I am over the moon to announce that John and Jennifer’s July wedding at Lightning Tree Barn is published this month on Oh, The Heart Wedding Blog which features weddings from Central Ohio vendors. I can’t even tell you how beautiful and expertly planned this wedding was. These two are now forever in my heart and I just love watching their lives evolve through social media (they live across the country). Thank you again Jenn and John for trusting me with your wedding images. That day was spectacular and I’m so excited for you all to see this today! XO Jess
I have a special treat to post today! My last post was about a small intimate wedding. And I mentioned that it really doesn’t get more intimate unless you get married at the courthouse. Welcome to kate and Jeff’s courthouse elopement! I am starting to be truly obsessed with courthouse elopements. They have an excitement that’s so different from the feelings of a big wedding! Only the closest-of-the close are invited. In fact, the last time I shot one it was just me and the couple. On this day, I arrived and was immediately struck with Kates warm and kind smile. She wore a short white wedding dress and her look was so classic. It reminded me of Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Her dress fit her like a glove and there was a good reason for that- she made it! Not only did she make it, but she made it using her mother’s old wedding dress. (Let the sentimental tears start flowing!) She even made pockets in the dress! As we waited, her mom stood next to her and just beamed from ear-to-ear. I know I ‘ll look just like her mom if my kids get married someday. At the courthouse, the hallway started to fill up with other families who were going to tie the knot. All cultures and all ethnicities were waiting for the judge to call them back for their turn to say “I do”. After a very long feeling few minutes, Jeff and Kate were finally called. We all went into a small room and the ceremony only lasted about 5 minutes. From there, the three of us drove around the city to find the cutest places we could find! I am so honored to have been with them both and can’t wait for the world to see how fun this day was! XO Jess
Kristy and John had a very small family-only ceremony earlier this year. It was probably the most intimate ceremony I’ve been to outside of a courthouse elopement. I was lucky enough to meet up with Kristy twice before her wedding and in that time frame I learned what a strong mother she was and we bonded over similar life experiences.
When I arrived Kristy was by herself in the church’s back hallway. She was getting ready in the same room they stored the choir robes and candelabras. Her mom and sister joined us shortly after and they helped her put her dress on. As I photographed her getting ready, I couldn’t stop staring, mostly because I was so excited for John to see her. Her getting ready photos ended up being some of my favorite from the shoot.
I had never met John before this day, so I went and introduced myself before the ceremony. I was met with the warmest smile, a laid back personality and an excitement that never gets old no matter how many grooms I photograph.
As guests arrived, they were met with a gift of a little succulent plant. Kristy and John’s two kids were both so dapper in their little tuxedos. Their older son held on to their wedding rings as he walked down the aisle. The rings were affixed to John’s family Bible. John’s eyes welled up when he saw Kristy walking towards him. It was the perfect moment in time.
After the ceremony, we were lucky enough to do outdoor family photos. The rain also held off long enough for me to grab a few portraits before the family went on to their private dinner celebration. As I was leaving Kristy handed me a small succulent plant which I’ve still managed to keep alive! Thank you both for having me with you on this incredible day! XO Jess
Man oh man owning your own business is such a rollercoaster. Maybe it’s because you feel obligated to always think about your business, or maybe it’s just instinct. If you are your only employee, maybe it’s because you have so much time to think by yourself so your inner voice can be extra loud. Either way, it’s super easy to have ups and downs emotionally and feel like you’re in a rut sometimes, especially if your business is seasonal like wedding photography in Ohio. Today I’d like to share some tricks I use in my off-season to create my own momentum. Changing focus and investing yourself in something other than those negative voices will literally change your life and your business. Please use the comments section to let me know what tricks you use also! I’m always looking for a good life hack!
1) Ask For Reviews
I would say this is the one thing that helps most in owning a small business. Good reviews can help you emotionally feel good about where you’ve been and get you excited for what’s to come. It’s super great for your business and SEO. It’s also going to build an online trust-factor for your company. Reviews are the word-of-mouth you can trust from people you don’t know. I know I’m constantly looking up reviews for everything from gutter repair to restaurants to see how other peoples experiences were. If you think you did a great job for a client you love, there’s no harm in asking for them to share their feedback with the world. There are also review-based awards like “The Knot’s Best of Weddings” which you can proudly display and let those good reviews speak for themselves.
2) Write Yourself Notes
I’m addicted to my notes app- you know, the plain one that comes with your phone. It keeps all of my train of thought ramblings, my blog post ideas, and most importantly, an on-going to do list. I learned to become a list-maker when I was in elementary school and had trouble concentrating on homework. It has since been a fundamental part of everything I accomplish. I think the act of writing something down, aka taking it out of just the thought realm, brings a new life and certainty to it. It helps to clearly define a direction you’d like to go and makes that first step of making it become a reality. There’s a lot of great resources out there that can help you build your self note-writing skills.
I use the Passion Planner daily planner to develop clear broad paths I’d like to go in both my personal and professional life. This is 100% not an ad. I’m just letting you in on one of the game-changing tools I’ve used the last four years. So much of owning your own business is looking inward and figuring out what you really want to accomplish with your life and work. This little book gives you the step-by-step guide on how to pinpoint what your goals for the year should be. The creator of this planner believes in it so much that she even gives it away for free as a downloadable PDF. I have to say, I just love the covers of the books so I buy mine each year. It’s a little package of endless possibilities!
3) Write Loving and Thoughtful Blog Posts
This is such a great, challenging process that has filled my soul with such joy and appreciation. Blogging forces you to stop and dissect each shoot. What it meant, what that brief moment in time was like, and how it felt to be there. In a lot of ways, when I blog about a shoot I’m living it over in my mind which does a couple of things. It helps you remember the details better. Let’s face it, a lot of times you don’t know your subjects very well so blogging about them can sometimes feel overwhelming. What do I say about people I don’t really know that well? When you make it a practice to write about the experience, you’re almost building a muscle in your brain that can recall, describe and be more present in your everyday life. You start to notice things that maybe only people in intimate relationships tend to notice. Like the little squint someone might get when they’re genuinely smiling. I also try to use blog posts as love letters. Sometimes I see photographers gifting clients with actual gifts, and I suppose that depends on what your love language is (Google this if you haven’t heard about it). But my love language is Quality Time. Writing thoughtful and loving blog posts is my way of spending quality time and sharing love with people. This is the most genuine way I can relate to the outside world. Through blogging, I’m trying to continue to build a deep and meaningful relationships with my clients and let them know how much they mean to me.
4) Look At The Larger Picture And Not The Day-To-Day Slumps
Oh man, this is a big one that I often get caught up in. It’s in the nature of the business that you don’t get every wedding that comes through the door. Because of that, it can easily feel like the world is against you sometimes. When I start to feel like this, I’ve taken to crunching numbers, and often feel a lot better when I can visually see the upward trends I’ve been taking my business over the past few years. Keep track of the numbers when it comes to leads, consults and booked weddings. When you first start out, maybe the industry came easy to you and as you raise your prices, you find yourself booking less. Are you still making more money? If so, then consider it a success. This is a good trend that often can feel like a failure. You expect to book the same number of weddings at a higher price the moment you up your prices. Unfortunately, sometimes that can take time. How many weddings have you sold each year? If you shot a ton of weddings three years ago compared to what you have booked for this year, that can feel like a failure. If you dive in and see that you actually booked a record number of weddings last year but they were spread out over two years of shooting, then you’ll realize you’re still on an upward trend for selling. The key is to keep your eye on the big picture (pun totally intended).
5) Discipline
Blog twice a week with at least 300 words about the shoot or an interesting topic, Instagram every day and repost all to Facebook. If you aren’t doing at least that, consider yourself having some homework to do. And no, I’m not the best at consistency either. The idea is present over perfect. Strive for these challenging goals. Sometimes social media can feel a lot larger and more of a task than it actually is. I know so many people who find blogging overwhelming. Posting to Instagram every day? I don’t even make my bed every day so how can I find the discipline for this? I think the key here is breaking everything down into manageable pieces and not feeling like you’re doing everything at once. For Instagram, I use the app “Preview“. You can easily plan future posts, make hashtag groupings, and move posts around so they look cohesive on the page together. For blogging, I break up my actual writing of it over the course of a week. I try to post Tuesdays and Thursdays. So on Monday, I’ll put the photo collage together for Tuesday’s post and on Tuesday I’ll write the text, and so on through the week. I’m not sold that Facebook is all that beneficial for social media anymore so I just use it to re-post content I’ve posted elsewhere.
I hope these few ideas help! Again, please use the comment section below to fill me in on your ideas! I’d love to make a communal thought dump on this page. XO Jess
I have been excited about this wedding all year long. Not only was it the one that I consider the last of my regular fall wedding season, but it was also the most personal to me and my family. My husband Scott and I have been so blessed to get to know Alyssa, Jeff and her family over the past two years. They have truly become an extension of our little family- through thick and thin. I couldn’t think of any couple more special in our life and I’m so honored to have been here on this day as they started a new chapter in their lives together.
The day started relaxing and getting ready in separate homes. I was with Alyssa and my second shooter Katie was with Jeff. Over on our side of the process, there were so many laughs, doggie hugs, and even some pretty awesome dance moves!
Next, it was time to go to their church, Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church. Alyssa and Jeff privately said their hand-written vows to each other as they held hands around a corner before the ceremony. Very rarely does this happen, but they made me quietly cry behind my camera. It was such a personal and intimate moment, that as a photographer I am lucky enough to witness. It’s in those moments that love between two people sings its loudest on wedding days, whether it’s between parent and child, siblings, or the future Mr. and Mrs.
The church itself was a stunning backdrop for the traditional Catholic ceremony. It had an old-world romantic feel that almost felt like it was from an older era. After the nuptials, we utilized the church grounds for some photos before we went downtown for some more portraits with the wedding party. It was then time for the real party to start!
Their venue was The Loft side of Dock 580 and the dining room was decorated in such a romantic and sophisticated way. Moroccan lanterns were hung over each table, and linens of blue were accented with gold and maroon. Stunning florals pouring out of centerpieces made for the perfect exclamation point on an already beautiful setting. As the guests dined, laughter from the perfect speeches filled the room. Everything felt so warm and alive.
The party ramped up with the first dances, including a fun coreographed dance by Alyssa and her father. Once open dancing started, it didn’t end until the lights were turned on. It was such a joyous blur! Their wedding day also fell on our son Caddie’s second birthday and they were nice enough to have him come to the reception for some dancing and cake! Needless to say, he loved every minute of it! Thank you again to this amazing family! I’m so thankful to have been a part of it all! XO Jess
I’m not going to lie, I’ve had some trouble writing this blog. How many nice things can you say about someone before it starts to take on a creepy vibe? At the risk of going there, I’m just gonna fangirl all over Nicole. I’ve been lucky enough to call her my friend for 13 years, most of which we’ve spent apart living our own lives and keeping in touch every few years. We used to live in Chicago down the street from each other and my memories with her were some of the best of my life. She has the BEST sense of humor, is an amazing storyteller, and is so refreshingly genuine. Gah, I love her so much and when she asked if I’d photograph her wedding, I was so honored and excited. Being able to reconnect with loved ones is the single greatest part of this photography gig. Its so nice to know that no matter how much time has gone by, it will always pick up right where we left off.
I traveled up to Cleveland and was bowled over when I walked into their church, St. Colman. It’s a stunning Irish Catholic church that just turned 100 years old this year. Inside, it has the grandeur of a cathedral. The church coordinator was so nice and told me something I’ve never been told in a Catholic church before. She said, “our motto here is to ask for forgiveness and not permission. Please feel free to go anywhere you’d like in the church except for the main altar.” If you’re a wedding photographer, you’ll know how unprecedented this is. Usually, we’re not allowed to move period. I was able to discretely get some stunning angles that I’ve never been allowed to get before, so that was an exciting side note.
After the ceremony, we traveled to Edgewater Park for some lakeside photos. From there we stopped at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The outside of the building has a very cool striped modern feel that’s perfect for some unique and quirky photos. Our final destination was the West Side Irish American Club for the reception! I loved listening to the speeches- they always are a funny and heartfelt reflection of what a couple is like before and after meeting each other. Nicole and Matt had an amazing dessert table piled high with the most delicious cupcakes and a cute cutting cake that had bride and groom Pez dispensers on them! There were some killer dance moves all night long and the DJ even brought a smoke machine!! I’m so excited to share these photos today with the world. I feel so blessed to have been a small part of this perfect day! Xo jess
I was so excited when I added Chelsie and Drew to my 2016 lineup a few months before their wedding. Even though it happened to rain on their wedding, it was still the perfect day to get married, and it also happened to be my 35th birthday! It’s like an out-of-body experience realizing I’m that old…I mean young? Either way, I got to eat cake which is what was really important. When I got home from the wedding that night, my brother, who had been vacationing in Africa, flew in to surprise me and was waiting with huge open arms when I got there. It was basically the perfect day.
Anyways, funny story- Chelsie is officially one of the bravest brides I’ve met! She bought her designer wedding gown online, sight unseen, never tried it on…and it fit like a glove. Not only did it fit, it was just stunning. I could not get enough of the back’s transparent details and beautiful buttons that followed from her low back up to her neck.
They were wed in a little church in Urbana, Ohio followed by a reception that was held in a friend’s barn. Chelsie told me that the barn was not in any way a venue, so they took a lot of time and elbow grease to get it into wedding shape. Out in front of the barn was the most beautiful row of pine trees. It honestly looked a little bit like a Christmas Tree Farm, and oh so perfect for photos. Dinner was homemade by the family and served buffet style. It was delicious and so heartwarming to experience how much love was poured into this beautiful event. I can’t thank Chelsie and Drew enough for the honor of being with them on their wedding day. I hope you love these photos! XO Jess
So I would consider Crystal and Greg’s wedding my wild card wedding of 2016. I think Crystal contacted me maybe only a month out from their big day. She was somewhat stressed out because the photographer she had been talking to didn’t work out, and wanted someone dependable that could take the reigns. I’m not going to lie- when someone shows up at your doorstep, literally, and starts telling you about the wedding she was describing, it’s hard to imagine it’s real. In fact, on my way there, I still wasn’t even sure if I was on my way to a real wedding. Low and behold, it was real, and everything she had envisioned turned out so perfectly. Why was it so hard to believe? Mostly because it was so fabulously unique and inventive. It’s hard to surprise a wedding photographer with something “new”, but they did it!
Crystal told me on the day we met that they were going to get married in the middle of the river on pontoon boats. I thought that meant the traditional kind with walls and seats. When I got there, I saw that it meant two of them without walls and seats were tethered to one traditional pontoon. To get the best angle, I was going to need to position myself of the ones without support, which I’m not going to lie, had me shaking at certain points. I could literally see myself along with my cameras falling into the river and making a huge mess of the wedding. This never happened, but boy did I feel the heat the whole time we were out there. That’s kind-of saying something, too, because I grew up boating and on the water. After the ceremony on the water, I had really never been happier to be on dry land. Their reception was held in a party house that they had finished construction on their estate literally two weeks before the wedding. The whole property was stunning and I still can’t believe what a wonderful experience I was asked to document. I’m also super happy my cameras made it water-free as well! Enjoy! XO Jess
Happy New Year! I know 2016 was a dumpster fire for a lot of people, but for our little family it was filled with many blessings, silver linings and answered prayers. Much like 2015, it feels like we stuffed 5 years into one. Our son had open heart surgery, my husband Scott took a better position at a different company, I photographed 29 weddings, we were able to see our Atlanta family FIVE times, we were blessed with the love and support of our community, and I now have about ten new forehead wrinkles. On new years a couple of days ago I was shooting a wedding. At the stroke of midnight, I had tears come to my eyes and roll down my face. A flood of emotion came to me while my brain raced through in hyper-speed all of the extremely difficult and extremely happy times we’ve had over the past 12 months. And at the end of that moment I was having with myself, I pushed the button on my camera and took a photo of my two brides sharing their first kiss of the new year. And I felt such a sense of peace and gratitude wash over me. This is the best, I thought. It doesn’t get better than this! And to be honest, I’ve had that feeling at almost every wedding I’ve ever shot.
That’s why I’m more than excited to share this blog today- Best of Weddings 2016. Last year I divided this post into two blog posts: Best of Weddings and Best of Wedding Details. I’m making it all one post this year for a couple of reasons. One, I really don’t believe the “stuff” or details is what makes the weddings. It’s super eye-candy, yes, but I don’t feel like the photos I take of inanimate objects are really what makes me a great photographer. It’s capturing the human interaction. So you will see some “pretty stuff” mixed in in this post, but mostly I wanted it to be about the awesome couples I had this year. Two, last year when I made my Best of Wedding Details blog, I had a whole section of cakes. When I was putting them all together, I realized that I had had at least two slices of each of those cakes *hangs head in shame*. I could have saved myself at least 10 pounds by not eating any of the wedding cakes. But seriously, doesn’t that idea just sound dumb? Now that I’m fat and happy this year, I want to blissfully ignore how much cake I ate, and so I’m not going to give myself that visual reminder.
So without further ado, enjoy this compilation of 2016 weddings. I’m in such awe of how lucky I am to have spent these days with you. I can’t wait for 2017 weddings to begin! Until then, keep a look out as I still have a lot of last years weddings to blog. XO Jess
Stephanie and Zach were married at Bryn Du Mansion in Granville on a perfect hot and sunny summer day. This mansion is a large complex that holds not only the mansion, but a barn, polo fields (yes, like real Polo with horses and stuff), gardens and a reception venue. The inside of the mansion, as you will see, had Rembrandt-worthy lighting. As I looked back on my edited images, I swear some of them could be paintings with the rich colors, selective illumination on the faces, and warm architectural accents…. all things I had nothing to do with, but used to my advantage.
Stephanie’s dress was an absolute dream. The form-fitting gown gently flowed from her as she walked. Her and Zach were married in the gardens on the side of the mansion. It was such a special location. The procession of the wedding party was a little bit of a walk, as they came from the main mansion, across the lawn, down and around to the gardens. The walk made the whole procession more special and definitely upped the anticipation for the bride’s arrival, even though they did a first look before the ceremony. The entire ceremony there were nothing but ear-to-ear smiles from both the Stephanie and Zach. Immediately following the ceremony, the bridal party cheersed the happy couple! Speaking of bridal parties, this might have been my biggest to date-16! That’s what happens when you have so many good people in your life.
The reception building had a stunning head table that was accented with small lights, succulent table favors, and an illuminated ‘LOVE’ sign. Other tables also had illuminated lanterns with accents of baby’s breath. Our Cupcakery provided a large tower of cupcakes that was topped with a small cake for cutting and adorned with fresh blooming carnations and baby’s breath.
Steph and Zach, thank you so much for having me with you on this most amazing day. It has been such an honor to get to know you over the past year. Love always, Jess
