I’m married to my best friend who I’ve known since we were both tiny kiddos. Jer and I got married almost three years ago and live in Bend, Oregon. Before I started building a wedding photography business I worked in the restaurant industry – hosting, bussing, and serving. I also worked as a barista, and managed a coffee shop for awhile. The fast paced-ness of the hospitality world is something I really loved. Sometimes I want to get a part time barista job, just to taste that early morning adrenaline rush again with the long lines and deep aroma of espresso and baked goods.

When I was about 7 or so, my mom had a little point-and-shoot Kodak. I was fascinated and took pictures of everything, just to delete them because we couldn’t afford to print them. After I turned 12, I had saved up for another digital camera, this one a little nicer. This time printing some things and sharing photos with friends and family over social media. After a while different friends would ask me to take candids for their wedding for a few dollars and such began my wedding photography passion. It wasn’t until after my own wedding that I really took it seriously and created a legitimate business, though.

To me, shooting weddings and elopements is like reading a really good romantic novel. Not the sh*tty Nickolas Sparks ones where the girl goes between three different guys and comes to an end with dementia and dying, but the kind where they’re really, really, in love, and they build a whole dope life together with their dog and travel to pretty places making memories. I get to be a part of it all – like a tiny window into their world, even if it’s just for a day. It’s like when you watch a movie on Netflix, and you get to the end and feel like you want to meet the characters and be friends with them. That’s how I feel about my job.

Aside from wedding photography, I’m a pretty normal down-to-earth country girl. I camp a lot with Jer, take road trips, and we spend time with close family and friends as much is possible. We both have families of 10+ siblings so there’s always someone trying to get our attention. Our dream is to build a ranch and create it so we can have a wedding venue there, and put tiny cabins for guest’s weekend getaways. It’s going to be a lot of work to build, and take several years to become reality. In the meantime, I plan it all out in my mind. Especially with the 2020 pandemic making it ever so obvious that you can’t count on any one thing, Jer and I have worked to diversify and adapt.

Being an entrepreneur has definitely been a trip and a half! It’s not for the lazy or faint of spirit but I wouldn’t trade it for a ‘regular’ job. 🙂