A Wedding Photographer’s Review of 2020
A Wedding Photographer’s Review of 2020
Let’s just say… 2020 was an A LOT. As you’re well aware, no one was prepared for the year to take such a sharp turn, no one knew how to navigate it but here we are. Somehow, still standing.
We are well aware there are not many still here after last year and don’t want to gloss over that fact. We lost a dear family friend to the virus. Our hearts go out to all who lost someone or anyone struggling during this time.
Mrs. Vondy celebrated TEN years running a wedding photography business in 2020. She started as Shannon Lee Images prior to marrying Mr. Vondy and becoming The Vondys.
In complete honesty, 2020 was one of the hardest and definitely most stressful years in business. Ever.
However, if you know anything about us, we don’t like to wallow in self-pity, we prefer to look at it as glass half full and bring positivity to as many situations as we can.
Although it was tough and stressful, there were a lot of great moments and positive outcomes this past year too.
How it started…
At the beginning of March 2020 we had 22 weddings scheduled. We typically book about 25-30 a year, so this was on track for us! Come end of March, we had 10 left on the calendar.
By end of June we had zero.
Here was our July…
However, by the end of 2020 we photographed 11 couples’ weddings and coined the term “Petite Wedding” which is essentially our fancy way of describing micro weddings.
That’s a bit off from our traditional 25-30 wedding count, and micro weddings obviously cost a little less, but more than anything, 2020 made us appreciate having work at all. We are so appreciative to our #VondyCouples for entrusting us with these moments during a time like this.
Here’s a little recap of 2020:
Rescheduled 19 weddings.
Photographed 11 weddings.
Photographed 13 engagements.
Photographed 28 portrait sessions - including a brand photography session!
Photographed 13 dogs!
Mr. Vondy officiated a wedding via Zoom!
Sent a record number of emails - 3x more than the amount of emails we typically send.
Launched a new website - this one right here!
Forced to slow down - we haven’t had this many weekends off in a row in TEN years.
And we started a new business!
5 things we learned in 2020:
How to efficiently rescheduling a wedding. We helped 19 #VondyCouples reschedule their weddings in 2020. Some of them twice and going on 3 times. Although it’s not fun or easy, our hearts drop right along with our couples every time they can’t have their traditional wedding as planned, we love hearing from our #VondyCouples that we make the process smooth and as easy as possible for them.
We’re very good at sending emails. We sent more emails than ever in our career. Mr. Vondy, who typically handles our inbox, estimates we sent 3x the amount of emails we typically do. Quite honestly, this many touch points of communication is exhausting! Plus it takes a certain mindset because we feel so sympathetic to what the major inconvenience our poor couples have to muster through.
Weddings feel special NO MATTER WHAT. After photographing 11 micro weddings, we learned that you don’t need a big celebration to have a beautiful, emotional, heartfelt & meaningful wedding.
How to photograph socially distanced weddings, engagement and portrait sessions! We actually never realized how much we touch people (pull hair out of face, straight a tie, etc.) until we couldn’t touch people. Our communication skills are definitely at an all time high after 2020!
Slowing down is kind of nice. After 10 years of go, go, go, being forced to completely stop was actually quite eye opening. We learned a slower pace life possibly is just as rewarding as being on the go all the time.
We launched a new website!
All of that slowing down time gave us a chance to finally update and basically completely redo thevondys.com. Mrs. Vondy designed our site herself!
And finally…
We started a new business!
Mrs. Vondy Emails was born in 2020 and we’re kind of in love with her. As you saw the July schedule above, Mrs. Vondy got a bit bored and needed to pay the bills! After running a business for 10 years, successfully utilizing emails, and all communication moving online, we decided it’s time to help busy entrepreneurs use the power of email to grow their business and make more money.
Lessons we learned in 2020:
How valuable it is to have a SOLID contract. While no one’s contract was really prepared for the circumstances of 2020, we were really glad we had a firm contract for policies that could protect us and our couples. If you’re a wedding vendor and you don’t have a solid contract, check out our lawyer friend Kunbi’s site at Legally Set!
Patience and kindness go a LONG way. After quite a few sleepless nights and literally losing hair we are most thankful for our couples that had the utmost patience and kindness with us (and the rest of the wedding industry). It truly means the world.
Having a strong foundation with your partner is invaluable. We dealt with an immense amount of stress in 2020, but we actually grew closer. If you and your partner are still in love and survived 2020, you likely can survive anything!
On a personal note…
We finally booked a professional photo session for ourselves! Last professional session we had was our wedding - 6 years ago! And sweet baby, Jon, got to join us.
It was a great reminder of what it’s like to be on the other side of the camera, in our couple’s shoes.
Photo by: Neide B Photography
All in all, despite the tragedies of this past year, we are thankful for 2020.
We learned a lot, we grew, we survived and we’re stronger. Here’s to a brighter 2021!
Enjoy a look back at some of our amazing couples and clients in 2020…
Planning a micro wedding in Los Angeles for 2021?
Contact us to see if we are available for your day!