On Gratitude

I posted this on the Jeff & Lisa Facebook​ page over the weekend because it was a lovely unexpected message as my day was ending.

Some of our former brides saw it, left comments, and made me cry. Made my entire month.

If I don’t say it enough, I truly am thankful to be able to do work we find meaning in, and more so, being able to do all this beside my husband and with such wonderful people, quite a few of whom remain our friends long after their weddings are done.

We have long ago chosen to limit our number of weddings yearly. This enables us to be hands-on with our son, and gives us enough time and opportunities to find inspiration in books, music, films, and travel, allowing us to grow as people and artists. In this way, we are able to pour our hearts into each wedding and not be too exhausted to still look forward to the next one. This is important to us, because we never want to just go through the motions.

I remember how one of our grooms, Ken, told us at the end of our first meeting that they booked us because they liked our work AND we weren’t trying to sell them things. We had a good laugh over this, and told him a bride once wrote that she didn’t hire us because we didn’t have a sales presentation. We don’t do that. We get to know people, and if there’s a connection there, that’s what moves it along. (Although more often lately, a couple will get in touch already completely decided on getting us. One of the best compliments, and one we always hope to live up to.) Rapport and trust are very important to us, and essential to the kind of natural, organic photos we wish to take.

We had a chat with another groom, Simon, when they picked up their wedding album. He said he appreciated the way we handle our business, that our interactions were more personal and human, and told us not to change. These were two men leading large multinational companies, and both remain wonderful memories. We’ve kept in touch with Ken and Sheng over the years and even ran to them for tips when we were new parents in dire need of a nanny and not sure where to begin, and we shot the first birthday of Simon and Brenda’s daughter.

This work has always been personal to us. Our successes and failures along the way are all the more triumphant and devastating for us because of how personally invested we are in what we do, and we honestly know no other way. Our weeks and months and years are bookmarked by other people’s happiest of days, and we will remember our days this way. We have grown and learned so much over the years, but our hearts remain the same.

After all this time, who Jeff and I are, what we love, and what we do remain inseparable. This is how we distinguish between merely making a living and building a life. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being a part of ours.