Ohhhh …these photos. this couple. THIS WEDDING.

A few weeks ago, Julie and I spent a couple HOURS on the phone…strategically timing and mapping out every small detail in her timeline so that we could create an opportunity for a small window of time to fit in an extra quick photo session at one of her favorite locations in Detroit. We had planned to do a first look + approximately 15 minutes of portraits at this location before we all had to take off and head to the ceremony site. I was about half way to detroit when I got a call from the bride… “So the bus is still not here. I called the company and they literally told me they forgot about me and are now arranging an Uber for us…”

Normally, I’d say I’ve seen it all, but that one was a first….

My heart exploded when I heard the disappointment in Julie’s voice as she asked “I hope this doesn’t mean we lost our opportunity to take pictures in Detroit?”

I told her to give me a couple minutes…that I would work some magic and figure something out. Nick and I were able to rearrange some things in the schedule and come up with a “hustle plan”…which is what we like to call “figuring out how to do our job in about 10% of our original allotted time”. ;) Soon after, I texted Julie back…told her not to stress…and assured her that today was still going to be the best day ever.

…and IT WAS.

The perfect weather. The perfect puffy clouds. The perfect intimate first look. The perfect location. The perfect people to be surrounded with (the bridal party was a solid riot). The perfect reception venue. The best food. and …literally…the best wedding band I have EVER seen (Crossing Woodward). Nick and I ended up sticking around for a little bit after we were done working because we just couldn’t get enough of this band. lol.

But aside from all that, I am so unbelievably PROUD of these photos. One thing I never really talk about is how goal-focused Nick and I are. It’s how both of us have always been…even as kids. We are emotionally invested, we put our all into everything we do, and are constantly striving to push ourselves to be better……to grow, to develop, to think differently, to see things differently, and to overcome the challenges and obstacles that we face daily. We even have our goals written on the back of our front door (“How can I provide the world with something valuable today?”) so that it’s the last thing we see before we leave the house. But that’s all easier said than done….and September did not go easy on us. It’s been an entire month of intense determination meeting frustrating limitations (such as losing all our photo time at weddings). And by the end of the month, I guess all those frustrations and challenging moments must have just caught up with me because my confidence was lacking a bit yesterday morning, before I left for the wedding. But right before I left, Nick grabbed my hand and said “I’m stating this out loud because I’m claiming it. Today is going to be different. We are going to see everything with a different perspective. We are going to tell a completely different story today. And we are going to KILL IT.” Those words rung in my head all day….and that’s exactly what happened. We photographed at the same locations we have shot at a million times before….but (even under a time crunch) every single shot was a completely new + different angle/ pose/perspective than anything we’ve ever captured before…. This month took everything I had in me….but I’m so proud of what we were able to accomplish yesterday as a result… and (even more importantly) what value we were able to create/provide for our clients on their wedding day. <3

Congratulations Julie + Jeff!

We love you guys <3

THE CARTERS

JOURNAL

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