Latest / The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast / Episode 43 Photo, Video, And The Art Of Noticing: Tandem Weddings

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Episode 43 Photo, Video, And The Art Of Noticing: Tandem Weddings · The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to The Preferred List, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm James, a wedding filmmaker.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I've spent years in the industry working alongside incredible vendors, and this show is all about real conversations with the ones who make it happen.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get honest insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Let's meet today's wedding vendors.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: We got two.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Emily and Tom, how's it going?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having us.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, glad to be here.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Very excited to have you guys on.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um Emily and Tom do just about everything.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: There are some things that they don't do, I heard, but they do just about everything.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Photo video, a photo booth, and they own a coffee shop, which is all of the best things, honestly.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: We think so, yeah.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we're gonna jump into all things photo, video, how coffee fits in, business ownership, parenting, all the stuff.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Not a lot of parenting, but just how to balance everything.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but before we do, we're here at Hazelwood Weddings.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hazelwood Weddings is a modern wedding venue in New Oxford, Pennsylvania, specializing in weddings, micro weddings, and elopements with easy access to Gettysburg, York, Lancaster, and Baltimore.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's built specifically for weddings, and you'll find an intentional variety of bright open spaces bathed in natural light and surrounded by stunning woodland views.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Hazelwood is the perfect backdrop for your day, and an even better backdrop for your photos and videos.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just throw videos in there too.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but Kate, the owner here, I mean, just a delight to be around, right?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Truly, truly.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: She's the best.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say she's one of the best in the like Pennsylvania industry.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's so fun.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can't see the natural light, I don't know what you're looking at.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: When you said that, I was like, there's sunlight casting in over there.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's beautiful.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, this is so fun.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: So uh just give me give me a little like overview of all of the things that you guys do with tandem weddings, blue booth, and even a little bit of like how President's Coffee fits into everything.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you want to start with tandem?
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that's what started everything.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_03: Um, we originally started our business uh the year that we got married in 2018, and we were then Tom and M Weddings.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, since then, we have evolved, obviously.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh around COVID, we brought in the Blue Booth, which is our uh digital photo booth, and uh we had an opportunity to start a coffee shop along the way as well.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: So we kind of just jumped at it, took a chance on ourselves, and here we are with all these businesses, and somehow we're still alive and enjoying it.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And there's I hear there's an Airbnb in the works too.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like a lot of stuff.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: Did you hear the deep sigh?
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yes, there's a lot of stuff.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: I know I feel like coming out of like the COVID year, it was like a lot of weddings, and then the following year was like we were working double time.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: And then we had this opportunity where we were like, oh, there's this beautiful space available in Gettysburg.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_01: So we're like, let's let's do like the dream and open a coffee shop.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then I think we were halfway into that, and there was this uh property that we found that we were like, oh, this would make a great Airbnb.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: So we also went and like started doing that.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, yeah, it's been uh been a lot of like starting, but it all stemmed from Tom and M Weddings, which is now tandem weddings.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it all stemmed from us taking that leap.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: I had been freelance already for a bit and like doing weddings and you know, commercial video, but M was working a corporate job at the time, and we were kind of like, okay, let's take this leap into being entrepreneurs and owning our own business.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you really took a leap.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a lot of stuff that you guys have going on, but did you at that point when it was Tom and M weddings and you were jumping in to kind of like join Tom and his thing that he started, were you kind of like already in the like business mindset, or was it kind of like a huge shift?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_03: You know, for me, I was ready for change.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I was in this industry working in social media for higher education, and I was just ready to be done and do something that was creative but for myself.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I didn't think that was possible until I met Tom, and Tom was already doing it and making it happen.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: So when he kind of was doing his thing in the wedding world and letting me come along, I definitely saw the potential, but wasn't sure that it could actually make us money or make a living or anything like that.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I was definitely scared.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_03: It was definitely a risk at the time.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I was I felt like at that point of our lives, that was what was next, and that was the change was coming.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_03: Something was gonna change, and uh uh we just went for it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, and I don't want to take all the credit for Tom and M Weddings because like I started doing photography in like high school and I did like an apprenticeship with a local photographer.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_01: So like I got wedding experience early on, but I very quickly shifted to video and then was like, oh, I'm just gonna do wedding videos like here and there, whatever.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was not like an organized business.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was I just considered myself like a freelancer.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: Emily came in and gave it like the organization, the brand.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: She really brought the experience.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_03: To be fair, I was working in project management as well.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_03: So I had a lot of like the detail-oriented side of stuff down.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: Um and Tom brought a lot of the entrepreneurial energy that we needed to make.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like we're very similar.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: The lack of organization, but we make up for it in excitement.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, motivation.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we tell our a lot of our couples that too.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: They have a very similar dynamic where um one of them might be more type A, which would be me, and the other is a little just excited to be there.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: Type B keeping everything, you know, relaxed.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and that's I think how we thrive together.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so fun.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: You guys have a lot going on.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is is there like how do you balance all of the different like you can think of them as revenue streams or just different businesses?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because I do feel like as a wedding vendor, some are working this, like, it's a part-time thing, it's on the side.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Some are like, it's just the it's the thing, it's the main full-time job.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then it seems like you guys have branched out and you're still doing like freelance video stuff, directing.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: You have clients there, you have your coffee shop.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how are you guys balancing it all?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like, how did you make the decision to jump in and like branch out from Tom and M to Tandem to like all this other stuff?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, there's a lot to unpack there.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: I realized I asked like six questions.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh I feel like the the coffee shop and the like the Airbnb project that we're finishing up, I feel like those things were very much like opportunity, specific opportunities.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I always tell people like our first location of the coffee shop that's been open for just about two years now.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that would not have happened if the specific location was not available.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Gotcha.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: Like it came up for lease, and we were like, hmm, if this, if we were gonna do something in downtown Gettysburg, it would be those.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_01: It would be this building.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: And they tell you, like when you're getting into like brick and mortar, do not fall in love with the building or a space because you know, leases are complicated.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot get it even if you think you can afford it, things like that.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I fell in love with the space and was like, no, this business, like, if they say no to us on the lease, if they, you know, if it's too expensive, if it doesn't work out, I'm not gonna like go scrounge up another location.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like this spot is where I see like this.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: It really was just like an opportunity that presented itself, and you're like, if we're gonna do it, we gotta do it now.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do it this way.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_03: A like common pattern for us is like a door will open, and if we walk through it, that's the next thing that's coming for us.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_03: Like Tom had been doing uh commercial video while we started weddings.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's always kind of been happening behind the scenes.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and weddings gave us this opportunity to say yes to different, you know, avenues like the photo booth.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_03: I had almost all of my couples one year ask me if we had a photo booth.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: It was just the most random thing that I was like, should we have a photo booth?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: Would you guys like it if we did?
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that was the door opening for like for that opportunity.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_03: So most of our photo booth couples are local to this area or are part of our couples already.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: They're one of our clients.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's just been like a string of the door being open, or a door is just there and we have to decide if we're gonna open it or not.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: And Tom's like, let's just kick this door down.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_03: I love that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: I I feel like I'm pulling back a little bit now just because there's so many projects.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: But like there's so many things that we're like doing, but it's like uh And to be fair, I think we would have been more reserved had we known like when we started our coffee shop, we signed our lease and then found out we were pregnant like the next week.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: Perfect.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_03: So had we known we were pregnant, we probably wouldn't have started the coffee shop.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: We probably wouldn't have bought the Airbnb property, we probably wouldn't have done a lot of things that we did.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'm glad we did all of them.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_03: Now it's all working.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's all I wouldn't recommend so much change at once, but it all worked out.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember that whole entire year, everyone would be like, oh, congrats, you're pregnant.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, congrats, you guys announced you're starting a new business.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, congrats, you guys bought a property.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and they were like, You guys are just doing everything at once.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Don't remind me, like, I don't want to think about it right now.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: I already can't sleep.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because like in a couple years, I think it'll settle down and we'll be like able to like, you know.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: And that's not to say that everything has been seamless or worked out at least.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say, has it settled down?
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like it's two years.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: It has not settled down, and it's all like a work in progress.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: We're not experts at like everything that we're doing.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_03: No, no, no, but we're learning along the way.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: And but that's the best mindset to have.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you're a vendor that's listening, like you need to take that mindset because it presents its own opportunities, just exact being willing to be like, hey, I don't know everything.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: It opens just conversations with other vendors, other business owners, like anything that you want to pursue in life.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's like general, I feel like to businesses.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if you keep that open mind, anything is possible.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I also think there's like a mindset shift that I had where it was like, what uh not to get too deep, but like what is like failure and is does that really exist?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it and it does, but it doesn't at the same time.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like there's a lot of things that you feel pressure, like it has to succeed.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: I have to be the biggest photographer, the biggest wedding videographer in the entire local industry or whatever.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like you can be successful and not be the biggest.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then you can also decide you want to shift and do something else.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not you failing, that's just you moving on to a different chapter of your life.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: So with the coffee shop and like with an Airbnb, I felt comfortable taking more of those risks because it was like, oh, if it fails, I just go back to doing what we were doing.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because it's not like it wasn't working, right?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like, why not have some fun and try these new things and take the open those doors when we have the opportunity?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Christina is gonna be very upset with you because I'm gonna want to open a coffee shop even more than I already did.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, there's no such thing as no.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's no Did you hear Tom?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Christina, do you hear Tom?
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: There's no failing.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, I mean, I was gonna say that is like, wait, pause, pause, pause, guys, reel it in.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna bring it back to the we did talk about this before it started that this was gonna happen.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll reel it in just for you.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll let I'll let Emily know the table.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: It does, it does, as as funny as we're kind of making it seem.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um success, I think, can be defined in a couple different ways.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And what success for you, it might be shoot 10 weddings with dream couples and make fifty thousand dollars.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: It could be shoot 20 weddings and make$200,000.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like it could be any of those, or I mean several other different combinations of like weddings, people, or even branching out and kind of doing something different.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: But when you guys were Emily and Tom, like that initial era.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: How did you guys go from that to uh launching like tandem weddings, doing that brand, like redefining what that looks like for you guys in the wedding industry?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean, it all kind of happened really naturally with the changes in our life.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, Tom was taking more of a backseat to be able to run the coffee shop.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it we have to uh kind of divvy up our responsibilities a bit.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I was already naturally just taking over the business side of tandem and running that, doing more of the client-facing meetings and all of those calls and stuff.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_03: So it was kind of a natural progression of like Tom's gonna take a step back and he might not be at every wedding.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I didn't want our couples to see our brand as our names and say, Where's Tom?
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: Who's Tom?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: Why isn't we why haven't we ever talked to or seen Tom at all?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so I swear he's real.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: Right, he does exist.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: But for my uh for my sake, just to make it easier for our brand in general to grow, um, I I felt that need to kind of shift things.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we we played with different names, um, just different, different options of directions we would go, but we landed on tandem.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_03: It was kind of a playoff of Tom and M anyway.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: So it worked really well.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: And then um kind of just highlights our our mission to be able to do photo and video in tandem seamlessly together, um, which was why we started in the whole thing.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't always happen.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_03: Right, which is that's why we started the business in the first place was Tom was doing those freelance jobs, and I was helping him as his second shooter video here and there.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: And the photographers would run away with the couple and do a whole photo shoot without us.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: And we were right there that could, you know.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: So we was just have those situations so often that we're like, all these couples we're working with are amazing people and they deserve better and they deserve the best for their day.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I think honestly, at a at the core of all of these projects we have is like our desire and our just I don't know, our our passion for hospitality and making sure like everybody who experiences something that we have created is gonna get the best possible experience if we can help it.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: I love the idea of creating a like unique experience for people, but also just like a genuinely good one.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like I feel like we over the past, uh, I can't count, but we've been doing weddings as Tom and M and tandem for since 2018.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: But over those years, it's like we have a bunch of and like a lot of our couples are still like friends with us and still like now.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_01: Emily's doing a lot of like maternity sessions.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: We have a Savago studio here in New Oxford, so she does maternity sessions and then newborn.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: She just did like the second newborn session for one of our clients like three, four years ago.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's just like really cool to see that community.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like when you get into the wedding industry, it's just like, yeah, you're doing these events back to back to back, and then all of a sudden you you step back and you're like, Oh wow, all these people are like their own little community that we've kind of brought together.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: And right, some of them even know each other and and things like that.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: So and that's been such a big thing for us specifically.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I talk to other photographers all the time, and when we first started, I think our goals were similar in like we want the big weddings, we want the yeah, the flashy, flashy, beautiful, they're spending a ton of money, and we're making a ton of money.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: And since we've you know refined our mission and our goals, like that's changed so much from from going in that direction to like we just want to work with good people.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we want to work with good people who are in love, that like love what we do, and we can make it happen for them.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that want a great who enjoy it, who enjoy it, who who want a good experience and know like they trust us, they know that we're gonna take care of them through the whole process.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's the goal.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: We like, and I don't need to shoot 35 weddings to be happy.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I need good people, that's it.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I think that that's doing all of these different projects, starting a coffee shop, being more immersed in hospitality has just shaped us so much to where like we do this so differently now than we used to.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we've heard a lot about like the experience that you have um kind of cultivated over the years.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, like what other like kind of the way that you shoot or or what your mindset is day of that helps you kind of capture things differently than other photographers or other videographers.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Well, the thing that I think makes us different besides like the photo and video side is like the art of noticing, and that's something that like we're really big about, is like I don't want to say the I feel like I'm gonna say this wrong, but like I feel like a lot of the time during weddings we're like stalking the couple, right?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_03: Like we're just watching everything, like just constantly bringing our eyes across the room because like that's what we love now.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like we started the business with this passion for the experience, and I think now that we're in it, it's kind of shifted into becoming like more of an art and more of like a what can we notice at this wedding that is gonna be super meaningful to this couple, and what are we gonna what are we gonna find?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, what what does this wedding have for us today?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like that's getting a shot that's the only thing that I think like maybe we didn't touch on too much, but Yeah, like getting a shot that's like super unique to the couple that they're not even aware is really happening and we're kind of there and ready.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: That oh, I get way more stoked over that than like a cool portrait shot.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we can do portrait shots all day.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that that moment that we like truly document, yeah.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's like, oh man, I just got the coolest thing.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_01: Especially when I have oh if I have like if everything collides perfectly, like they're still mic'd up from like the ceremony or they're mic'd up from the first look, and we get this like little moment.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um I'm just like dang, that's what I want to do.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're like really emotional people too.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_03: And I think we attract those couples where like they're also really emotional, or they're like in tune, they're emotionally mature, or whatever you want to say.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: But like that's what makes us really excited on the day of is like, oh, we got the mom like crying with like the first time she saw her daughter in the wedding dress.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's what makes us really excited.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but there's a lot of people that take great photos, make great videos, yeah, but like the experience seems like like what's that what how would you describe like what it's like to work with tandem?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like what's it like to be a couple of tandem?
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: I do feel like it's unique for every couple, which I feel like sounds cliche, but genuinely I feel like because Emily does a really great job of like the onboarding calls and then also like the engagement sessions that are just like complimentary.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we get to know the couples before the wedding day.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: So wedding day, we're walking in and we're hopefully being like, hey, what's up?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's good to see you.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's not like nice to meet you for the first time.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that's pretty common in the industry nowadays, but I feel like back in 2018 it wasn't that common for like engagement sessions to be automatically included.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then also we would do a lot of video at engagement sessions as well, which was not being done.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_01: And it's it's also tough to do that because I don't know of many photographers who would allow the couple to bring like a third-party videographer to their session because they know it would like mix up the flow, it would, you know, maybe be a little weird.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: But because we were a team and like husband and wife, that was just you were just like joining.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was just like, why wouldn't I go to the engagement session and grab extra video to use?
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it just so that was kind of like a it gave us a little bit of a leg up content-wise, but then also it they knew both of us on the wedding day.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so then to be absolutely fair, that's not super common anymore.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_03: We can't we can't get away with that.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_03: We have a toddler at home to do.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's not super common for me to go do video.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: But if couples do ask about it, we're I'm always down to it.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, but yeah, I will say for us, it's not as common to be able to do just because of like all the life stuff.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But that I think helped build relationships with couples before we even get to the wedding day.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then they feel like they just have like a friend there or someone that they can trust to like fix anything that's going wrong.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we try not to be like the planner or the coordinator for the day as much as possible.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_01: That obviously happens to a lot of photographers, you know, people look to you for like timing and stuff like that.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: But I think that the they just feel safe with us, and that can go a really long way.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Like the bride being comfortable to turn to you and be like, this family member is really getting under my nerves, and we can we can be the ones to be like, hey, you need to go to cocktail hour, you need to get out of here.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like we need you to clear, and then I'm able to be the bad guy for them.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: The bride gets to enjoy the rest of her photos without, you know, Uncle Bill there taking photos over our shoulders, and that's like annoying the bride just as much as it's annoying us.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: But it's like those little things, I think.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, whenever couples turn to us and talk to us like in confidence or are that comfortable, I'm like, we're doing what we set out to do, which is like create this comfortable, safe experience for them.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they I don't know.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go ahead.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: You can talk.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: How am I not talking to them?
• 21:16
  unknown: Sorry.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um sorry.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is that like a good?
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I'm describing it well.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_03: No, absolutely.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_03: I would say, like, experience-wise, in my perspective, there'd be two sections that like I think piggybacking off of what you said, like one side is that relationship.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, we want the couple to be comfortable with us, and I think how we shoot and the way that we do things, and you know, we're a documentary style, but we have an editorial edge to us.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we like the Can you tangent for me and explain what that means?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can get to your second.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget your second point.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_03: So um, we love the nice, beautiful vogue posed photos.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think every bride deserves to look like a supermodel on her wedding day, too.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like you want that a little bit of drama here and there.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_03: Plus, at venues like this one and and venues around here, they have that element that's like, wow, this is beautiful.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: We need like a moment.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_03: So we love like that editorial feel.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, you want that, you know, smiling picture for grandma's mantle.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but we also want to be more documentary style in the sense of like, if you don't need the direction, I don't want to boss you around all day.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_03: I would rather you get dressed in the pretty light, and then we can do those pictures that mom has to zip you up.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_03: But I want to document what's happening and not feel like this whole day is just a photo shoot.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's not my goal.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: My goal is to watch a beautiful couple get married and document that.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: So um it's it feels like very much a videographer's perspective.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say the video being the like starting out as photo and video, the video fed into how we shot because we quickly realized like if we're gonna shoot photo and video on the same day and be a team.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be a certain way.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: We have to shoot a different way.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: And it and that's why we don't do a lot of solo video jobs anymore.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_01: Not 100% why, but part of the reason is because we don't know who we're gonna be paired up with.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And it can either be a great experience or a really rough experience.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: I will vouch for that.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, as well.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like I sometimes forget the luxury that I have of like my lead photographer is my wife when I'm shooting videos.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: And you know exactly what she's gonna do, how she's gonna, yeah.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_03: And we are really intentional about prioritizing Tom getting his shots.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_03: So like I get why.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, Tom is more important than there's a reason he's sitting closer to the camera.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_03: I get my shots, and then it's an immediate, okay, Tom, step in, do what you need to, especially if there's not enough space for both of us in like a room or venue or something.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um, that's something that when I second shoot for other photographers and there's a videographer there, that's not very normal.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's usually the photographer just goes and the videographer has to get what they can get.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_03: And like it might not be the best angle, but they're gonna get something.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: And usually you're good at fighting for what you need.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: But um, it's not ideal, right?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_03: So so that's a huge part of like how we developed, you know, working together.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, um that's not to say we started this and we were perfect.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_03: We're we're spouses, you know.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: It took us a while to like figure out how to do this, you know, figure out how to do this with and and do it kindly to each with each other.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: We used to joke, like, yeah, we would like leave like the portrait session or something, and one of us would get like snappy at the other, and we'd look at each other and be like, okay, we wouldn't talk to another photographer that way.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: That was where like we got a little too comfortable with each other.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there's pros to us being, you know, in sync and in tune, and then there's other ones when she does something that like I'm like, oh that that shot did not look good for video, we need to redo it, but they need to keep moving or whatever.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: I will look at her and be like, come on, dude.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, I wouldn't do that to another photographer, so I gotta like pull back reset a little bit.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it'd be like, hey, do you think it's okay if we should exactly if we could stay on the tangent just for one more question?
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And your other thought, your other point to your I got it.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_03: It's still there.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're like we're deep on this tangent.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: But um, from the photo side, maybe if you want to take this one and from the video side, if you want to take the video side, what's your best advice for the opposite to help be a better like combo creative on the day of?
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've got some you want to go first?
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it could be more than like one thing, but just like absolutely.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think from a photographer's point of view, watching other photographers, like it just helps to understand that like while you are a priority and the couple paid a lot of money for you to be there, the videographer is also paid a lot of money to be there.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: And there needs to be some sense of understanding that they're also a professional that needs to get shots to complete a good high standard wedding film, you know, just having that teamwork element and like setting the ego aside for a minute just so that you can work together and both create the best possible, you know, content for the couple is should be end goal.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's the only advice I could say is just like breathe for a second, let the photographer do what they need to do.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Don't ignore them all day.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you know, it helps if you can work together and you can say, Hey, do you want to do a shot here?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to direct them for a little bit?
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: And like you can kind of get other shots you might not have thought of.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's the biggest tip I can say is just like put put the ego down for a second and like work together.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm speaking from like the videographer perspective advice for videographers or for photographs.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: For photo.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for photo.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_01: I would say let moments breathe a little bit more.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as someone who was a photographer first, then a videographer, and now I do, you know, both.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um most of the time I will say I'm second shooting now with photo, but I can still carry my own on a wedding day.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, let moments breathe.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know not everyone is going to be a documentary photographer or be a hundred percent comfortable with doing that.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: But when you let moments breathe for the videographer to capture a moment rather than a frame, you really are helping everybody out.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: One, the room doesn't feel like you're the room or outside with portraits, whatever, wherever you're at, it doesn't feel like you're rushing everybody.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: And it also allows them to capture more moments.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_01: It also, there have been moments where nothing's happening, like the first look seems like it's over.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then when you guys are like, oh yeah, when okay, say a a couple's having a first look, I'll give an example.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not very like emotional reaction or whatever.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_01: We've had it where when you like let your guard down and like let it breathe for a moment, the moment breathe for a second, um, they think, okay, we're not in front of the cameras anymore.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_01: And then they get super emotional or they react a lot better or they talk more candidly.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: The videographer's most likely rolling on that.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're the photographer, like the second the moment's over, you're jumping in frame to like pose them, which happens a lot.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: I am over there like, oh, you are not letting these people have their moment and have their wedding day and have their first look.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_01: It's like there's a timeline, yes.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's a pressure, yeah.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: But there's also like a I fully believe in like just letting people have a have the moment.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_01: I think, like Emily said previously, we'll put people in good light and send mom over there or the maid of honor and say, just get dressed.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like that's letting them have their moment.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, we're capturing it.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: We can really documentary.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_01: And and sometimes we'll ask them to pause or slow down, but like sometimes they need or prefer direction.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_03: And that's totally okay.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: But there is magic in like those moments that even with the directed stuff, it's like I've worked with photographers who even when I'm if I'm shooting photo or I'm like not even like shooting video photographs there, I've seen photographers um go in and like direct every two seconds they're saying something, and the bride's face is like usually in a listening mode, not in a enjoying the moment.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: It just does not work for video.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, it doesn't.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_01: It barely works for photo.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_01: I would dare step back and then it's yeah, I would dare say people would get better photos if they shot like videographers.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: Could you give me um helpful tips for, or maybe it's one tip, a big tip for videographers to be better on the wedding day to be more helpful towards the photographers.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_03: I think working with that way, it's like don't put your tripod in the middle of the ceremony.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_03: You don't like that?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: There's so many different things, but it's like I think it's etiquette, is one is like think about where you're putting things.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_01: Like we always try and hide tripods, like even on we do a safety angle for the dance floor.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's always like hidden behind the DJ booth, like just barely creeping over the DJ's booth, just to make sure we have a safety, but it's not in the background of like photos.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think our like we've you know, we've refined our style over the years.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like sure, early on, there's light stands in the background.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_01: Now we try and get those out of the frame, whatever.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think uh besides that though, would be like clear communication on the day is the biggest thing.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like not I need X, Y, and Z.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's hey, how can we work together?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: The conversation should always start with how can we collaborate, not I need and you need.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's needs to be a collaborative because like piggyback on what Emily's saying, there is so many weddings that we have shot where you it feels like you're fighting the other vendor team to like get a moment.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, this is so bad for the couple.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: Like, they're we're not gonna get good enough photos, we're not gonna get better video.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: Like, if we all just like take a deep breath, put the ego aside, and all just like collaborate, that would be like the biggest put our tripods in the center.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: Directly in front of the couple, that's how directly in front of the couple.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we get our best shot of the colour.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: It should be parents aisle and then your video tripod right now.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: Your tripod and you on standard ones.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: TV scale video camera right there.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Don't do that as well.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, there's definitely ways to collaborate.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I think that the industry's come so far since we started in 2018.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_03: Like when we do work with other videographers and other photographers, we don't typically have issues anymore because I think everyone's learned that lesson the hard way, you know.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, there's there's always ways that we can be more collaborative with each other.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: The biggest thing that I notice is like a style difference.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and the style difference lends itself to be um the main contention, the main issue.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, like if you're a documentary and you're editorial, yeah, the editorial person is gonna get them in some grand posture and they're just gonna hang there, just snap the photo, get this like amazing picture, but then for video, it's like can they like move move?
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or vice versa, if it's like, you know, the videographers like going the other way with it.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like I think that's the biggest thing that I've noticed is like if there's a huge difference in style, it's like, how do you manage those two different things?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Which is a a perk to having a team of people kind of doing the same, same mindset.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: I think on those types of days, you just do the best you can.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_03: That's why we are spoiled with each other because we do and when like documentary and editorial, even in portraits, we're doing editorial that big grand photo, but then we're playing games and doing prompts the majority of the time so that we can get good video and photo because you know, we want not only for video, but photo, those candid moments are just like sometimes the best ones of the day.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: And don't get me wrong, like when she does the editorial shots, I'm right there getting like some sort of like quote cinematic video of like when we do the big, like if it's a venue that has a very grand view or something, and we have the couple like pose dramatically, I'm still gonna do that like gimbal push-in, yeah, like lots of headroom, and then I use that as like my title slide or something.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like I still think there's you can use all of those shots for sure.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think a lot of people maybe get too stuck in like, well, my style's different than this photographer, and it's like, yeah, but you can still take video, good video of those things.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's just about like being adaptive, and I think that plays to the collaborative thing.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_01: It's like Yeah, for sure.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because there's definitely times if if a photographer is willing to include the videographer in things, and like, hey, do you need anything?
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's your chance to be like, actually, yes.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yes, and do your don't be weird, just do your stuff, get your thing, and then and then you can move on to the next thing.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because there is still like the timeline pressure, yeah.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like for the most part on the photo side, I think that's where a lot of the pressure comes from is like keeping things moving if there's not a planner that's doing that or a coordinator that's doing that.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but but I'm curious, uh you guys have been in business since 2018, um, sort of under two different brands kind of thing.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious how else your business has changed over the years.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think Em talked about it a little bit.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_01: Like I've taken a little bit of a step back.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: So like I used to be on every single, you know, f entry call.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_01: What do we call those?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um every single consult call was both of us sitting there, which um I don't know, was maybe nice for couples because it's usually a couple and then us a couple.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um so M does like majority of like the business stuff.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: Have a two-year-old and then see how that works literally, yeah.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right around bedtime, which is when everybody wants to talk about it.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_01: The calls are always like six to eight p.m., which is when she's like going down.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, so I think like that, and then we've you know, we've brought on an editor over the years.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we started kind of doing a little bit of weddings here and there when I couldn't keep up with the post-production, and then we went full on editor um just because I could not, you know, find the time to like fully edit and like there's a huge difference between going to a wedding and shooting it, and then finding the time to actually get it edited, especially with all the other stuff that you have going on.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so and then but Emily um for the most part, I feel like has taken more of like the leadership role in the business.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, she does all that client backend engagement sessions, like coordinating with has like style changed at all over the years, or like you know, that's something that like maybe a little.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_03: I think how we approach things has changed.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a lot less concerned about my portfolio.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that doesn't matter to me at all anymore.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, I think a little bit, probably here and there.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_03: I think we edit when we first started, we edit a little more light and airy.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_03: And I think nowadays we're a little more true to, you know, the scene, however it was and felt um specifically that.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, but we've definitely grown.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_03: Our our um team has grown.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we have that editor who is also a videographer for us, so we do have other um associate videographers like lead shooters and stuff who who are uh a part of our team, and um that's been really fun.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I don't think honestly, I really don't think too much has changed besides just like I've taken over a lot of the back end of the business and run things, and um Tom's more of like a supportive role at this point, you know, and and uh that's been working out really well for us with everything else, obviously.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I still enjoy shooting weddings.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like I we were talking about it a couple weeks ago, and I was like, I still enjoy going to the wedding and shooting it.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: I just didn't have the time to like build out the story and everything.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't think our edits are like, you know, groundbreaking, but we do try and like get into like the audio and the you know, really tell the couple's story or tell a story about the day basically.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it took a while for us to like hand that off.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_01: And we still have like obviously creative control, like we're still like, hey, yeah, yeah, it's not like sending them the films, yeah.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like she said, like they are a part of our team.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_01: So like he is also shot, I don't know, half the weddings with us, probably or more.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: So and he was a wedding videographer before that.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like he has experience, and then he also is like part of our brand, so it doesn't feel like I'm like throwing it to some random person who has their own style.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: He's like working with us and for us, so yeah.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: I think generally just like the overall like business structure has changed.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we're we're still really passionate about what we do, we're passionate about working together, but I never wanted either of us to feel stuck in this business.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_03: We I wanted to have that space to evolve and change as well.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_03: So that's always a conversation between us of like, are you still happy doing this?
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_03: Are you do you still want to continue?
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_03: Do you still want to be part of it?
• 37:47
  SPEAKER_03: But also still giving each other that space to back off if we need to.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we have a team for a reason so that like Tom doesn't have to shoot every video.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: He prefers to, but you know, that it just gives us more flexibility.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I have to imagine someone is listening or watching that's like I'm feeling burnt out and I don't have the ability to like step back and like have an editor or have you do have yeah, so have a lead person come in for you.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: So like you're saying you do.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: How do they how do they manage and figure that out?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: So one of the biggest things I feel like I didn't learn this until we opened the coffee shop is sometimes in just business in general, you have to step back and invest in those extra people to come help you for you to actually grow the business or kind of reignite that passion.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, for instance, when we first opened the coffee shop, I was like, I want to be behind the bar, making drinks as much as possible.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be, you know, right there with my team.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_01: And we have a team of like 10 or 12 now.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um and that that meant that then when I got home, I had to then work on the actual business, like do the scheduling, do the payroll, do the ordering.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it was just like, wait, this doesn't work.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, oh, but I don't want to pay someone more money to manage stuff.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I was like, no, I need to.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: And that has actually created the space for the business to thrive because we can work on events, special things, um, collaborations, all that sort of stuff.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: And there's someone else ordering the day-to-day stuff.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: There's someone else on bar, like working and making drinks.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so I take that also back to the wedding industry.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: You have the space.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: If you are charging$2,000 for a wedding and you need to go pay an editor, let's say$750 to$1,000 to edit like a simple highlight video.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: That could potentially be worth it because now you have more time to get on more calls with people, market yourself, edit smaller content that can go on social media.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: You're giving yourself space to grow your business and market your business.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_01: So anybody who's profiting has the money, I think, to hire someone out.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_01: It may not be a full editor.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's someone who can just edit clips down from your main videos.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: Or call the or call the wedding.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, except exactly.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's like finding those little things.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of people see that as like, well, I'm making 50 grand a year.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_01: If if I get an editor, I'm only gonna make 40 grand.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, I don't think that's true.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_01: I think if you hire that editor, maybe it takes a year, but in a year you might be able to double your 50 to 100.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna happen right away.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's another thing.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna happen right away.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: But I always see that as like if you're profiting, responsibly take some of that profit away and start hiring out for service.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_03: Also, what's the alternative?
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: If you're burnt out, you're just gonna close.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_03: If you're gonna close, you're gonna shut down quick.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_03: You know, 40 grand is better than zero.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you can only do so much.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: Only slightly.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm saying, like, if you're if you're making 50 in your burnout, or if you're if you're super successful in your burnout, that's better than closing and being at zero.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_01: Especially if like you're someone like me who was like on the day of the wedding, I was so having so much fun shooting and being creative and being passionate.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then we'd get to the edit and be like, oh my gosh, I have so many other things to like work on.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_01: I I don't feel like I have the time to really give it my all.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's like that's where it was like, okay, we need to start taking a chunk of each wedding and like paying for someone to edit these videos.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: So and yeah, to be a hundred percent honest, that was like a huge part of the shift of our business because I'm running this business that I'm really passionate about.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: And like I obviously we've talked so much about how passionate we are about the client experience.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_03: If Tom has a hundred other jobs, how is this client getting their video back with within like a reasonable time frame?
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: So you don't want to be the dude that's doing like a year-long.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly, right?
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a huge part of like you know, even we were in that position.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: We have a new business, we have all this stuff happening.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Can we really make it work?
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_03: And like, what's the alternative?
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: Your client gets a worse experience because like you can't decide to just do it, you know.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: So that that delivery is part of the experience.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like you can't have all you can't have all this fun on the wedding day with a couple and be friends with them, and then on the back end be like, oh yeah, yeah, we'll get to it when we get to it.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, it has to be a good thing.
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_01: Or deliver a mediocre film, exactly.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because people are watching your work, and if you have like all the killer stuff on your site or your social media, why does mine not look like that?
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, couples are different, so like their videos may differ from based on how much obviously.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_01: Some are more emotional, some are less or less, yeah.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like that can that obviously is gonna change, but at the end of the day, they're looking for what they saw on your site or your social media, so it's like you gotta be able to live for that.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's like just get me on there.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_00: And some are like, Do we have to do that?
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, We don't have to, but we should.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, absolutely.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna like it in the 10 years when you watch this video with your kids.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm editing one right now.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: The couple had such a fun day, but they didn't do private vows.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I you might think the same thing, Tom, but like private vows can be one of the main drivers for the couple speaking on the film.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, you guys aren't doing this, that's totally fine.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're not doing letters, totally fine.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Can I interview with you in the morning?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I got all this backstory from the interview.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: But um again, couples are gonna be different, they're gonna have different days.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some are gonna be like lively, yeah, fun dance party, energetic, some are gonna be like tailored, calm, well reserved.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it seems like, you know, from what what you guys are saying, it's like branch out, make that little bit of a this is gonna hurt to see this money go.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: To to invest in what could be a decent amount of growth potential.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_01: And like I said, it doesn't have to be you're giving up half your wedding cost to get a video edited or photos edited.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: Like it can start by just having like a an assistant person who helps organize things on the back end.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like you said, call.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think those things are important.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like it can be little tasks that you give away that will make all the difference in how much your energy you're able to give to like a post.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: Post-production or editing, whatever you want to call it.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or just marketing, finding more couples to work with.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: What was that second point about the client experience that you wanted to highlight?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: So the first point was the relationships that Tom talked about, um, making sure we're the right fit for the couple and having that personable relationship.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then the second point would be that we show up for our couples as the expert.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: So it's I've noticed this even from when we got married.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we weren't quite as involved in the industry at that point.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I was so confused throughout the process.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't have a full service planner, should have, but I didn't.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I was getting asked questions all the time, like, do you want to do a first look?
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, sure, if you tell me what it is, what's the first, you know, like just didn't know any of the terminology, didn't know anything.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say most couples are that way.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I get on the call and I'm like, you can ask me any question because I do this every weekend, and this is your first wedding.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and make sure if it's your second before you say that though.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, if it's if it's your second, like it's only your second, you know, like it's just that experience isn't there.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: They don't quite know what to even ask us.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_03: And it, you know, I want to show up for them as like the expert because I think there's too many experiences that I've heard of, at least um, with with weddings, that the couple's just not guided through the process and they don't know what's next.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know what to do.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: And like they need an expert there to be like, this is how this is gonna play out, and this is how it's gonna happen, and it's gonna be okay, and we're gonna talk you through all of it and like don't worry about it.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I wanna show up for all of our couples with that energy of like, we got this, like you're gonna be taken care of completely.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: You don't need to worry about what's gonna happen and where, like, we'll figure it out and you're gonna love it.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_03: And that's that's it, you know.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_03: So, so I think those are our two like main elements of experience like we we got you, we got this, we've done this long enough, we know.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: And um, we show up and we're we see our couples and they're already like friends to us, and we hear the bridesmaids go, Do you know them outside of here?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_03: And they're like, No, we spent one engagement session with them, but like you learned so much, you know, about about those those people.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I always tell couples on on consultation calls, I'm like, Look, even if you don't book me, I want you to leave the call and understand more about video, what it is, what it is, like even just like what you want from it, right?
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes they don't even know.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're just like, oh, well, my friend got a videographer and they got this video.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, well, is it like a highlight film?
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Was it did you see like a teaser?
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: Did they get like other stuff that you didn't see that you're like not even thinking about?
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I'm curious, like on photo and video, it could be some of the same, it could be some differences there, but how do couples find the right one for them?
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: Depends on their priorities for sure.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think that there's different photographers that are like you said earlier with style that are so different.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like we come in all shapes and sizes, you know, like all different colors and and editing styles.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, it's hard to know what's the right choice.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_03: I think you really have to decide, like based on portfolio, based on the conversation, based on like the questions that you're asking them or whatever.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: If this person would be someone you would trust outside of your wedding day, like you're entering into the most important day of someone's life and you're you know inviting these professionals in.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_03: You really want to make sure like you like their personality at you know, baseline.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_01: I think a lot of it is once you get past the like, okay, this this couple wants uh, you know, uh what do you call it, dark and moody photography or whatever versus I don't know what we're calling it these days, uh versus like light and airy or whatever, they fall in the street.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'll back you for the dark and moody.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's like once you kind of get past style, I think, yeah, it just comes down to your vibe and your personality.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_01: And if you click with them, um I think we've had fantastic calls with people and then they haven't booked, and we're like, dang, what did we say wrong?
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_01: Because we feel like it's not doesn't have to do with style.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_01: Because if they're coming to us already, they usually already know what kind of style they're getting or what they want, basically.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I don't know.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: It is this weird thing too, where um I totally agree.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_00: Find the style that you like.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: There could be one person that does that style, or ten people that that do that style, and they could all do it the same or slightly different, or all do it really well.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think it does come down to the experience and the vibe.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, what should couples be asking or how should they how can they get that vibe before the actual wedding day where you know maybe they didn't do an engagement session.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: So they're they're kinda like, how do they figure all of that out?
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh check your like photographer or videographer, whoever you're interested in, check their like social media, check their website, like look at the content that they post.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_01: Do they ever post themselves and like their personality through there?
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_01: Because that can help you just see kind of like is this person like lighthearted?
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: If they post themselves, like it's sometimes a good thing because it's like you can kind of see how they talk to the camera or things like that.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like even Instagram stories, like you interact, I feel like with Instagram stories, like it's I don't know, your friends or whatever with chat people.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but then also um like their website will say like kind of some things about them, you'll see their look.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: But then I think on the call, not being afraid to be like vulnerable and personal, I think is always helpful because if like everybody comes into that conversation, it's just like you're open to talk about kind of every area.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like, we'll get on a phone call, somebody's cat will crop walk across screen.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about the cat.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be like, oh my gosh, your cat's so funny.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: What's his name?
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: Blah blah blah.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_01: And then where'd you get him?
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how long have you had him?
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Oh, and then that's like oftentimes a story that has to do with both of both of the people in the couple, and they're like, Oh yeah, we met and then we found this cat.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it's just like a part of their story.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like being on the couple side or on the vendor side, just being open and personable to talk about those things and like ask questions.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_01: If our we always used to warn people, like, our dog is gonna bark, and they're like, Oh, we love dogs.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_01: Can we see them?
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, yeah, sure.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: Show them the dog.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like some people be like, Oh, it's kind of unprofessional to pull your dog on a Zoom call.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_01: But like, I don't know, you're you're creating your relationship with people.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 50:35
  SPEAKER_01: I'm probably just rambling at this point, but yeah.
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: Show them the dog.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: If you get anything from a dog, show them the dog.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think that highlights Tom's like relationship aspect.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like that is like his I just want to talk to them out.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_03: But I I think for a couple, if you are in this process and you don't know how to figure out like if this is the right fit, asking the photographer or vendor, whoever, specific questions about how they approach a wedding day, um, are they going to direct or are they more fly on the wall?
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_03: Even these terms that you see on people's websites, like everyone says they're documentary style photographer today.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I've worked with documentary style photographers who aren't they're they just work the same way as everyone else, but they include more candidates.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_03: So, what does documentary style mean to you?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_03: Is that aligned with how I operate a wedding day or not?
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like as a photographer, most times I will give you gentle direction.
• 51:29
  SPEAKER_03: Are you okay with that?
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_03: If not, like I have other people I can recommend for you.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, even just Because as the vendor, you want to be working with people that want what you just do.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't need to be on the day of thinking, like, oh, I'm gonna gently direct.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then the bride's like, yo, cut it out.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you're like, whoa, what?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: I thought we were we were cool and now we're not cool.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_03: So it's important to kind of ask those types of questions and ask the photographer or vendor to like, can you explain that?
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_03: Can you give me an example?
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: Can you whatever, just so you know what you're walking into, you know, because it is hard to tell.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_03: Also, I do think, yes, being active on social media is awesome.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_03: Having that like relationship with people online is great.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_03: I have a lot of photographer friends who are booked and busy and they haven't posted on social media in like a year.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I do think there's a lot to say.
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_01: And great personalities, too.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a lot to say about like if you're listening and you're listening there, they know she knows who she is.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_01: She's one of our best friends.
• 52:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she knows exactly who she is.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_03: But um but there's a lot to say about great photographers who give great experiences, and all of their friends want to work with that person again.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_03: And that specific photographer who I'm talking about, who you will know.
• 52:40
  SPEAKER_01: You can name drop her.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_01: What's the problem?
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_01: She's in Central PA.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_01: You can name drop her.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, Bobby Phillips photography, if you're out there listening, um, she's an incredible photo.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_03: You posted last year, it's time to start posting, girl.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_03: I tell you enough.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but she is an incredible, incredible photographer and gives her experience like or her couple is the best experience.
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_03: And I've had the pleasure of like being her second shooter multiple times.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_03: I get to see it firsthand.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_03: And most of her weddings are referral from past clients, like most of them, I would say, majority, or other vendors, because she's a delight to work with.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_03: So even beyond, like, you know, you hear all this stuff all the time, you gotta post three times a day, whatever.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I think that's just, you know, yeah, yeah.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's just like get back to the foundation, like give your couples a great experience.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_03: No, you know, stay true to your your work, and um, I think you'll find you'll attract the right people.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, I love um, I mean, I have a love-hate relationship with social media, which is funny that I'm doing the podcast so that we can post more things and connect with vendors and stuff.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I do really think if you show up just as yourself as much as possible, people are gonna either connect or they're not.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: And if they're gonna connect, that's probably gonna be closer to an ideal couple for you.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it's totally fine to have an ideal couple in mind.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think it's there are different experiences, yeah.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it gives you a chance to have the weddings that are fulfilling to you.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, like for us, we can tell the stories that we want to tell.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and not all of them are gonna be the same, even if they are like sort of an ideal couple right away.
• 54:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for couples, like, don't feel bad saying no to a vendor.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can get along with them really well, but if you don't, if you want a ton of direction on a wedding day and you are on a call with someone, they're like, I'm documentary only, don't feel bad saying no to them and going to like the next call and being like, I need to book this other person.
• 54:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna say no, just say no.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like actually say no.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I think my hot take though is that I don't mind being ghosted.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I am not Oh, that is a hot take.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do not like being ghosted.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_01: I do not know.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_01: They can get to the contract point and like deposit point.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_01: If they ghost us, we do not care.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
• 54:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that it's that that I care.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like as a business owner, we can kind of like shift back to the business people in the room.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I just want to know if I should like email you again, should I text you again?
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, do you do you have any concern with like the follow-up on that?
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_03: No, you could do that.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: You could do like one follow-up if we send a contract.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_03: I do like for the back end, I have automated follow-ups.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, most people do, but like it's timed out.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_03: If I don't get, if I don't hear from you, I'm sending the last follow-up that says, I haven't heard from you.
• 55:27
  SPEAKER_03: So lost time.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_03: This is my final like reach out.
• 55:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna assume you found somebody that's a better fit.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_03: Best of luck to you.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm gonna still gonna send my emails.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_03: If they don't reply, like it does not bother me in the least.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: They're talking to so many people.
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_03: They're giving you, if they did a consult call with you, they gave you at least 30 minutes of their life.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's plenty of time.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_01: And they're giving how many other vendors 30 minutes of their life?
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like you have to remember that these people are working full-time jobs, yeah.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then doing wedding planning.
• 55:53
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, they're connecting with with the ones that they're giving the money to.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, and also from like the business side of things, uh I don't like count a job as like for sure until like the money's in our banking.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, for sure.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I just don't even get my hopes up.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's not even a hot take.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_03: It's just once you we have a contract signed.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_03: If you if you go with me after the contract is signed, then we have an issue.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard not to get excited after a good meeting, though, to be honest.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, sure.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_00: That was a good meeting.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: This couple is awesome.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 56:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's like it's definitely chill.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think yeah, and I'm not saying we're we're like non-emotional about it, but I think we get off those calls and we're like, dang, hope they book us.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if they don't, we're like a bummer, but like that's fine.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_01: We've been motivated.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_03: So many couples in our the our course of our career where I've looked at Tom and been like, I'm so upset they didn't book because I was so stoked to capture that type of wedding.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: But like, I I'm just such a firm believer in like what's meant for you will be, and like what's meant for them is somebody else.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, whatever happened in that story, I wasn't meant to be a part of it.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: I probably need to take a note from your book though.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: On I don't get upset if I don't hear back.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just like to have a you like the solid.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm like, it's a no.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: Might be cool.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that is their no.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_03: They're saying no.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_00: They are, yeah.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_00: I just think once I'll take that.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 57:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think once I just started thinking about like how many emails and stuff they're doing outside of their normal life for sure to do a wedding, I'm like, oh, no wonder they can't get back to you.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_01: Cause like, yeah, I don't know.
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's why you get a planner, you know?
• 57:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean planner and planner might not even email you back, but whatever.
• 57:29
  SPEAKER_00: From that perspective, I don't enjoy jumping into an email and figuring out what to respond.
• 57:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I can totally understand like that part of it too.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because I don't enjoy that.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's why I like AI.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'll say uh just give me a framework.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we don't do it off, we don't really do it often, but like saying no on the business side is also just like good to know that you can do, if that makes sense.
• 57:57
  SPEAKER_01: Like you can also be the one to be like, oh, sorry, we're not a good fit.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, not a good fit.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: So are there other systems or things that you guys do in business that help keep you organized, that help keep um money going the right direction?
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like what kind of systems do you guys have put in place?
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_03: Well, we implemented the profit first s system.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, if you haven't read the book, read the book.
• 58:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we haven't read the book.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_03: We just we got the Spark notes online and we uh implemented that um into our because I hate reading a book that like could have been bullet points.
• 58:34
  SPEAKER_00: It could yeah, yeah.
• 58:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you take 50% and use that to pay yourself and 30% for operating expenses, and I think 15-ish for tax.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_00: We do it a little bit.
• 58:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's where that's where he says to start, right?
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you can adjust your numbers accordingly.
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think his biggest thing is like not wasting money on unnecessary expenses.
• 58:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I will say And obviously turning a profit.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right, and and and just making sure that as you make more money, you don't leave it at 15% taxes.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_01: You need to raise that because your taxes will increase.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_01: But anyway, yeah.
• 59:05
  SPEAKER_01: Just don't want to give taxes.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's always costing 15%.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_01: This is not a tax advice channel.
• 59:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's not legal advice, yeah.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and our I will say it is funny to go through a system like that because Emily really went down that rabbit hole.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember the meeting where we went to like our business banker and we were like, hey, we want to implement this and we want to set up like what is it, five bank accounts.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's a good idea.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_03: We were just like, we want five bank accounts open so we could divvy everything out.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_01: Julian, what are you talking about?
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're like the same thing.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_01: Emily explained it and they were like, oh, okay, okay, that kind of makes sense.
• 59:36
  SPEAKER_03: We're the type of people, you know, both Tom and I have ADHD.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_03: So like if we see we have money, it's really easy to spend it.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we love gear.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_03: We love you know, we love coffee, we love a lot of things.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_03: So it's really easy to like let your money go.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_00: We'll just let all of our money go together.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 59:56
  SPEAKER_03: So that was a big one for us.
• 59:58
  SPEAKER_03: And then um, yeah, I think just like that really honestly that was a huge one because it helped catapult us into saving money so that we were able to reinvest in ourselves and do these business ventures that we, you know, have done.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_01: So And Emily was a big proponent when we first got married.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: She had I only went to one year of college and then dropped out and just kind of got into the video industry.
• 1:00:21
  SPEAKER_01: Classic filmmaker.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um thank you, Professor Garcia.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Professor Garcia told me to drop out, so I was like, cool.
• 1:00:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um anyway.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_01: If he said you should just do it.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, yeah.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, so I came, we when we got married, I didn't really have much school debt.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_01: You had a full like four years worth of debt.
• 1:00:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so Emily was like, I want to pay off this debt as quickly as possible.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we did pay most of that down and we did kind of like a debt-free journey as much as we could.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then like I think it was like in the middle of like COVID or whatever.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_01: But that put us in the mindset of also saving on the personal finance side because there's like a big difference.
• 1:00:58
  SPEAKER_01: I think we talked to some vendors that are friends, and their finances are all kind of like one stream, and it's like when you do that five bank accounts, you can't buy groceries out of those accounts.
• 1:01:08
  SPEAKER_01: Your tax money because like you're now looking at it as like, wait, that's tax, that's expensive.
• 1:01:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like labeled.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:01:14
  SPEAKER_01: So we then, you know, are more organized on the personal finance side and being like, okay, we need to save more of ours, live below our means as much as possible.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that's a big thing, just in general, is like we were able to open those doors further down the line because we were living below like what we were making, and that profit first mentality kind of like helped with that.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it helps too with what you were mentioning before about investing in maybe personnel or it could be education that could open up the door for business growth in the future if you're not being at least halfway decent with your money.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_00: When that opportunity presents itself, you're not really gonna be able to do anything about it.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: I think um I'm pretty bad at it.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like I would probably be worse off if we hadn't gone like the routes that like we went.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm pretty bad at just like the money's there, just like.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_03: Let's switch my whole entire camera operating system to a different.
• 1:02:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would never do that.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I would never switch from Canon to Sony.
• 1:02:14
  SPEAKER_01: I would never I went Canon to Sony to Panasonic.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_01: So I've been through it.
• 1:02:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love Lumix.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we're gonna tangent real hard if we I'm locked in.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm locked in and Lumix.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_01: Filmmakers know Lumix is the way to go.
• 1:02:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_00: Look at this guy.
• 1:02:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's that's just my hot.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sorry.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_03: So anyway, we needed the structure, if you can't tell.
• 1:02:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we need we needed that structure to just like set ourselves up to be like, I don't know.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_01: We Emily was still like coming from like the corporate world where you have a set salary.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, yeah, one month you make this many thousand, the next month you make, you know, half that, whatever.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: This many hundreds.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like whatever.
• 1:02:51
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't matter.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_01: Like it balances out, right?
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it balances out at the end of the year, whatever.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_01: And she was like, no, we're gonna be married, we're gonna have you know, have rent to pay.
• 1:02:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I had rent to pay, but like we would have joint rent to just like living rent to other bills, stuff like that.
• 1:03:03
  SPEAKER_01: So it was just like she was like, we need to get it like more in line and be more consistent, especially for her coming from a full-time job.
• 1:03:10
  SPEAKER_01: And so that set it up to be like, okay, let's have six months' expenses, like our actual like, you know, rent, utilities, food on the table, like all that stuff, just six months in the bank account as soon as possible on the personal side.
• 1:03:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just like save that.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_01: And then we just like kind of kept that mentality of saving that much money until you know what I mean, until we're just had flexibility.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel like wedding professionals are in this, like, they're either like you guys, like business minded, or they're like weekend warrior, yeah, it's all one account and they're personal and business stuff.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's fun to make a hundred grand a year.
• 1:03:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but if you spend it all, you didn't make a hundred grand in that year.
• 1:03:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but having having the buckets where your money goes, yeah.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_00: It I'm a visual person and maybe others just aren't as visual as I am.
• 1:03:59
  SPEAKER_00: But when I had one account and I needed to pay taxes out of there, I needed to pay personnel out of there, I was I didn't need to buy gear, but I was buying gear out of there.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like, oh shoot, I need to pay my second shooter 600 bucks and don't really have that in the account right now.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's like uh Yeah.
• 1:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we need to we need a better system.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:04:22
  SPEAKER_01: Or every time you're coming back to that, you're like, can I buy this camera?
• 1:04:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because I need to pay this person, this person, you're like doing keeping notes, like that was how I was, unfortunately, before.
• 1:04:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like at the end of the day, that's like a disaster waiting to happen.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because then you're gonna overextend at some point, at some point, and then be like, Oh, uh, I can't pay you for another two weeks until I get the next wedding check, you know what I mean, or something like that.
• 1:04:43
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, but yeah, that organizational on the finance side is like crucial.
• 1:04:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think we started even way back in our first year.
• 1:04:54
  SPEAKER_03: We started to our business to be as organized as possible, as if we had 30 couples a year.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_03: We weren't doing 30 weddings a year our first year.
• 1:05:01
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
• 1:05:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we did 10 maybe like maybe.
• 1:05:06
  SPEAKER_03: We got our CRM set up.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_03: Everybody was in our CRM as if we had, you know, a hundred weddings under our belt and this was normal.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_03: Like we wanted it to be as streamlined as possible because again, like we were jumping into this with like we're here, the reason we exist is to create this experience for the couple.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's that first year was not about like making our living off of it either.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think we said every dollar we make off the first year would go into either some like marketing materials or something like that.
• 1:05:34
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of Linux cameras.
• 1:05:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, just I think I was back on the GH5s back then.
• 1:05:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we were rocking it.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think that only set us up for being able to like have money set aside that felt like a salary because then we weren't starting our year at zero.
• 1:05:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:05:52
  SPEAKER_03: We had money set aside that was like, okay, we can start paying ourselves a specific amount each month.
• 1:05:57
  SPEAKER_03: And it wasn't as stressful as like.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: A normal freelancing job where you're like, oh, hopefully I can make enough.
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think for if there's like newer wedding vendors, even in today's era, I don't really know what it's like to be new in the industry now.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's a lot of advantages because there's so much like content about like starting a wedding business.
• 1:06:17
  SPEAKER_01: But a I think a lot of people would do well to look at just general business advice, not just wedding advice, because that will set you up for more success.
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you run it like a real business and like you were saying, not just like kind of off the off just like one bank account or whatever.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_01: If you set it up like it's a legitimate business, like you said, those systems will automatically and I used to not believe that.
• 1:06:41
  SPEAKER_01: I used to not believe that like a system will make you more successful.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, that's just organization.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_01: But it was like, let me show you how that's what you're doing.
• 1:06:48
  SPEAKER_01: It generally does because it prevents you from spending all of the profit, it prevents you from like overextending, it makes you think a little bit more before you make certain decisions on either taking a project or how much you're charging, even it affects like I don't know, if you're like, hey, we can't charge under this amount because it literally doesn't make sense.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's part of like just regular business.
• 1:07:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's helpful to know.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so yeah, I don't know.
• 1:07:10
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that's I hope that can be helpful in some sense.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we're we're definitely we're not financial advisors at any stretch.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_00: But I think what you can take from that part of the conversation, great advice.
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but more so just like get yourself in a mindset of where you are a business owner, you are an entrepreneur, if you want to be or you don't like if you're a wedding pender, you've stepped into it.
• 1:07:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're gonna step into it, you might as well just jump all the way in.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that was kind of a cool analogy.
• 1:07:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just kind of walked into that.
• 1:07:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um but seriously, if you're gonna do it, you might as well just jump all the way in and just go after it because you don't know what's gonna come from it if you don't try.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's like what you guys have just highlighted in your story.
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so cool to see what might have felt like just like a small thing.
• 1:08:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, now tandem is grown over the years.
• 1:08:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have all this other stuff that you guys are doing, a new coffee shop that's um opening soon, a new location.
• 1:08:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just all very, very cool.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I appreciate you guys being on this conversation.
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's so great.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm curious where where can people find and follow along with what you guys are doing?
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_03: So we are on Instagram at tandemwed and online.
• 1:08:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh our website is tandemwed.co.
• 1:08:30
  unknown: Yeah.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's right.
• 1:08:31
  SPEAKER_01: If you're ever in downtown Gettysburg, you can stop by President's Coffee.
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_01: We're on the corner of Washington Street and Lincoln Highway, hence why it's called President's Coffee.
• 1:08:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, 100 uh Chambersburg Street there.
• 1:08:42
  SPEAKER_01: And yeah, stop by, get some coffee, hang out.
• 1:08:45
  SPEAKER_02: Get a Lincoln latte.
• 1:08:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Gettysburg is a great place to just like I always tell people for like a weekend away, yeah, day trip.
• 1:08:51
  SPEAKER_01: Like it's got history, but it's also got some great uh restaurants and stuff too.
• 1:08:54
  SPEAKER_00: So super fun.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_00: Emily, Tom, thank you guys so much for being on.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I appreciate you guys tuning in to this episode.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's been so fun.
• 1:09:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you guys have gotten a ton of good information, and um just even hearing your guys' story is just so encouraging, too.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, make sure you guys are liking, subscribing, do all the things that help the podcast get out there, share it with all of your friends, and uh, we'll catch you guys next time on the preferred list.