has led us in a direction that I didn’t see coming. When I first started walking into the journey of wedding photography I was also offering newborn portrait sessions, family portrait sessions, real estate commercial coverage, in-hospital newborn portrait sessions – in addition to my engagement sessions and wedding coverage. THAT’S A LOT! If this year has taught me anything, it’s that I have a passion for wedding photography and it feeds my creative soul in a way that nothing else can.
I’ve been putting off making an official announcement for this because I absolutely hate turning away families that message me inquiring about portraits. I adore hearing that my wedding couples are now expecting babies and they are hoping I’m also able to do maternity and newborn portraits for them!! My heart sings when I get requests from couples who are about to adopt a little one and they want someone to capture such a special moment in their family’s life. I want to be there for all of it! I want to see how happy they are together and help capture these unforgettable moments, as they’re happening. I desperately want to be there for every single person who trusts me enough to put the importance of each fleeting minute in my hands so they can remember it forever.
Unfortunately, I’m having a hard time with being able to do this for everyone and I need to take a deep breath and step back, reevaluate my business decisions, and make the best choice I can to serve my clients in the best way I can. This has led me to choose to specialize in covering weddings and engagement clients only. To be honest, I am dancing with excitement over this decision and I can’t wait to explain why!
1) Specializing in weddings/engagements frees me up to give each of my couples the attention they deserve. My couples deserve a full wedding experience. I don’t ever want a bride or groom to feel like they’re just another client. I don’t ever want them to feel like I’m just showing up to do a job and then I’m leaving. I want them to know that I care about their wedding days just as much as I would care about my own. It’s extremely important to me to make them comfortable, to show them they can trust me, to love on them a little bit, and to show them I’m celebrating with them. I don’t just take pictures. I’m walking their planning process with them and I’m there to help them tell their love story in a way that allows them to pass this on for generations and generations. After all, it all begins with them!
2) Specializing in weddings pushes my creativity. It inspires me and teaches me new things. It allows me to hone my craft and provide the absolute best experience possible. Every single wedding I shoot is unique in it’s own way. Every timeline runs differently. Each detail is styled differently and I push myself to see things in a different way. Each couple teaches me valuable lessons on love and how to care for them. In short, I’m always learning something new and I’m always pushing my creativity. If I were to be covering family portrait sessions, newborn portraits, and senior photography coverage my mind would be going a million miles a minute. I’m not comfortable with being a “Jack-of-all-Trades” because I know my brain isn’t capable of being the BEST I can be if I’m pulled in different directions. Specializing in one form of photography services allows me the opportunity to study it, practice it, and make sure I’m doing everything I can to provide the best service possible. Let’s be honest, it takes a large amount of time to become an “expert” at something. I definitely want to give myself that opportunity without distractions.
3) I want anyone who visits my website to know exactly what I do within seconds of landing here. My website is such a huge part of my business that I really don’t want it to be a catalyst for confusion. When someone lands on my homepage after doing an online search for a photographer I would love for them to immediately see that I’m a wedding and engagement photographer. My goal is to make sure people can immediately see what my style is, get a really good sense of how I work with my clients, and fall in love with what I’m producing. If these things don’t happen I could end up being passed over by a couple that might otherwise be perfect for me. On the other hand, I could also end up getting hired by a couple who ultimately doesn’t like their final product and that wouldn’t be a good scenario for either one of us. I’m currently in the process of a brand refresh that will end up taking care of all of this. The new website will be designed and presented in a way that allows everyone to instantly see who I am and what I love to capture.
4) My schedule, as a work-at-home mom who is also homeschooling, flows best when I’m able to focus on one thing at a time. My wedding clients get a lot of my time! There are many steps involved in hiring a wedding photographer because they want to be confident they’re getting what they’re investing in, but also the photographer they choose is a good fit for their style and personality. My clients know they can reach out to me and receive a response quickly. They also know that I’m flexible to their needs and I do everything I can to meet with them, work on their timeline for coverage, capture their engagement session and wedding, and edit and produce a final product they’ll be thrilled with. Many people think that all a photographer does is show up and take pictures. That couldn’t be further from the truth! So much planning is invested into each of my couple’s weddings, and that should be expected. Many emails are exchanged. Meetings and consultations are scheduled. Sessions are booked. Images are captured and edited, and then packaged up perfectly for a beautiful presentation. Balancing being a CEO/CFO/CMO and beyond can be a challenge! Toss in your family and household duties and it means things get a little more crunched. Specializing in only serving my wedding and engagement couples allows me to create the best schedule that fits our family’s needs and it still successfully meets the needs of all of my clients. (This is also another reason why I accept a limited amount of weddings per year.) Nothing puts stress and strain on your client’s experience like overbooking yourself! SO many years have come and gone where I have overbooked myself to the point of midnight editing sessions, stress, and tears. And every year I would swear to myself that I wouldn’t do it again – and then I would end up doing it again. There’s a difference between being busy and being completely overwhelmed. 😉
5) Everyone is a photographer – and other key reasons. This last point is more for fellow photographers and business owners to consider when thinking about specializing. Have you ever considered specializing because it’ll actually set you apart from other people in your industry? Have you ever thought about how everyone knows a photographer, or everyone around you IS a photographer? What are they all shooting? Chances are, they’re shooting anything and everything they can. This is actually a GREAT thing for them if they’re newer to the industry and trying to practice, find what they love to shoot, and they’re trying to make a name for themselves! (I did the exact same thing.) Kudos to them for diving in and tackling this business-owning-thing!!! (It’s hard!) However, I’ve been in business for almost 6 years now and I’m no longer at a point in my business where I should be accepting everything that comes my way. Choosing a genre of photography services that feeds my soul is the absolute BEST thing I could do for myself and my clients! One more thing to consider is your SEO (search engine optimization) impact that specializing has. If I’m optimizing my website for wedding photography then I’ll more-than-likely show up in search engine results for couples looking for a wedding photographer. If I’m shooting everything I can, I’ll have a harder time pushing my website into people’s search results because my keywords are all over the place. For me, specializing in wedding and engagement photography serves multiple purposes. And choosing to be intentional with my business is probably the best thing I could ever do!
It actually took me almost two years to finally decide to make this choice. It was a serious struggle of mine because I don’t ever want to say good-bye to the families that have come back to me time and time again for portraits. I have come to love them all like my own family, and it’s such a gift to watch their babies grow into beautiful, confident children and teenagers. I’m trying hard not to think of this change as a means of pushing people away, they’ll always hold a special place in my heart! I do know that moving my business in this direction is the best decision for us at this point and I’m beyond excited to tackle 2016 knowing that my couples have my full attention. Here’s to some upcoming and exciting weddings we already have booked for the coming year!!! And here’s to many more couples we know we’ll end up loving dearly!
Bring on the new year!!
