I exposed a whole roll of film out of anxiety when I opened the back of the camera before rolling the film back into the canister. Thankfully, they were the posed pictures after the ceremony. I quickly freaked out while pretending that nothing was wrong so much so that no one knew what was going on except for my husband. I believe God flooded my mind with ideas of new posing that I quickly suggested we do since we had a couple extra minutes. I don’t believe even to this day the bride and groom knew that that had happened and there was nothing missed in their final proofs. 

I figured since I survived one of the worst case scenarios, maybe I was meant for this industry! I had given the couple their proofs (which back in the day I printed from the one hour photo in 4 x 6’s) and within weeks I had gotten multiple calls from other brides, wanting me to photograph their weddings. I couldn’t believe what was happening, but it encouraged me to pursue this new dream of mine! 

What was probably the biggest miracle in the beginning, was another friend of mine, brought me this small garage sale ad from the newspaper that said photography equipment for sale. I borrowed my husband’s truck and was the first one at that sale and when the garage doors opened I swear I could hear angels singing. I didn’t know what a lot of the items were, but he was retiring, and wanted to get to Florida, and offered me a ridiculous amount of stuff for 150 bucks! I got lights, stands, stools, reflectors, umbrellas, just to name a few of the items. I had everything I needed to start a small studio in my home for $150! 

Because I started debt-free from what I would say was nothing short of a miracle I vowed to not take on debt and only grow the business if it could continue to grow and sustain itself and today over 23 years later, we continue to be debt-free and we continue to grow at an attainable pace. 

After 10 years of having the studio in my finished basement and the office in what used to be my dining room, (that actually housed three employees at one time) we were able to build the studio that now sits on our property! It has been amazing to watch this business evolve all at just the right moments, to meet thousands and thousands of families and have a front row seat in some of the best moments of their lives, become family with my employees and continue to do what I love! 

Not to mention having the freedom to not miss out on things like time with the family, homeschooling the kids when they were younger, traveling and enjoying this new season of life, being a grandparent! 

I have prayed at every crossroads and believe fully that God has delivered me the most amazing people to work alongside of me, to love our clients, work this business as if it was their own and to share life with! Not only are my staff beautiful souls and are so good at the things that they do; they also have specific talents and strengths that are so different from each others that we truly form a perfect team. 

All of them have been with me for years now, one of them Crystal Long is going on 16 years here with moments to remember! In addition to Crystal and I, we have two other photographers that are gifted in their craft. Erica Bailey and Melissa Ridley fill those positions. Now, when you say photographer you think that you would find them behind the cameras all the time, but shooting is just a small portion of what we do…you can find these girls behind the computers, meeting with clients, setting scenes, doing studio yard-work (as we have 10 acres to care for), packaging pictures just to name a few of the crazy amount of responsibilities we all have here.