Hey there! Today we’re starting a new little series on the blog all about what life is like for us as photographers. This has stemmed out from our Ask Anything series. Because we’ve gotten so many questions about our day to day lives, we figured it would be better suited to take you through some ins and outs of what it’s like to work for yourself as full time wedding photographers. We are by no means seasons pros. In the grand overview of all working wedding photographers, we’re just toddlers in the industry still learning and growing and figuring out our path. But from the years of experience we do have to go on, we’ll be sharing some insight into the good the bad and even the not so pretty.
Today’s first installment of A Day in the Life talks about the less glamorous aspects of our career. One thing we hear so often is “Oh what a fun, easy job you have! It must be nice to only work weekends and have so much free time!” Not that we want to burst anyone’s bubble, but this simply isn’t true. We’ve talked about this before, but the work week for us never ends. Yes, we may do the majority of our actual photographing on a Saturday or Sunday but that makes up about 10% of the work load. Monday through Friday we are editing, emailing, planning timelines, fielding new inquiries, meeting with new couples, shooting engagement sessions, blogging, keeping track of our accounts, scheduling dates, maintaining all invoices, working with our accountant, updating the books, mailing out welcome kits or engagement sessions or wedding flash drives, designing albums, etc. A typical day for both of us lasts at least 8 hours, if not more. So to be clear, we DO have a fun job and we LOVE it, but we do not “just work the weekends”. Hardly.
Speaking of weekends, this brings us to the actual topic of today’s installment… since we do commit ourselves to so many Saturdays and weekends of the year for the weddings we photograph, there is so much we miss within our personal lives. Graduation parities, we haven’t attended one in 5 years. Family reunions, we’ve missed huge gatherings that will never happen again in our lifetime. Birthday parties, we don’t go to birthday parties. Baby showers, we’ve been able to attend 1 in the last year but we’ve been invited to 6. Then there’s the worst of all, the biggest heartbreaker for us… weddings. When a dear friend includes you in her wedding plans and you have to say no, it stings a little. When family gets married and we have to explain why we can’t be there to share in their day, it stings a lot. And when one of your own Bridesmaids asks you to stand by her side as she says her vows, it hurts to tell her you can’t. “We have a wedding that day” are six words we say all the time. It never gets easy.
Does this major downfall that comes with the job make us question our decision to be wedding photographers? No, it doesn’t. Having to say no, and having to miss out on so many personal events stings, and sometimes it stings a lot, but never once have we wished away this incredible career. The reason we’re telling you this is to help paint the picture of what life is like for full time wedding photographers. It’s not always as glamorous as it seems, and you do have to make some major sacrifices to sustain this career choice and provide for your couples. This downfall is shared not only by photographers, but by anyone who works in the wedding industry. Planners, DJ’s, Videographers, Florists… we all give up our weekends to serve our couples and to immerse ourselves into our passion. Whether it’s photography, music, video, flowers, or coordinating details of a wedding we all know what it’s like to feel that tugging from both sides of our lives. However, no matter what, at the end of a wedding day when we pack up and head home we are always grateful for the opportunity to do what we do, and we’re always happy with our choice to spend that day with the couples we work with. Always.
Hopefully this post doesn’t sound like we’re complaining. Having this problem means we’re blessed with a successful business, and a full calendar of weddings. We are not complaining by any means, rather we’re opening up our world to anyone who wants a look inside.
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