Building my business is always exciting and it is always fun. But it certainly is not always easy. I was thrust into this final decision to go out on my own and build my business and depend only on my self and it’s the best decision I have ever made. It’s been scarey at times, and very challenging at times, but it’s always rewarding.

Life isn’t perfect and everything we plan wont always happen according to our hopes and dreams. Much like a wedding day – something is bound to not go according to our detailed outline of expectations. In business building you have great weeks and you have crap weeks. You have great months and crap months… and ultimately probably over all, great years and crap years as well.

I have been very fortunate over the last 3 1/2 months to meet amazing people, make incredible connections AND keep my head above water financially. June in particular was fantastic. July has been a rough start. This week in particular has sort of kicked me in the stomach… (paid sessions that got canceled due to circumstances out of my control, poor sales at the hospital, frustrating encounters with people at the hospital who unknowingly hurt my sales… that kind of week) however I believe that next week will be better. Even tomorrow will be better!

While I am making every effort to be 100% on my own, I am still picking up weddings here and there with other photographers I know. I thought since today’s blog is about how not everything goes according to plan… I’d share a wedding where things did not go as planned.

I photographed this wedding for Dove Weddings this past May. I met the bride at her home to begin photographing. Things went smoothly and perfectly until it was time to go to her venue for her first look, ceremony and reception. As a photographer I have never encountered a situation like I did at this venue… it was never even something that had ever crossed my mind that I could potentially encounter… So what was it? Well, the venue was in Laguna Beach on PCH and the first look was to take place at 1:30pm on a hot, gorgeous, Saturday afternoon… and there was NO PARKING.

After searching the property for actual property parking, I double parked and ran inside to find out what the situation was. One person informed me that there was parking just up the hill – valet. As I spun on my heel to run back to my car and go park, someone else stopped me and said “Are you a vendor?”

To which I replied, “Yes. I’m the photographer.”

“Oh. Well you can’t park valet.” She said.

I stared blankly at her and said, “So where should I park?”

“You’ll have to find street parking. Valet is only for the wedding guests.”

Irritated I responded, “So at 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon in Laguna Beach you’d like me to go find street parking on PCH??”

“Yeah….”

I didn’t have time to argue with the woman, an argument I was sure I would lose… so I took off to find parking.

Thankfully I had arrived early to the venue, but this whole fiasco took about 25 minutes before I finally was able to get a spot up the hill – grab all of my gear and run down the hill to find the couple for their first look. This landed me about 10 minutes behind their scheduled first look. This was a very frustrating situation for me, and it stressed the bride out which stressed me out even more because the last thing I want to do – ever! on a wedding day, is add stress to the bride. I’m usually the one helping calm her down!

I jumped right into my regular routine, and didn’t miss a single element of her day. I work fast, and this day especially – I was on super speed to make sure I captured everything that needed capturing. The images came out just beautifully and we even had enough time to allow her a 10 minute cool down before her ceremony…. which was then, for reasons I am unaware of, delayed another 30 minutes.

The point here is – things go wrong in life all the time. Things will probably go wrong on your wedding day… big or small… truthfully – whether they are major or minor is completely up to you as the couple. You can roll with the punches and enjoy it all anyway… or you can scream and cry over it and ruin your own day by making a mountain out of a molehill.

One tip I have to avoid things like this – a very important tip… take notes… Inform ALL of your vendors of ALL of your venue restrictions. If you are unsure if there are any – call the coordinator… and then make sure that everyone is aware so as to avoid more potential “day of” issues. No one is perfect – things happen… just smile and enjoy it in all of it’s glory and don’t let any hiccups ruin it for you. They will pass and it will still be perfect because it will be YOUR story.

I just LOVE the bridal portraits from this wedding!

For more information on booking or to see more work. Please visit http://www.BriannaCaster.com

With endless love and hope for happiness and peace always,

Brianna