HOW IT STARTED

I grew up in Nebraska and most of my favorite childhood memories are of playing outside, running around the neighborhood until the street lights came on, working on countless art projects, starting multiple businesses with my best friend (babysitting club, cookie stands, car washes, you name it), and getting creative with my siblings making [cringy] home videos with our old VHS video recorder (I’m the oldest of 5 so those videos are pure chaos).

For a good chunk of my younger years, my dad was a wedding and portrait photographer and my mom assisted him in running the photography studio. I remember running around the studio and playing with the props, seeing huge framed canvases and piles of albums filled with wedding couples I didn’t even know, and being the test subject to make sure the lighting looked good before a session. Yep, there are studio photos—plural, photos—of me with my 90s bowl cut and buck teeth hiding somewhere in my parent’s basement still to this day.

Fast forward, I attended Concordia University Nebraska where I played volleyball, my roomie became my bff, I met my husband (although we never dated until after college, but that’s a different story, ha!), and graduated with my BFA in Graphic Design. I’ve always been a creative person, but I never really considered making a career of it until I got to college and really dove into the classes there. It became my dream to someday be a graphic designer for a non-profit and use my skills to help better the lives of others. I was interested in photography and took a couple of classes for it, but I was too much of an introvert to even think about wanting to take photos of complete strangers, especially on their wedding day. However, there was some sort of pull to it that made me explore it a bit more by photographing friends who were getting engaged, newborns, families, and seniors, second shooting weddings for one of my good friends who was a photographer, and even shooting a wedding alongside my dad. I wanted to try everything to see what I enjoyed the most. Meanwhile, I did end up getting that graphic design job for a non-profit, so photography was kind of just a side thing I did for fun. And then the craziest thing happened…

Someone I had played volleyball with at college saw some of the wedding pictures I had posted to Facebook and reached out to ask if I would photograph her wedding. Wut. I was nervous but excited to give it a shot. I felt confident enough from all the second shooting and other types of shoots I’d been doing that I agreed and whipped up a pricing pdf to send her. She booked me and the rest is history. That wedding was in 2013 and each year after that I booked more and more couples. I realized I loved working with couples the most, something about having two people to play off of each other and who had a natural connection just felt right.

It’s funny, I never thought photography was something I’d enjoy as a job because I’m naturally introverted and the thought of it was a little intimidating. But something about having a camera in my hands gives me a purpose and the confidence to connect with couples. Photography has pulled me out of my shell and literally helped me grow and become the person I am today. Cheesy, but true.

My calm, adaptive, go-with-the-flow personality is my superpower when it comes to shooting weddings. My vibe is as peaceful as they come (I’m an Enneagram 9, The Peacemaker) and I’m always lending a hand and helping out in any way I can on a wedding day to make it as stress-free as possible. Add in a little quirkiness and some Office references and that’s pretty much me in a nutshell.

I now only take a limited number of weddings and elopements per year. This helps me strike a healthy work-life balance which in turn allows me to be more creative and connect on a deeper level with the couples I get to work with. If you feel that connection and are interested in working with me, reach out, I’d love to chat more with you!