I fell in love four years ago today. I was your typical (ok, slightly nerdy) high school senior, excited about prom and graduation and feeling completely unprepared to enter the “real world” of college. I spent most of my afternoons snacking at my best friend’s house or watching cartoons, completely unaware that my life was about to be knocked completely off course. I was about to be introduced to something that would change the path I would wander during my college years and beyond, and I was completely unaware. You see, at that time in my life, I had never even attended a wedding. That’s right, folks, I made it 17 whole years without having attended a wedding, and as far as I knew, I wasn’t missing out on much. That was before this amazing day.

It began so innocently. My friend’s dad was a wedding photographer in search of a new assistant, and he knew that I liked to take pictures (and when I say I liked to take pictures, I mean I went through disposable cameras faster than a college kid goes through a pack of Ramen noodles). He invited me to come along and shoot a wedding with him, and it sounded like a cool way to make money, so I agreed. That’s when it happened. To quote Rebecca Bloomwood, “You know that thing when you see someone cute and he smiles and your heart kind of goes like warm butter sliding down hot toast?” Well, that’s what it was like when I attended my first wedding. I felt nervous, excited, anxious and joyful at the same time. I had no idea how to use the beast of a camera that he let me borrow, but I did know one thing: I was falling completely, totally, head-over-heels in love with wedding photography, and there was no turning back.

The last four years have been such an amazing adventure for me. I’ve been able to travel to exotic places, build friendships with some really fabulous photographers, and (most importantly) develop relationships with more amazing clients than I ever could have imagined. Even with all of the changes that have taken place in my life, though, right now I feel much the same as I did back then: like your typical, slightly nerdy college senior, excited about formal and graduation, and feeling a little overwhelmed that I am about to step into the real real world. The difference is that this time I stride confidently into the future, knowing that by pursuing this dream I am at the center of God’s will and He will be with me every step of the way.

Now, without further adieu, here are my favorite images from Fernanda & Jorge’s wonderful wedding.

Hello blog readers! I hope all of you are enjoying this rainy morning. I know I am! I am actually in the process of getting ready to go shoot a wedding in Rome, GA, and I thought I’d go ahead and update the blog, seeing as it’s been weeks since my last post. No worries, though! There’s a lot more to share coming up! Now, on to my goals:

Be content with my portion. This is a really difficult thing for me because I’m such a perfectionist. I always want to be the absolute best, and I tend to expect too much of myself and get frustrated when I don’t measure up to my own (ridiculous) standards. I’m not saying that challenging yourself is a bad thing. Actually, I think it’s really healthy! I just want to change the way that I go about doing it. I won’t measure my own success by comparing it to other people’s. If I am pursuing the will and the heart of God each day and finding ways to glorify Him in all that I do, then I am achieving my purpose, and that is much more important than booking as many weddings as the Joneses of this world!

Find new ways to build strong relationships with my clients. This is a really fun one for me. I’ve been brainstorming different ways that I can connect with new clients and reconnect with former clients outside of the internet, and one of the top items on the list is a girls night out! Stay tuned for more details on that coming soon I jumped into wedding photography because I love people and I love to celebrate their lives, and yet I find myself spending more time with Lightroom and Photoshop than I do with my clients! Not anymore. I really want to find ways to turn my clients into friends, so that I can really capture their personalities in each image that I take and enjoy my job a little more (if that’s even possible!).

Refine my branding. If you have followed my blog or my work for any extended period of time, you know that my logo and my site have gone through about 324,485,204 changes over the last year or so. OK, so maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit on the number, but you get the point. This year, I plan on investing in a relationship with a graphic designer who will help me refine my brand into something that really communicates who I am and that I won’t get tired of in 3 months!

Get published. I LOVE flipping through bridal magazines. It’s kind of an obsession. Ask Robert. He’ll tell you. People always ask if we’re engaged because everywhere we go I’m picking up bridal magazines and oohing and ahhing over all of the beautiful pictures inside. I’m ready to pick one up and feel all giddy seeing my own images in there! I have spent the last year studying and building relationships with different bridal magazines, and my goal for this year is to have one or two weddings published.

That’s it for now! And just because posts are always more fun when they include a picture, here is a preview from a recent wedding that I photographed with my good friend Amanda