Behind the Scenes 2018

Behind the Scenes and bloopers… it’s one of my favorite posts of the year! Enjoy a small glimpse of what it would be like to follow us around on a wedding day!

We get in each other’s way a lot!

In spite of having lots of ideas to pose our couples, I never seem to know what to do for lighting test shots.

After collecting all the photos for this post, I realized that I only wore 2 dresses to all of this year’s weddings. And they’re pretty much identical. (I also have it in black!)

Sometimes, you don’t always get the perfect background for engagement sessions.

Ryan has a good time at weddings, I promise!

This face is proof that I say stupid things when I’m shooting. I can’t believe I’m sharing this one!

Love her!

Two exciting things that happened this year were having a styled shoot featured in the Coastal Virginia Bride Magazine and receiving a charger award at the ILEA Gala. The votes were tied for Mike Dragon and me, which I consider a big honor, because Mike is an amazing photographer!

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
2018 Best of Weddings
2018 Best of Engagements
Behind the Scenes 2017
Behind the Scenes 2016
Behind the Scenes 2015: Part 1
Behind the Scenes 2015: Part 2
Behind the Scenes 2014

I Am Not A Hustler

Many successful small business owners have stories that start something like this: “I dove into my business headfirst and HUSTLED for 3 years to make it happen. I worked 7 days a week. I poured all of my profit back into my business. I barely spent time with my friends and family. Every spare moment was focused on building my business.”

But inevitably this story is followed by: “And then… I reached a point of burnout smack in the middle of my busiest season.”

My story is not like that. And I have to continually remind myself that I have (so far) avoided burnout when I start to feel jealous of others and how big their businesses have grown. Because the people with full calendars and full bank accounts are often the ones on the brink of burnout or still trying to recover.

My business is SMALL. My wedding calendar is spread out. My schedule almost never feels too hectic. (Which is good, because I'm a mad-woman when there's too much on my calendar!) And to be totally honest, people are surprised when they hear how few weddings we do each year.

Hustle is a buzz word that I refuse to adopt for my life. And because of that, our family is in a really healthy place, but my business isn’t where I dreamed it would be.

And that means it’s time for some new dreams.

2nd Annual CGP Family Cookout

Five years ago, I never would have guessed that the people we worked with would become our friends. That they’d want to hang out with us after their weddings were over. That they’d know our son’s name and ask us about our lives. I would have assumed that we’d just be someone they hired. Someone they emailed a little bit, met twice, and promptly forgot about.

But that would have been underestimating them. Because our clients are amazing. They’re kind and gracious and they would never think of treating a vendor like hired help. Instead… they’re friends or even family.

As we waited and waited (and waited) on our short sale this summer, I started worrying that we wouldn’t be able to host a cookout for our CGP family this year. So when we finally got moved in, one of the first things I wanted to do was put a cookout date on the calendar!

It was Halloween weekend (and anniversary weekend for 2 of our couples) and the sun went down before we even ate dinner, but I’ll take it! Better a cookout in October than none at all!

But next year… bring on the sun! And the babies! I need to meet more of these sweet babies!

Whatever It Takes

Being wedding photographers means doing whatever it takes to get the shot and give our couple the most amazing wedding day. This naturally includes lots of veil and hair adjusting, dress fluffing, family wrangling, bouquet rotating, detail arranging, and moment capturing.

But we do a lot on the wedding day that might seem a little more unusual. We do so much on a wedding day that I'm sure I've forgotten half of the crazy 'outside my job description' things we've done for our couples over the years, but here are a dozen that come to mind:

- Lacing up the bride's dress when the bridesmaids aren't sure what to do

- Helping pin and repin flowers in a bride's hair

- Confiscating hair ties from the bridesmaids' wrists so they don't show in photos.

- Creatively photographing around construction tape, bright blue recycling bins, and a dozen other unsightly things the bride and groom didn't know were going to be there

- Standing on a 30 inch tall cooler to get a large group shot

- Coming to the rescue with bandaids when the bride cuts her finger

- Standing in the bushes to get the shot during bride and groom portraits

- Handing the bride the loop under her train to help her carry it around before bustling

- Teaching the bride and groom the Cupid Shuffle so they can enjoy time with their friends and family on the dance floor

- Giving the bride bobby pins out of my own hair

- Pinning the maid of honor's dress so she doesn't have to worry about her high slit all day

- Peeling back the layers of a tulle wedding gown to get the knats out

- Showing the bride and groom how to cut the cake

- Rewrapping boutonnieres that are losing their ribbon

Ryan and I absolutely love our couples and we'd do each of these things and many more at every single wedding if it meant giving them the wedding photography experience of their dreams!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into what it's like to be at a wedding with us! If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
How to Choose Your Wedding Photographer
Am I The Right Photographer for You?
Comparing Photographers: Budget, Style, & Experience
Why is Wedding Photography More Expensive
Why I Photograph Weddings
What We Wear to Weddings
The Gift of Photography
Whatever It Takes
Things I've Learned Being Photographed

What We Wear On Wedding Days

In 2014, I received one of the biggest compliments that I've ever gotten from a groomsmen: Best Dressed Wedding Photographer.

What Ryan and I wear to a wedding is part of our brand and the image that we project to our clients and the guests, so it means a lot when someone appreciates that.

My goal is to blend in with the guests and match the formality of the wedding. I mean, when the wedding is at the Jefferson, you can't just show up looking like the wait staff! It's not always easy to find wedding appropriate clothing, because not just any dress is suitable for all the bending over, kneeling, and hunching that I do on a wedding day. I'm always on the lookout for something new to add to my wedding appropriate collection. (Any excuse to go shopping, right?) But here are some snapshots from previous weddings to give you an idea of what we wear.

Stay tuned for the end of 2018 Behind the Scenes post to see if I find that awesome maxi dress in any more colors!

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into what it's like to be at a wedding with us! If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
How to Choose Your Wedding Photographer
Am I The Right Photographer for You?
Comparing Photographers: Budget, Style, & Experience
Why is Wedding Photography More Expensive
Why I Photograph Weddings
What We Wear to Weddings
The Gift of Photography
Whatever It Takes
Things I've Learned Being Photographed

The CGP Promo Video

I've mentioned before that the couples we've worked with over the past few years are all really similar! Their careers and hometowns and wedding styles span a wide spectrum, but their personalities and relationship style (Is that a thing?) are very much alike! Our couples connect with us: with our love story, with my lengthy detailed emails, with our introverted personalities! And we love that, because the more we connect with our clients, the better we understand them, and the better we can serve them on their wedding day! As much as I loved our old promo video, it wasn't much more than a behind the scenes peek at me shooting. It didn't tell you what it was like to work with us. It didn't express how we want our clients to feel. And Ryan wasn't in the video at all! So today, we are thrilled to share our new promo video:

We loved working with David Broughton on our promo video! He owns an amazing wedding videography company, Dogwood Visual.  I knew we needed a big upgrade for our promo video, but I didn't have a vision of what it should look like. David did an amazing job helping us visualize this video and we were amazed with the result!

Many thanks to the Norfolk Botanical Garden, Darling & Dapper Studio, and The Music Bed. And of course, to Julia & Tyler and Deb & Cody, two of our wonderful CGP couples who allowed us to use film from their wedding day/session and sat down for an interview with David!

Want to learn more about me?
Meet Caitlin (&Ryan)
Watch Our Promo Video
10 (More) Things You Might Not Know About Me (2018)
10 (More) Things You Might Not Know About Me (2016)
10 Things You Might Not Know About Me (2015)
Eight Quirky Facts About Me (2012)
About My Scar
Am I the Right Wedding Photographer for You?