Behind the Scenes 2019 :: New Jersey Wedding Photographer

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Weddings

January 7, 2020

I cannot believe we just completed our 9th year of weddings. What a crazy whirlwind of a year it has been for us! I turned the big 4-OH and welcomed our third and unexpected child, Mabel. We now are the crazy, proud parents of 3 children ages 23, 9 years, and 9 months. What?! I remember when we found out we were pregnant and I completely freaked out about telling my clients. Obviously, this was going to affect our wedding season in some way and I knew I had to break it to them first. Thankfully we have the coolest clients in the world who were overly understanding and excited for us. So, I ended up shooting the beginning of our wedding season HUGE pregnant. I called for backup! Thank goodness for our dear friend, Jarot Bocanegra. He is kind, hard working, skilled, and above and beyond professional. He shot 3 weddings with us this year as a safety measure and boy did he come in handy. And although I was pretty surprised at how long I could shoot being that pregnant, he absolutely saved my bum. THANK YOU a million times over, Jarot. We were so blessed to have you along with us and so were our clients. Everyone raved about your work and professionalism. And I mean, come on…look how many cool BTS photos you have now 🙂

This year surprised me. Turning 40 and having a baby were not planned, but pleasantly changed my life for the better. My days are filled with Mabel and Trace and finding time to work is a challenge within itself. I have learned to give myself grace and to keep my priorities straight. Our clients have been more than flexible and understanding and have made this one of my favorite years yet. It just drives home how important relationships are to us with our clients. We truly see them as friends and when things like this arise- it really does make all the difference!

And to Jeffrey. My partner in crime and life. You continue to support me in ways I can’t count. You work a full time job during the week and become a child wrangler while I work weekends alone. Then you somehow muster the strength to sweat to death in the Jersey heat and shoot weddings with me. You calm me down behind the curtain while I have a panic attack. You remind me that I am enough. You show up, work hard, and never ask for anything. You truly are the secret sauce to this business. I am grateful and thankful for all you do.

2019- you were a beautiful, crazy year. I can fondly look back on carrying an extra 50lbs of baby weight while trying to squat and run ahead of my clients. I will always remembering pumping breast milk in random closets and parking lots. 🙂

You taught me that family is everything. You made me learn to love myself right where I am at. You reminded me what JOY looks like. Photography has brought me so many relationships and adventures. I can’t wait to see where it takes us in 2020. We are so grateful for what we have and those who choose to trust in us to continue to deliver beautiful photos to them. I want to cry. I’m so happy.

Thank you to everyone who allowed us to shoot with them this year. Tell the stories. Make the memories. Do the things.

Let’s continue to do it with weddings, in home sessions, documentaries, families, babies- you name it!!

Wanna follow the cutest baby on the planet? Come to Instagram and watch my stories- you’ll see what I’m talking about 🙂 MABEL on Instagram

xx,

Leaha