I had SUCH a fun time at the KISS albums open house that I attended back In February! I’ve been meaning to post about this for a while. In the slow season, I love focusing on education and improving my business and client experience for my couples. I had the wonderful opportunity to snag a ticket to this meet-up of wedding industry leaders before they were sold out. The best part of the entire experience was getting to meet my photographer idol Katelyn James! For those of you don’t know, Katelyn James is one of the top photographers in the wedding industry. She has built such a wonderful business focused on her personal brand and amazing experience that she offers to her clients. Not only is she a top quality photographer, but she is also an amazing educator! She has released so many revolutional courses on how to improve your photography, improve your client experience, and how to make photography not just a monetary transaction, but an experience. Here you could visually insert the meme of, “Shut up and take my money!” I’ve invested so much into her educational opportunities, and my work has absolutely flourished because of it. I’ve been so thankful to get the opportunity to learn and grow from her, so of course, I jumped at the opportunity to attend the KISS albums open house that was held AT HER HOUSE! I was so excited to get to meet other industry leaders in album printing, website design, and editing, but I was also absolutely ecstatic to get meet Katelyn. I will not hide the fact that I absolutely had a fan girl moment, and had to work up the courage to go and say, “Hey!” She was so sweet and kind, and was absolutely the person that I spend hours and hours watching videos of, listening to, and learning from each month. She is just so genuine, and that is so refreshing to know that she really is the person that she presents to the world! We had a wonderful conversation, and she gave me a hug and took a photo with me.
I was already on cloud nine, as I went around talking to each of the vendors and learning more about their services and educational opportunities. I learned so much from the CEO of KISS albums, who took such care to give everyone his time. He was so invested in, in his words, “preaching,” the importance of wedding albums. Of course, as he said and I know myself, there is just nothing that compares to holding a photo in your hands! Wedding albums are such a beautiful physical product that you can offer, that beautifully depict the emotions of the day and the relationship that the couple share. He shared a beautiful story about his own wedding album, and why he’s so happy that he invested in one. He know has children, and as we all know, they love technology! He shared how he has tried in the past to show his young son photos from their online gallery on his phone. Every time he would try and show the photos on the phone, his son just wanted to play Candy Crush! His family would become distracted by other apps and notifications, and it really took away from the experience. However, when he takes the time to sit down on the couch with his family and pull out their wedding album, they are able to spend some real quality time together.
It really made me think of when I got to see my mom and dad’s wedding album. They are since divorced, and I’d never seen it as a child. Unpacking boxes after rearranging the attic, I stumbled across the album that I had never seen. My mom and I sat down and flipped through the photos, and it was such a beautiful moment. In these photos, my mom was the same age that I was now. It was so crazy to realize that, and see what she looked like at the time. It was so mind blowing to see how similar we look, and to see my dad at the time. He was so skinny!! We both exclaimed at the resemblance my younger brother has to my dad in these photos. We spent at least an hour, putting everything aside, and reliving their wedding day. Even though they were no longer together, I felt so much closer to the two of them after getting to see those photos. I feel like I learned so much about the two of them, and just understood more about how my siblings and I came to be!It was such a wonderful moment, and it really clicked for me.
This was an experience that I desperately wanted my couples to have, and made a commitment right then to find a way to make that happen. What I loved most about what I learned was learning about ways to affordably offer this to couples. I’m so excited for the 2019 wedding season, and working to make albums available for all of my couples!