I’ve seen plenty of posts stating February 1 is the new January 1 for 2020, and I’m banking on that trend when it comes to getting my 2019 behind the scenes post out.

2019 was a crazy year for Daniel and I. It looked like packing up our house and moving into my farm office, and shoving the rest in storage. Since the education building on the farm doesn’t have a shower, we’ve literally been showering outdoors since June 30. Don’t worry, we have hot water!

Our home farm, where I shoot most of my sessions was torn apart to become a construction site, yay house building! Which left me exploring new places in the area to shoot. And in the midst of our busiest wedding year yet, we hosted over 32 different world countries on the farm, as well as visitors from 10 different U.S. states, dove into our first (now) annual fall farm market and rolled out a super fun Christmas wreath making workshop with Petal & Pine.

I tell everyone we average five states per year and 2019 was above average! We shot weddings or portrait sessions in:
1. Kentucky (obviously. 😂)
2. Tennessee
3. Indiana
4. Ohio
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas
7. California
8. Colorado
9. Wyoming
*10. I really wanted to add North Carolina to this list, but the weather didn’t behave.

Diving into the deep personal depths of our behind the scenes, 2019 was a year of grief for me. Losing Oliver, our Scottish Terrier, my tiny best friend — whom had been through every major life milestone over the last 10 years— to cancer, rocked my world, and then in late July, a miscarriage, at 10 weeks knocked us back down again.

2019 I learned a lot about empathy, compassion, and asking for help. If I didn’t truly know it before, the past year taught me I have the greatest group of friends who will both celebrate with you on the hills and grieve with you in the valleys.

This year, I learned having systems in place to keep things trucking along is imperative when owning your own business; and taking space for rest is just as important as the hustle. I learned there is no such thing as a ‘bad year’ sometimes you just have to intentionally search out the good, and even though this past year felt hard, my first thoughts when I think back on 2019 conjure up a parade of happy memories.

Thank you to our clients for trusting us with your precious life milestones. Thank you for letting us celebrate you and thank you for making us feel so loved!

So let’s look at what happened behind the scenes of Two Arrows shall we?

Daniel threw a lot of veils.

And got those dress trains all smoothed out.

And carried a lot of bouquets.

We see a lot of rain here in the southeast, and Daniel was there to wield umbrellas to keep everyone as dry as possible.

We worked alongside other wedding vendors we love. Like Mike, from Evermore Productions.

And Megan and TJ from Selah Productions. I’m still mourning their move to Virginia. whhhhhhyyyyyyy you leave usssssss?!?!

And, Adam!!! Blue Line Entertainment kept the dance floor full giving us ALL the fun party photo ops.

We both purposely made things weird and awkward for each others lighting test shots.

I set up a lot of poses.

Daniel consumed a lot of carbs.

Dan never strayed from his enneagram 7 personality.

I helped surprise a groom.

And laughed with brides.

And assisted without a camera.

Daniel made sure I would find creeper shots of me while editing.

Maybe it’s the rancher+photographer thing that we’re already comfortable with animals so we end up working with a lot of them, but furry creatures of all kinds end up at our weddings and sessions.

It’s a definite perk of the job.

Like the day Daniel got to hang out under a tree with a K-9 Unit.

Or the day Daniel wrangled a basset that was DETERMINED to run away from photos.

Or my personal favorite, that time I negotiated with a burro in west Texas.

And that’s officially a wrap on 2019 …a month into 2020. I love these year end wrap ups, because I love imagining what’s to come in the new year and how the next year’s wrap up will be different. 2020 travels are lining up to include Paris, Portugal, California and, of course, Oklahoma for me and us, and Asia for Dan. It’s looking like indoor showering (finally. amen.), returning to my favorite session location — my home, and adventures of all kinds with each other, and our trio of pups, it looks like getting to witness and document a all whole new set of people’s milestones and serving others the best we can.

Hi, 2020, let’s do this!