“You Should Totally…” | Central PA Photographer

…Do Weddings.”

“You could make tons of money! ”

“You could leave your 9 to 5.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard those things since I started Slice of Lime.

A few years back, I went to a wedding workshop hosted by the lovely Isabel March Photography. She was awesome and I got to meet a lot of cool people. But the workshop just confirmed for me I did not want to shoot any weddings. Not anytime. Not ever.

Fast forward to this year…my brother was getting married and my cousin was getting married and they both approached me about shooting their weddings. Admittedly…my first inclination was to immediately say “no.”  However, as I thought about it, what better opportunity to do something that COMPLETELY freaked me out but that would allow me to once and for all, really, truly know whether weddings was something I would ever want to entertain doing….

The day before my cousin’s wedding, I was so wrought with anxiety, I was nauseous all day and I drove the 2 hours out to my hometown area where the wedding was and left every item of clothing I had grabbed for the weekend, besides my pajamas and underwear, hanging by the front door of my house in Mechanicsburg.

I could barely function from the anxiety, the questions of “oh my God can you really do this?!”…but at the end of the day. Cousin Becky was married to the love of her life, Damon and I snagged these…

 

 

Not too bad…right?

Fast forward to my brother’s wedding, in October. Grabbed Stephanie to second shoot and off we went, two hours back to the home town (except this time with more than just my pajamas and underwear). At the end of the day, my brother and Tiffany were FINALLY married and I managed to snag these….

Around the time of my brother’s wedding, I was approached by April of April Ziegler Photography, to second shoot a wedding with her. Though incredibly nervous to shoot along side a REAL wedding photographer, I said “Sure! Sign me up!” It was an honor to see how she works, catch up with her about life (I’ve known April since middle school when my parents bought our home from her parents) and just tag along for the day. I was nervous as hell, felt most of the day like I did not know what I was doing, and I KNOW I shot a lot of “junk” that she had to cull through…but at the end of the day, I DID IT.   And on the two hour drive home, got to reflect on my experiences shooting weddings.

When it was all said and done, I learned the following….

1. It is essential to our growth to try new things. Even if it scares the crap out of you…even if it makes your body literally shake and makes you forget all your clothes by the front door of your house. MUST. TRY. NEW. THINGS.

2. When you shoot weddings for family…you are working. You get to partake in the festivities very little & you miss out. That is reality.

3. Being a people wrangler, with major time limitations, is no fun. Nope. Not at all.

4. I always knew shooting weddings was hard work….but until you actually do it, you just have NO IDEA.

5. While I am glad I tried it, while I am grateful for the opportunity to create some pretty images for my loved ones, and while I am forever grateful to shoot along side a talented, experienced wedding photographer…

SHOOTING WEDDINGS IS NOT FOR ME….and that is okay. Being “not a wedding photographer” is okay.

I have had the opportunity to meet and connect with many talented wedding photographers; however,  as for as me, I’ve really become more in tune with what fires me up and those are the things that I want to shoot. Follow your heart and try new things…but if you find something is NOT for you…then it’s NOT for you.

If you are getting married and you happen upon my page, I don’t shoot weddings…but I have many talented friends that do and am more than willing to direct you their way. They will take good care of you!

Thanks for swinging by!