Life Update!
After 17 years, I decided to retire from wedding photography. It was such a fun ride & it’s amazing how far I’ve come since my first two weddings in 2008. Throughout those years, I worked with some of the sweetest couples possible, & I’m always open to the idea of a future photoshoot. Will I ever return fully to weddings? Who knows. I'm not selling my equipment, that's for sure. It’s hard to shut that door completely!
So, what now? Great question!
I myself didn't really know until recently. I have a few things I've been rolling around in my mind, & now that my youngest is 2 & we're finally feeling settled in our new home, I feel like I finally have the brain capacity to figure out the whats & hows. I’ll slowly be changing my website to reflect the changes that are coming, & I thank you for your patience while I work through it all.
In the meantime, send me your cards. I'd love to turn them into something you can pull off the shelf & enjoy. If you're overwhelmed with the process, ask me for help.
- Emily
Where did ‘Dreamy Elk’ Come from?
Before getting married, my initials were ELK. That’s the easy part to describe!
On my very first day of college, my studio professor gave us all the assignment of writing a brief essay about ourselves & to bring in five pieces of our favorite art, whether that be a painting, a sculpture, architecture, landscape, etc. We were also supposed to come up with three words that we thought described ourselves. After hearing the essay & seeing our favorite art, he would either agree or disagree with our words or come up with a new one. He didn’t like any of mine, but he said, “You are either a ‘dreamy’ or an ‘elegant’.” For the rest of the semester, all of our projects had to reflect our word, which was essentially reflecting our personality. I was warned by older students that I would never escape my word. They have no idea how right they were.
I suddenly found myself in the wedding photography world in the summer of 2008 when a girl contacted through Facebook asking if I'd like to photograph her wedding. My only response was Ummm...I don't own a camera! At that point I had only taken black & white film classes taking pictures of shadows & textures found in nature, which hardly qualified me to shoot a wedding. Then, before that first wedding took place, my bride's sister wanted me to do her wedding a few months later. I still don't own a camera & I still don't know what I'm doing! That didn't stop either of them! I am forever grateful to my first two brides for trusting me enough to do something for which I was super under-qualified.
What’s my favorite part of a wedding day, you ask?
I get the best seat in the house. Better than the front row in the ceremony. Better than a seat at the head table. I get to be witness to every single part & detail of your entire wedding. And I am positively giddy about it.
I have been happily married since 2013, & I very much love Jake for succumbing to a life of constant wedding-talk. I make it up to him by tagging along to midnight showings of all the latest superhero movies & encouraging his Marvel obsession. We never knew that it was possible to love so fiercely until our three kids came into this world.
When I'm not busy working or playing mommy, I enjoy eating pizza, drinking Dr. Pepper, reading, sleeping, & playing my piano. My hubby & I co-teach our Bible fellowship group at our church & are involved in several other activities there as well. You can usually find me decorating or building the biggest balloon arch possible for the next event there.