2018 was an incredible year of growing and stretching. For starters, I asked my favorite person to MARRY ME in a comic book shop and she said YES! Planning to marry her this summer in my parent’s backyard has turned me into a walking heart-eyes emoji that’s even more stoked about weddings than usual!
On the home front, the Home Improvement life continued with a new garden of raised beds in the backyard as well as an attached greenhouse so my obsession with pants can continue to blossom—pun intended! And despite making an unbreakable vow to not get any more new pets, I added one more not-so-little member to our little farm—Hamm. He is the 130 pound potbelly pig of my dreams. Bryn and Hamm, on the other hand, are still working on their relationship—it’s complicated.
This year, Friends & Lovers hit its 10 year anniversary and I wanted to recommit to making my business better than ever! I completed a 12-week business course though Rocky Mountain Micro Finance Institute, which pushed this creative brain of mine to take on spreadsheets and budgets and marketing plans—oh, my! In addition to the scary econ 101 aspects, RMMFI gave me the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs and I was even able to volunteer my time to support other new business owners in return. While it was a challenge, it left me feeling more confident as a small business owner than ever before.
And of course, along the way, I had the privilege to photograph so many adorable and love-bursting WEDDINGS! There were a few classic Colorado weddings tucked away in rolling mountain passes, and there were some destination weddings on warm sandy beaches, and even a few super unique wedding venues, including an apothecary shop and an art gallery! Then there was a gorgeous wedding on a family ranch in La Veta, CO that almost didn’t happen due to an incredible fire. There were weddings that were intimate and weddings full of community. One especially eclectic wedding featured a talent show of friends and family who took turns performing for the newlyweds. Multiple weddings this year included the couple performing their very own first song—and you heard it here first, that’s going to be the most magical wedding trend of 2019!
And did I mention how GAY 2018 was? For the first year since starting my business, I am incredibly proud to say half of the proposals, engagements and weddings I shot were for folks in the lgbtq community, which feels extra special and down right important! I was even a co-conspirator on two proposals for the same couple! I was also lucky enough to have Bryn photographing alongside me this summer for most of my weddings and I loved watching her creative process.
Beyond the always-shiney wedding work, I was lucky in 2018 to photograph past client’s growing families, too. This included photographing my FIRST BIRTH! We spent ten hours together in the hospital when finally, baby Haliday made her debut to Beethoven’s Egmont Overture blaring in the delivery room.
To everyone I had the privilege to join on their life journeys and who trusted me with their most special memories in 2018, I cannot fully express my gratitude. You truly make it possible to live my passion, share my art, and feed my pig. And to everyone who will be sharing their stories with me in 2019, I am so ready and so honored.