2021 was by far one of the most crazy and full on years we've ever had! It's one of those that I always look back on and think how on earth did we do that!?! After 2020 postponements due to the pandemic, it meant that we had to fit 18 months worth of weddings into 4.5 months. We were so determined to not let any of our couples down that we put our personal worlds on hold for that time and just solely focused on weddings - everyday with either shooting or editing!
Would I ever want to do that many weddings in such a small time frame again? No. Do I regret that busy season? Absolutely not! Although it was adrenaline and coffee fuelled. And as crazy as that season was, I feel like it pushed me as a photographer and I realised I was capable of more than I thought. It made me have to make sure my workflows were tight so that my client experience didn't suffer despite the increase in workload. I hired a bigger team and finally did some of the things I had previously decided 'I could do everything myself' but instead realised the best thing for me and my couples was to grow my team.
Our secret? Well during 2020 we converted our van into a campervan which literally became our saving grace! We always talk about our 18 days of madness where we had 11 weddings in 18 days across England and Wales. I'm not sure I even want to add up the number of miles we did in that time period. Not to mention that I also attended a wedding in that time period as a bridesmaid bringing that to 12 weddings in 18 days.
I think this blog is definitely a lot more relatable to other photographers and be that year we will never forget but I would take a 100 of those years than anymore repeats of 2020 and I'll be honest, there was something about the adrenaline that I absolutely loved albeit not sustainable for every year (at least I wouldn't have any social life left if I did!)
So lessons going forward? For us the heart and soul of our business has always been putting our couples first, taking the time to build not only relationships but sincere friendships with them too. During 2020-21 the way to serve our couples was to make sure everyone could find a new date with us. Whereas going forward, our intention is to take on less weddings per year so that we have the time and energy to pour into each of our couples and get to know them more. We also have been working hard on some stuff behind the scenes of our client journey for all of our couples which I am super excited by!
