Our beautiful bride Heather at her reception last weekend!

I must admit I feel extremely blessed and fortunate to not only get to do what I love, but to be able to provide for my family by doing what I love is simply unbelievable to me!  Sure being a photographer sounds like a gloriously glamorous life.  I mean, all you do is take pictures and throw them on a blog right?  How hard can it be?  Truthfully, owning our own photography business has been challenging, stretching and at some points downright scary!  But it’s also been exciting, challenging (the good kind), fun and extremely rewarding.

There are so many aspects of it that I love (and like any job–some I can’t stand–such as deleting a mess of 2500+ photos down to @800).  The list of things I love is so vast that there could be a year’s worth of weekly blog posts covering those aspects (and there might be in the future), but I want to speak more generally about wedding photography as a whole.

One thing I enjoy, is sitting down with potential “clients” (I hate that the word clients invokes such a static relationship) and just hearing about their wedding plans.  And I love when these excited brides (and most often their mothers) come with a list of questions.  I’m not talking about the technical questions like, “do I get print rights to the digital files” etc.  I’m talking about the heart questions.  Recently I sat down with a beautiful bride-to-be and her mother-in-law-to-be and one of those heart questions came up.  It was one of those moments that kind of catches you by surprise and for a moment I was dumbfounded and unable to respond because it was such a perfect question, and one that no one had ever asked me!

“Do you love doing weddings?”

I sat there for a moment trying to answer the question, knowing that if I said no, there goes the booking.  It was one of those questions that lingered in my mind the entire week.  I mean I really had to have a heart-to-heart with myself!   I think it’s a question that EVERYONE should ask their photographer!  “Do you enjoy doing weddings?”  The sad truth is that there are many photographers out there who make the bulk of their income off weddings, who will openly admit to their photographer buddies that they despise, or at best really dislike doing weddings.  I think a lot of “new” photographers look at the wedding world as a gold mine.  Just look how many people pick up a camera and all of a sudden their wedding photographers.  Two things wrong with this–

#1 – picking up your digital rebel and shooting a wedding does not make you a wedding photographer.  Sure this person has great rates!  But let’s be honest, there’s a point where you do get what you pay for! (More on this later)

#2 – someone that doesn’t have a heart for weddings, but rather only sees weddings as a quick shot at some income will either burn out or trap themselves in a misery of “having to shoot yet another wedding” meaning you end up with a cynical, bitter and pretentious wedding photographer

Weddings are tough work!  They are at times extremely stressful…you just try being bossed around by granny every weekend! But they are so beautiful to be a part of.  How fortunate we are to be able to spend one of the biggest days of someone’s life with the people we get to work with!  How amazing it is that these people are entrusting us to capture and maintain their memories that will last a lifetime (both a stressful + rewarding trust)!

I say all this first to brag that I love shooting weddings.  I love the pressure, the excitement, the joy, the happiness, the smell of the flowers, and seeing the preparations.  I absolutely love watching the parents take a deep breath and sigh a sigh of “it’s finally here and done” after the couple leaves for their honeymoon, and yes sometimes I actually enjoy the drama.  But most of all I love being able to be with people when they are at their best, when they are at their happiest, and when they are at their most true self!  My point is this:

If you are photographer doing weddings and loathing every moment of it, if you do not look forward to the weekend–do yourself and your clients a favor–quit!

And finally, if you are a bride looking for a photographer, ask them this question… “Do you LOVE shooting weddings?”  and really listen to them, not just their “yes” but listen to their heart.  Trust me, while some may be phenomenal at taking photos, the last thing you want at your wedding is a pretentious, pre-Madonna photographer begrudging himself/herself through your special day!

Here’s to Life, Love, and Beauty!