Wedded Bliss | Planning a Honeymoon

Palm trees, white sand beaches, sunshine and drinks with brightly colored umbrellas.  As nice as that all sounds that is not the honeymoon that Silas and I wanted to have.  I love the beach, don't get me wrong, but neither Silas or I are the kind of people who want to sit in the sun for seven straight days.  I'm fair skinned so really who are we kidding I'd be sitting in the sun for two days then be inside covered in aloe trying not to cry.  When we sat down to talk about where we wanted to go the beach wasn't near the top of our list.  We both really enjoy history  and wanted to go somewhere full of adventure, history and somewhere that we might never go if we didn't take the opportunity to go now.  That place.... Scotland. Silas has some Scottish heritage- did the last name McKenney give it away?  I also have some Scottish heritage along with Irish and English so going to the UK was always a place that intrigued us.  It took some research and lots of hemming and hawing to finally make the plans but as of 8pm tonight we are officially spending 10 days in Scotland after our wedding!  I am so excited!!!!!!

I found this amazing little place to stay right in the heart of the city.  It's a little apartment we can rent by the night in a house that was built in 1638.  I've been emailing the owners for over two weeks now.  They are so great and have been super helpful with our planning process.  Giving advice on everything from where to eat, which tours are worth going on and a few little out of the way places we should be sure to visit.  We are hoping to go to some of the pretty touristy places- how can I pass up Rosalyn Chapel and Sterling Castle?  But we are also excited about taking the steam train over to the west coast (and not only because the train is the one they used as the Hogwarts Express... hahaha i'm such a Harry Potter nerd).  There are so many wonderful ruins and beautiful coastal towns to see that I'm sure we are going to pack in tons and still not come close to seeing all the wonderful things there are to see.   But I'm just happy to be able to spend 10 days with my new husband (wow first time writing that word in reference to Silas- and I can't help but smile) in this beautiful country.

Now that most of the honeymoon is planned back to the wedding details...

XOXO Spring

Clients, Friends and Questionnaires

I really love the fact that my job allows me to make new friends.  Not just other photographers and vendors but also my clients.  My clients almost always become friends which I think is a really wonderful bonus to this job (not that there are not already a million reasons to love what I do- I mean come on, who doesn't love wedding cake every weekend?).  I digress... I want my clients to be people that I click with and people that click with me.  I want to be able to sit down and chat for an hour about wine, food, skiing, our mutual love for any dog breed crossed with a poodle.  Being able to connect with my clients on more then the client/vendor level is a really big part of what allows me to create genuine images on their wedding day.   How can you be comfortable in front of someone's camera unless you are comfortable with them minus the camera?  I don't expect my clients to hire me only because I take pretty pictures.  Yes, I hope they think that I take pretty pictures, and hopefully they feel that my style is what they are looking for but I also want them to be excited to spend the day with me.  Most of the time I spend more time with the bride on her wedding day then her groom will.  I want to laugh and cry with my couples.  That connection, that friendship is imperative to my ability to capture their wedding.  I learned a lot about how to find your ideal clients and how it's great to have clients turned friends from my friends/mentors/wedding photographers Justin & Mary.  I've taken what I've learned from them over the past two years and really made it work for me and my business.

I have recently created a system that has really helped me handle inquiry's and turn those perfect clients inquiries into bookings.  My inbox often has emails from potential clients asking for price information and if I'm available for their wedding date. If I'm available for the date I send them a response telling them that I am free and asking them to take a few moments to fill out a quick questionnaire to tell me a little more about themselves and their wedding.  This isn't meant as a way to avoid the price question. If they have been through my website they  know where my coverage starts and before we get into the build your own package part of the conversation I want to know more about them and their wedding day.  Maybe some people are turned off by being asked questions like "what are you most looking forward to about your wedding day?"  "what about Spring Smith Studios got you excited to have me photograph your wedding?" and "what's your favorite flavor of cake?".  If that's the case I've just made it very easy for that couple to continue on and search for another photographer for their wedding day and I've just saved myself time and effort that I may have put into a client that isn't going to be a good fit.  My goal with this questionnaire is to get couples excited about their day and excited about having me be a part of it.  They also know that right off the bat I'm interested in them and their day and not only in their wallet.

Once a couple responds, and to be honest most do take the time and respond, I feel like I now have some basic information about them and their wedding to start the process of determining if we are a good fit.  From there I want to meet with them in person, I want to sit down, chat about anything and everything including out love for puppies, cupcakes and wine.  I want to eliminate that uncomfortable situation when someone comes into my studio to talk numbers.  Now that I know that you like chocolate cake, red wine and are doing lots of DIY projects for your wedding when you arrive here at my studio Im going to have red wine, two chocolate cupcake for us to enjoy while we hopefully spend 45 mins talking about all the cool things we have recently pinned on pintrest.

Being able to connect with my clients before we meet or even talk on the phone has really helped my business grow in the direction I want.  With this simple questionnaire I'm now able to have a pretty good idea if I'm going to be a good fit for them and if they are going to be a good fit for me.  I want to always look forward to my client meetings and be excited about making new friends and since I've been using this questionnaire I've made so many great friends and the ones that were not a good fit never had to waste their time coming in to see me.  I have clients who years later still stop in and say hi when they visit Mt. Washington Valley and I love that.  I love that years after they get married I'm the one they call to take newborn photos of their baby boy.  I love that I get Christmas cards from them and I love that I have a whole new world of friends out there because some of these people that have been clients are really and truly some of my favorite people and I feel 100% blessed to have them in my life.

So thank you past clients for being awesome friends as well as awesome clients, and thank you future clients for taking a few moments to tell me about yourself and your wedding.  I am so lucky to have all of you in my life as well as in my business.  And no post is good without a photo so here are a few photos of my studio space where I work and meet with my clients.

XOXO Spring

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner... or ummm.. a book.

Thank you everyone for your awesome pick me up songs.  I have a whole new playlist just for days when I need a little extra motavation!  And tThe winner is...  bum bum bum bum bum (my sad attempt at a drum roll)...  Tracy Drapp!!!!  So send me a little message with your address and I'll get this out to you soon!!! You guys rock my world and thank you all so much for reading this blog and being my encouragement on a daily basis. XOXO Spring

Journey Would Be Proud.

I've always loved Journey.  Come on what child of the 80's doesn't have a little soft spot for them?  I even went to see them live in concert (granted there were few if any original members by then) and it was a sea of sun-in permed hair, acid washed jeans and girls screaming every word at the top of their lungs.  I didn't have the acid washed jeans or the blond permed hair but trust me I was just as loud singing along as the lady next to me. As silly as it might sound... Don't Stop Believing is one of my favorite songs... it's actually my go to karaoke song.  It's a little cliché I'm aware but I not only love the song itself but the lyrics actually keep me motivated on pretty much a daily basis.

Believing in yourself is no easy task.  Starting a business in a recession when you have bills, a mortgage, taxes and life to pay for seems a bit insane.  Putting every dollar that comes in my door back into my business for three years has made this business grow but that doesn't mean that I don't have my doubts.  Sometime those doubts and fears are so loud I just have to blast some Journey to drown them out... or put a post it note on my computer so that all day long I'm reminded to believe in myself and my goals.

I believe that I can do great things in this life and I plan to push myself towards those goals every day.  And a little reminder from Journey can go a long way in this office.

So what's a good inspirational blog post about believing without a give away??  I'm giving away one a copy of one of my favorite motivational books (Creating a Life Worth Living by Carol Lloyd). To enter this little give away tell me: What's your go to pick-me-up song?  When things are heavy on your mind what do you blast on your stereo to get your motivation and mood going in the right direction?

XOXO Spring

Open Concept.

We watched tv during dinner.  Not that my mother didn't try but my dad, my brother and myself were/are all tv junkies.  If we were sitting at the table it meant it was a holiday.  I always wanted to watch my show while stuffing my face with chicken fingers or fish sticks.  My parents were not sticklers for sitting down at the table as a family for a meal and honestly I was glad.  Spending the night at a friends house and having to all sit around the table and talk made me nervous.  Not the talking part so much, I've always been a talker.  I think I just wasn't used to it.  As I grew up we ate less and less dinners together anyway, I was at play practice, a field hockey game, out with friends. When my parents knocked down a wall in the kitchen opening it up to the dining room and creating a bar to sit at was the first time I can remember sitting down on a normal tues night for dinner with my family.  By this point my brother was off at college anyway so it was just the three of us.  Now my parents eat at that bar almost every night and often when Silas and I are visiting thats where we sit even though there is a table less then three feet behind us.  I'm sure some of this is because now there is a small tv in the kitchen so we can all still watch the sox game, bruins game or pats game on mute while we talk about life.

It's amazing how an open concept kitchen really created an open concept relationship with my family.  We began talking more, we asked each other how their day was, we shared stories, ideas and goals.  Even though we were not sitting down at the table every night just sitting together rather then on the couch in the living room created an easy conversation flow.

Since as far back as I remember wanting a house, I've always wanted an open concept kitchen area.  I believe that the kitchen is the heart of the home.  I love my current house, it's the perfect size for Silas, Coby and I and it's very cozy.  Minus a few little things I'd like to change (like having a mud room or moving the laundry out of the basement) I do love it.  We have a small Pottery Barn island that gives our kitchen a better flow but it's too small to sit at and 99% of the time is covered in mail, keys, grocery lists and other odds and ends.  Our kitchen also has a good sized pass through to the dining room creating a very nice open feel, but it's not quite the same as a full open concept kitchen.  In my next house I'll have a big island with space for at least four people to sit so that even if we don't have every dinner sitting as a family at the table we can at the very least all be together in a more casual atmosphere.  I think it would be easier to get kids to sit at a bar in the kitchen to eat then around a formal dining room table, but maybe thats just been my experience.

Tonight my parents are coming over to our house for dinner, something we try to do once a week but it typically ends up being once a month due to busy schedules.  I'm excited to have them join us for some wine, crackers and cheese and tonights menu: beef stew.  We will all be sitting down to eat dinner around my great grandmother's table that I have in my dining room.  It might not be an open concept, eat-in kitchen but I'm sure the conversation will be open and full of stories, laughs and dreams.  I've learned that it really isn't about the kitchen, the dining room or the tv.  Where you eat has nothing to do with your family dynamic and conversation but I have learned that making it easier to communicate with one another, by making that effort to sit down at the same time you can really find and re-establish those connections and relationships.  It's amazing that learning all this may have started with a wall coming down in my childhood kitchen.

These are a few of my favorite kitchen's that I've recently pinned on pinterest.  Can you tell I like big open kitchens with lots of light, and I might have a slight obsession with coffered ceilings.

XOXO Spring