I remember all of the feelings I had when I was on my way to the Long Beach airport. Angry. Sad. Uncertain. Nervous. Adventurous. Excited. Grateful. I didn’t want to leave beautiful Southern California but I knew I had too. I knew I wanted to start my business and see it flourish, but honestly thought my style was better for serving California, not Texas. I had a lot of preconceived notions that  Texas was backwards, behind on the times, and too traditional for my business to really take off and succeed.

As soon as I arrived I searched and contacted  fellow wedding photographers, planners, and venues. All I wanted to do was network and talk about the Houston market. And about 90% of the responses I got were “sorry, we dont talk to our competition” or “we only refer clients to our friends/preferred vendors.” I pretty much cried myself to sleep every night until I booked my first wedding here. So talk about every night for 2 months, so tiring. The first business friend I met was actually a client who was just starting her bridal sash business.

When it came time for my first wedding, I was so desperate for a second shooter since I didn’t know anyone. I posted on the [b]school and the only person who replied lived 4 hours away. Romonia drove all the way from Longview, Tx to help me, I still cant believe she did that for someone she didn’t know. Seriously, right off the bat the Houston market left a bad taste in my mouth. Then, when I had lost all hope in Houston, Stephanie contacted me through the [b]school. Slowly but surely, I started meeting photographers who were actually nice and helpful! In January 2011, I travelled to College Station, Tx to meet Jasmine Star. When the meet and greet was over I was so inspired I felt I could conquer the world! I immediately made a major upgrade to my website using Showit, seriously over hauled my packages, and really worked on my branding. I asked myself, who are my brides and who do I want to be my client? My brides are Texans, vintage, DIY magicians, simply elegant, and just overall classy ladies with amazing style. As soon as I figured that out they came. I started meeting and booking the type of bride’s I had dreamed of. Since then, I have been featured on Wedding Chicks and Delightfully Engaged. I also decided to make a huge leap of faith and become a preferred vendor on The Knot. And I must say, it is worth every penny!

The past year started off horrible and has ended better than I could have imagined. I have met amazing couples, networked with local photographers who have the same style as me and are unbelievably helpful, and realized Houston isn’t backwards. My style fits in so well here. There are not many natural light photographers but there is a huge market for us and it keeps growing. I am so blessed to have such an awesome job. I get to shoot beautiful couples on their most special day. It doesn’t get better than this. If I were to meet someone just like me a year ago I would tell them to not worry because we all have to start at the bottom and its hard but so gratifying once you get to a great spot. If the past year has been like this, I cant wait to see where I will be next year! Oh wait, I know where I will be, sitting on a beach in Australia getting ready to shoot a beautiful wedding!

This is my first personal post so please be nice in the commenting! Thanks for reading!

 Website | Contact | Facebook