Bethany Ann Photography – Nashville, Tennessee Wedding & Portrait Photographer » Southern Weddings & Portraits

Jessica & Jason’s Wedding – Jackson, TN Photographer

Jessica & Jason pledged their love for each other on January 19th. The day was beyond gorgeous for January! Yes, a winter chill sat in the air, but it was the kind of sunny where you would think it was early spring. It was the kind of day one could only hope for when planning a winter wedding. I will admit, the week leading up to the day, I continuously checked the weather on my phone, just to be sure the weather would be amazing. Thankfully, it was! :)

In the end, the day was perfect for Jessica & Jason! Surrounded by so many loving and supportive family & friends, they pledged to walk through life together. There’s something so endearing about Jessica & Jason. You don’t have to know them a long time to know they are a good fit. He is her encourager, and her best friend; she is his light, and his home.

The ceremony was very meaningful to them as a couple. While Jason’s father officiated the ceremony, Jessica’s dad also reflected a bit about marriage, his daughter, his son-in-law and the goodness of the Lord. Jessica & Jason also opted to have an opening worship and a closing worship. I loved how personalized they made the ceremony.

Jessica & Jason opted to have a First Look, and so we were able to capture a lot of wonderful moments before and after the ceremony. I loved everything about their day; the baby’s breath at the reception, the gray lace trimmed bridesmaid’s dresses, the expressive love Jessica & Jason share, and the joy that surrounded the newlyweds from start to finish. It was a delight to be a part of the entire day! Thank you so much, Jessica & Jason! :) I wish you many years of happiness and love!

See more of their day on the slideshow:

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House Hunting!

I slept about three hours last night! I am crazy excited for today, because, as the title suggests, I’m going house hunting! Hence not getting much sleep! And the exclamation marks! :)

While Rick is at work, I’m going to see about six or seven houses today with our realtor, my mom and my sister. The plan is that I will say yes or no to this first round of houses and hopefully find two or three for Rick to then see. Then, maybe we can put an offer in on a house! Woo Hoo!

I am trying not to get overly excited, though, because if I don’t find any I like this round, I have a huge list of ‘maybe’ houses that I would like to see.

We found the houses via online searches and our realtor. I just hope we stay in budget! I have already fallen in love with a few houses at the top end of our budget just from looking at them online. (And, one house is a little over our budget that I’ve fallen in love with. Oops!)

Years ago, when I was looking for a prom dress, I fell in love with my prom dress in a magazine. Random, right? But not really. Sometimes, when I see something, I just know. The same thing happened when I found my first car; it was as if it was meant to be! It should also be mentioned that when I first saw Rick, he literally took my breath away. Like, my breath caught in my throat. Sounds so cheesy right?! BUT, I had no idea what it meant at the time, or that we would be dating a few months later, or even married a few years later! It was so incredibly odd at the time, and now I think it was fate. ;)

SO, that was a really long tangent, but the point is, sometimes I just know. The fact that I’ve already fallen in love with the images of a few of these houses kind of scares me. What if, like Sean from The Bachelor who falls in love with more than one woman, I fall in love with more than one house after seeing them in person? (Yes, yes, I had to throw in a Bachelor reference!) However, what if I hate everything I see and don’t fall in love? Or, what if I fall in love with the one house that is just over our budget? Ah, so many what ifs! I think that’s why I couldn’t turn my excitement and nerves off long enough to get more than three hours of sleep last night!

Okay, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Here are a few MUST haves that we need in a house:

Parking for 2 cars (Sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many neighborhoods have one parking spot and then parking on the street. Parking on the street = no bueno.)
Minimum of 3 bedrooms
Minimum of 2 bathrooms
Nice light (Living in townhouses is like a dark, dark cave. We are ready for the light!)
If no fence already, the ability to put one up. (We want a dog after we get a house! :))

Here are our WANTS that we know we might have to sacrifice because of our budget and the areas we are looking at:

No HOA – which is probably not going to happen in Nashville. Ahh, city living!
No train tracks or crossings nearby
Two car garage would be nice
A yard – big or small (Because of our future dog!)
Open floor plan
A separate tub and shower in the master bath (I LOVE the huge tub in our townhouse. I wish I could take it with us.)
Decent closets
Basement (The one house slightly over our budget has a basement.)
Newer appliances (This is not a huge deal, as we could probably negotiate on price with a seller if the house has older appliances.)

So, as you can see, our Wants outweigh our Needs. Isn’t that how everything goes in life? LOL!

Anyway, I will share more in our house hunting adventure. For now, I’m off to get ready for the day!

Have a wonderful day!
Bethany

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Good Enough is Not Enough

Wednesday night, I attended a photography event where Jeremy Cowart spoke about the state of the photography industry. While I’m not going to share everything he said, this idea hit me like a ton of bricks:

As a result of the growth of photographers in every country, state, and city, people are hiring photographers on the basis of good enough.

Let me back up for a second.

On the way to the event, I called Rick to complain about… wait for it…

Rejection. Yes, with a capital R and everything.

If you are a business owner, you know what I’m talking about: This client doesn’t want XYZ in my packages. That client wants me to match vendor XYZ. This client doesn’t understand that I want to be a profitable business.

Rejection stinks. If you own a business, especially a service based business like photography, rejection occurs… often. It’s just the way it is.

And so that was on my mind at the beginning of the night.

Then, hearing this idea of hiring photographers who are just good enough, blew me away. It is dangerous. If someone hires a photographer on the basis of being good enough, and, I’ll go ahead and say it, cheaper, over another, more experienced photographer, and then the images are just good enough, what does that say about the photography industry?

Does it say that good enough is acceptable? If good enough becomes the new approach for hiring photographers, what becomes of the professional photographers trying to make a living? I’m talking a true, honest-to-goodness-bringing-home-the-bacon-living.

Why does this creative field of photography, and actually, any genre of art, yield this mentality that it isn’t acceptable to make a profit?

I don’t have any exact answers to these questions. This just made me realize what I need and want from my business.

I know that I don’t want to be just good enough. Just good enough isn’t acceptable for my clients. I want their wedding day to be just as memorable in photographs as it was in person. If not more. Is that asking too much? I don’t think so, because I want to give my best to my clients.

I don’t want clients who only see the numbers and not the value.

I want clients who appreciate this job of creating art, from sometimes the simplest moment.

I want clients who know that, like every other job, a profit needs to be made to pay the bills. Photographers price their work based on many different factors: experience, supply & demand, work/life balance, products included, business expenses, hours before, during & after the event, and profitability, just to name a few. Just because one photographer charges XYZ, doesn’t mean everyone should charge XYZ.

I don’t want clients who aren’t in love with my work. That sounds harsh, but a wedding day is high-stress and highly emotional already. If a client doesn’t trust the photographer, then the stress and emotions increase ten-fold.

I want clients who know that I am creating more than just photographs. I am documenting what will become their great grandchildren’s history.

I know this is a heavier blog than I normally write, but maybe, just maybe, it will help change this idea that good enough is okay. Because, good enough, is definitely not okay.

I realize that not every couple is the right couple for my business, but my clients, they know that good enough, is not enough.

Bethany