2009 our lives changed forever. We met online in March, got engaged 5 weeks later and by December we were married. But inbetween the propoasal by accident at the mall and tying-the-knot, we were a couple lost in trying to plan a wedding.
The most overwhelming part of the wedding planning experience was looking for a photographer. The crazy/confusing/complicated amount of packages and the high prices with add-ons, were enough to freak anyone out. After months of searching, continually being nickled and dimed, we finally found the photographer of our dreams, the price was right, the images were lovely and most importantly we connected with her. Months after the wedding, we learned, we were deceived…
The best day of our lives came and went like a dream. It felt wonderful to read all the cards with best wishes and we even received a photo book from one of our aunts with all the images she took of the day. After seeing the book, we grew eager to see our professional images and the excitement was building to relive the day though our photographers photojournalistic style.
By email, we recieved the login information for our private online gallery. We sat together in front of the computer to see our wedding pictures and the first part was of us getting ready in the morning. I cried. I cried hard and not becuase they were everything my heart felt that day but because they were horrible. Disgusting and not what I signed on the contract for and wrote two checks to pay for. It was heart breaking.
Our images looked nothing like what we saw in her albums and many were blurry especially of the dancing. Even though our images were not as we were promised, they are still ours and I am grateful I have them because shortly after we lost my grandfather and he was my buddy.
I feel like I have never quite fully recovered from the experience but to make a long story short, this is how we began. After the wedding, we had money from our wedding gifts that we wanted to spend with a special meaning. I don’t remember the conversation perfectly but we joked that we should get a camera and shoot weddings because we could probably do better than our wedding photographer. Then it all hit us at once, we went out and bought our first Nikon camera and it was love at first click. Shortly after we booked our first wedding (the couple knew it was our first). At that moment I knew we had our homework cut out for us, we had so much studying to do and research about how to use the camera. But perseverance paid off big time.
With the success of our first wedding under our belt, the bookings started coming in. We signed up for our first bridal show at the same venue we got married. Within the first hour of the show, we signed a bride up right there and it brought everything full circle for us. I will never forget that bride that wanted us to shoot her wedding so bad It lit a fire in us that burns brighter everyday. From that moment I knew we found our calling.
