I have always wanted to write about our experience in going full time but I guess when we got busy, it was hard to actually sit down and tell the story. Coty and I recently went through our weddings to figure out how the couple heard about us. We narrowed it down to referrals, The Knot and google. So 98% of our weddings were from referrals which floored us, I couldn’t believe we had gotten to this point. In 2007 Coty and I got married, it was the best day. While on our honeymoon Coty kept talking about how we should shoot weddings together just like our wedding photographers. I was so puzzled because from the day I met Coty he was going to be a police officer. Coty has never been the type to go back and forth on a big decision like that so I was so surprised he would be interested in something like that. When we returned from our honeymoon we settled back into our normal routines but the wheels were turning. I was shadowing our wedding photographers every other weekend, soaking in anything and everything I could about wedding photography. Coty was able to go sometimes but during his down time he was reading up on photography and going out with the camera when he could. So here is my story of going full time.

In December of 2007 we decided that we’d make this a business and call it Henry Photography. I wanted to call it Ashley Henry Photography or something like that but Coty convinced me not to do that. So we sat down, bought the domain and bought a website. By this time I had a nice portfolio of weddings and I was shooting whoever and whenever I could. Things got real serious when we took an ad out on theknot.com and within months we had 25 weddings booked for 2008. I had no idea we could book that many weddings for 2008 just putting our name out there in January but we did. I didn’t hesitate booking weddings, we learned very early on to book as many as you can as long as you can so that is what we did. The weddings began middle of July and went every weekend until December so I decided I would quit my full time job at the salon in July. I loved working there but you have to work on the weekends which didn’t work for a wedding photographer. I also noticed that my focus was not on the salon anymore but more so on photography. I found myself talking about photography to clients, getting so excited when brides were in the salon because I could almost relate to them. Coty on the other hand had still been applying to police departments in the area but hadn’t gotten anything interviews yet so he was working at a distribution warehouse with amazing insurance I might add. July cam and I put in my notice to leave and it was a bittersweet feeling. I was so excited for this next chapter in my life but also scared to death to be doing this FULL TIME. I think people thought I was just sitting at home reading magazines and only working on the weekends… it was far from that!

25 weddings may not seem like a lot to you but it was a lot to me. Coty was shooting the weddings with me but since he still worked full time I was doing all of the post production, meetings, engagement sessions and bookings. Thankfully he was doing the back end business side, you know the stuff that deals with taxes and money, you don’t want me doing that. My parents had gotten me a Nikon D200 for my birthday in 2007 so we knew we needed more equipment. The camera came with a kit lens as most do but it was not the best lens to shoot weddings with. So before the season in 2008 began my Dad offered to help get the business going by buying us a D300 and a lens and a couple other things. We had planned on paying him back after the season so by the end of 2008 we were able to pay him back in full. That saying you have to spend money to make money really makes sense to photographers. Everything from the domain, website, logo, business cards, blog, lenses, camera bags, cameras, lighting equipment, computers, photoshop, actions… need I say more? It was such a huge investment but we were seeing the outcome of our hard work. We were working hard, giving our clients all their edited photos, free engagement sessions and working our little butts off to book as many weddings as we could. Having that strong referral base is so important in the first years of your business.  The ONLY downside to doing 25 weddings our first year and I doing 90% of the work was that it was hard for one person to do. On top of the current weddings we were shooting, we were booking 2009 weddings and shooting some of their engagement sessions. We had thrown our business name into a market that was thriving and we had no idea how big it could get. God was so good to us because let me tell you something, starting a business the first year you’re married is a bit crazy! Coty and I did not live together before we got married, its just a decision we made based on our faith and what we believe. So picture two kids getting married, living together for the first time all while starting a business. We learned SO much that first year its hard to even put into words. I love my husband a lot more today then I did in 2007, that’s for sure!  So when we looked ahead at 2009 before it started we had booked 45 weddings for that year. What takes us a few days now took me almost 6 weeks to do then. The only solution to conquering 2009 was that Coty would have to do this with me, and go full time. So here is where Coty gets to chime in and tell his side of the story. {PS. Coty just smiled real big and said “I sound like a hero coming in and saving the day. I cut your production time down from 6 weeks to a couple days.” I literally rolled my eyes. To be completely honest, he did save my day and business}.

Like Ashley said I was working at a distribution warehouse at the time, the pay was okay and the insurance was great, but I also worked 50-60 physically demanding hours a week.  I think the first year showed that there was a lot more to shooting weddings than just the wedding itself, it was definitely hard on Ashley.  So when we looked ahead and saw 45 weddings for 2009 I knew I had to make a decision.  It wasn’t the warehouse job that was going to be the hard decision, but what I wanted to do since I was little, being in law enforcement. I knew in the back of my mind that if this business was going to boom it needed both of us.  At the time I had taken some testing at a few different city police departments and I was just waiting to hear back, but who knew how long that might be.  I remember making pros and cons list of working at the warehouse versus quitting and joining Ashley full time as a photographer.  I had already been going to weddings with here and I loved it, being able to meet new people and be with them on their most important day was amazing.  If anyone really knows me they know that I take my time making a decision.  So for about 5 months I went back and forth on quitting the warehouse, the only thing really keeping me there was the insurance, I mean it would have only been $100 to have a child.  I knew the second I quit it was self-employed insurance for us and that was not cheap.  I remember Ashley’s parents strongly urging me not to quit, telling us that it wasn’t smart with the economy the way it was.  But ultimately it was our decision and in May of 2009 I quit that warehouse to join Ashley full-time.  So what made me finally do it? It was a combination of things like the long hours, lack of free time, but more so I think sometimes you just have to trust God and take a leap of faith.  And that’s what I did and I have not looked back since then.  I did get a phone call from one of the police departments in late 2009 or early 2010, cant remember exactly, but they were wanting me to come in and go through the training.  I will tell you that that was hard, to finally get a chance to get to do what you always wanted, but, once again we were booking up for 2010 and I knew I just couldn’t leave Ashley to do it all again, so I turned that down. And if your wondering if I look back and second guess that decision, its no.  Especially now with molly I am thankful that I have a job that is safer and allows me more time for family.  So that was how I came to doing this full-time, and the decisions I had to make.

I love when Coty blogs with me, it has maybe happened twice in the last 7 years so its awesome. I really wanted to shed light on his perspective because as a man and having that natural desire to provide for his family, that decision to quit his job did not come easy. I knew in January of 2009 that he’d need to quit his job, it took him 5 months to make that decision. I love that about him, he’s very calculated and very smart and I have learned to trust him more in those big decisions. I like to thank I bring some spontaneity to his life.  It wasn’t an easy decision but I know we both don’t regret it for a second. That 2nd year of shooting 45 weddings was nuts, we were shooting 2-3 weddings a weekend, in Columbus and out of state and it was just awesome. At the same time we were really feeling out who we were as photographers. With Coty coming on full time it shifted the dynamics of the style in our shooting and he had more opinions on our style which reluctantly I had to respect and merge into what I was doing. I will admit I have a bit of a controlling edge on this business but I’ve learned to relinquish the hard way. I learned very quickly that this was not Ashley’s business that this was our business and I’m thankful for that.

In 2010 we got pregnant with our daughter Molly. She was definitely an unexpected pregnancy. I actually found out I was pregnant the day before my sister gave birth to her daughter, it was such an amazing couple days in May of 2010.  With the pregnancy came some serious morning sickness, I don’t think the pizza rolls I was eating helped any but I was sick. I literally was forced to relinquish a lot of the work to Coty which was a changing point in our business and our relationship. I had to give up my editing, some of the emailing and album design while Coty had to learn to be edit like I would. I used to tell him to think like me, which was so stupid. Finally it was like the merging of two heads and we became one unit.  It ended up being a really good thing for me to give up some of the things I liked to do because I had this very capable, talented and willing person in my life to take on some of the responsibilities. Since that change happened I was able to actually enjoy my job, I found a better balance in my work and Coty felt more involved as well.  Since booking is different every year, we never can really predict how the year will go. We found that doing the best we can do, making our clients happy no matter what and really loving our job would secure us the amount of weddings we desired. We strive to stay relevant in this creative world we are in and we are so thankful for where we are. I’ve learned not to compare our business to another and its been a huge relief when I put that to action.  As of now we average around 30 weddings a year and that is what we’re most comfortable with. We have never put a limit on how many weddings we’ll shoot, we just never were like that over the years. When opportunities arise, we more then often said yes!  However, when Molly came around we did feel like we needed to have more boundaries to the number of weddings we’ll shoot on a weekend. We have shot the 2 in one weekend and its fine but we prefer to not go over that. We also only shoot together, its not really an option for us to shoot alone anymore. Its a very rare case if we do but I can’t imagine shooting without him.

Since I {Ashley} am usually the one who writes the emails and does the meetings its always confusing because it may seem like I’m heading this but I am definitely not. Coty and I are very much equal in this business and its been amazing getting to work with him. We grow so much as a couple and as business partners its exciting to see where we go with it. I want to blog later about how we split the responsibilities so I’m just focusing today on our story of how we went full time. I know for us we really had no idea that this was God’s plan for our lives. Just in 2006 I had thought I was marrying a soon to be police officer and Coty thought he was marrying a counselor. Never be limited to what God can do in your life because His plan is always better then our plan. I know we wouldn’t want it any other way.

Photos by Jacobus Photography