The CLIENT-PHOTOGRAPHER relationship can be a long one; let’s enjoy ourselves.
I’ve been known as “the friend who takes photos” for over a decade
Here’s what that means to me today —
Whether I’m a friendly, familiar face for ~6-18 months while you’re planning your wedding, or a true friendship is born (how lucky I am for the friendships that have blossomed with past clients), my goal is to provide each and every couple an experience that I would provide my own lifelong friends.
I got my start in photography almost 15 years ago in high school as “the friend who takes photos,” and I intend to see that through until the very last photo I take.
What you can expect from me
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I care, a lot. I care about you and your loved ones, and I haven’t even met you yet. If you’re reading this sentence right now, I care about you because I know that something resonated with you enough to make it to this corner of the internet and my website. And if you’ve made it here, I’m going to assume, hopefully without making an a** out of you and me, that you want a photographer you connect with on a personal level and who you trust on a professional level to provide you with creativity through cherished memories you’ll look back on for a lifetime.
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I picked up my first DSLR camera in my early teen years.
Within a year I attended a two-week intensive photography camp in Vermont where I learned how to shoot manual. On day 1 of camp they told us if any of our submissions throughout camp were taken in automatic, we would not be eligible for redeeming college credit for the camp. I went into the camp with next to no knowledge of how to shoot a camera in manual, and I left exclusively shooting manual. I took a few more photography classes in high school and college, and my work was published for the first time when I was 17.
Through the rest of high school and college, I spent my non-school and non-sports time practicing. I used my friends as models until the moms in the community started offering to pay me to photograph their child’s high school senior portraits. Through college, I photographed countless high school seniors, families, graduates and first ever LinkedIn headshots.
I started photographing couples and weddings in 2018, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
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I promise to put you, your loved ones and the moment first so you can live your wedding day in a present & authentic way.
While timeless, artistic photos I can share on social media and add to my portfolio are a natural result of you being present on your wedding day, I don’t enter your wedding day with a directorial mindset of wanting to create images that are impersonal to you for the sake of my portfolio.
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Past clients have shared they appreciated how laid-back, yet proactive, organized and communicative, I am. This experience should be fun, enjoyable, memorable. You’re marrying the love of your life and planning what may be the biggest party you’ve ever thrown. It requires a tight ship, but it should also be a fun ship. There’s no reason the two shouldn’t coexist at the same time.
While one could argue growing up with two incredible corporate America professionals as parents could pass as a line item on a resume in business professionalism given the corporate buzzwords in my vocabulary at a young age, however, I’ll point instead to my five-year background in corporate America.
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I show up for weddings and sessions giving you the authenticity I’d give my own friends. In return, my number one goal is to provide you with final images that feel like you. I don’t want you to look back on your photos and remember feeling like things felt forced, unnatural or inauthentic on your wedding day. To achieve that, I get to know you and use all the cues I perceive to provide a documentary experience where I’m 95% a fly on the wall and 5% gently though firmly leaning in for guidance during the moments that call for it. Additionally, my editing style falls under “true-to-life” / “enhanced reality,” meaning, I also don’t want you to look back at your wedding photos and see a different color scheme than the one you so carefully picked out. I focus on true to life editing with an extra pop.
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While one could argue growing up with two incredible corporate America professionals as parents could pass as a line item on a resume in business professionalism given the corporate buzzwords in my vocabulary at a young age, however, I’ll point instead to my five-year background in corporate America.
Before going full-time as a wedding photographer, I spent five years in project management roles in corporate America. Working in client service at agencies and tech companies, I helped multiple Fortune 100 companies answer multi-million dollar research questions, so I understand the importance of timely responses, organization and detailed, clear communication.
“Gretchen was an absolute joy to work with!
Her genuine, warm personality made it easy and comfortable for us to be in front of the camera—a true gift on such an important day
Her talent is unmatched, capturing authentic, joyful, and breathtaking shots that our guests keep raving about. From the moment we met her, we were impressed with how incredibly detailed and organized she is. We couldn’t be happier with the memories she captured, and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a wedding photographer who is as skilled as she is delightful to work with!”
THE PROCESS
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After exploring my website and portfolio to determine if I may be a fit to document your memories, head on over to my contact page to submit an inquiry. The more detailed the inquiry, the better!
I want to get to know you and your vision, so that I can best understand what you’re looking for in a photographer and how I can uniquely work with you and document your memories in a way that you’ll look back on fondly for decades to come.
Within two business days of your inquiry, I will share a private link to customized collections that includes personalization tailored to the information you’ve shared with me. Your collection page will include pricing, what’s included in each collection, optional add-ons, FAQ, links to previous recent full wedding galleries and a little bit more about me.
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Within two business days of your inquiry, I’ll reach out via email and prompt you to schedule a consultation call using my online scheduler for a time that works for you. I love being able to meet all parties during this time, if possible, so if you’re able to find a time that works for everyone, that’s the best!
After the call, I’ll send you a detailed email recapping the call and explaining what the next steps are for booking & beyond.
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After reviewing the collection options, when you’re ready to move forward with booking, I will prepare a contract and invoice for you, which you’ll receive electronically via email.
To officially book your wedding with me, a signed contract and 30% deposit are required to lock in your date and remove it from my availability. Payment is accepted via ACH bank transfer or a credit/debit card payment.
From there, we’re official!
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For the couples who book an engagement session with me as well as their wedding, after booking, I’ll send you access to my official Engagement Session Planning Guide. This includes alllll sorts of helpful tips and recommendations for choosing a location or two, an outfit, a time of year and time of day for your session, inclusion of props & pets and much more. I will also send a questionnaire prior to your session to get a bit more detail about the two of you and your preferences; I like to tailor my engagement sessions in a way that best suits each couple as opposed to a one-size-fits-all strategy.
Next stop, we get to meet really IRL for your engagement session!
I deliver all engagement session galleries within three weeks of the session; I often am able to deliver the galleries sooner depending on the time of year and my schedule. Just let me know if you’re crunched for time in sending out your save the dates and I can see what I can do with prioritizing the editing of your gallery!
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I have a thorough questionnaire I share with all my couples 3-4 months prior to the wedding to ask all the nitty gritty logistic questions to understand what the timeline is, lists of all your big group photos and those potentially not obvious must-have photos. We’ll have a final walkthrough call where we’ll go over the timeline and align on everything. I don’t want to bug you with questions the week of your wedding, so I always try to do this at least two weeks beforehand.
For my couples using full service wedding planners or hands-on day-of coordinators, you will have less to complete in the form of my questionnaire, as much of this information will be shared with me directly by your planner. However, I still will have a few questions for you as it pertains to your photography vision and mindset entering the day, so I can show up as the best photographer for you.
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You get married!! The day is finally here. Up to this point, it’s my #1 goal to make sure that I have every last detail I could possibly need either from your wedding planner or the two of you to ensure that the second I walk in the door to start photographing, you can feel like you’re able to be and are present throughout every moment of your wedding day.
I always like to give my couples some sneak peek photos, via social media at a minimum, within a week after the wedding. Your final gallery will be delivered within two months of your wedding date.
From there, I’ll keep tabs on your thriving new life together on social media and smash the like button every time I see your wedding photos pop up on my feed. And you’ll know where to find me for any and all of your future photo needs :)
