I’m Stephanie, a wedding + lifestyle photographer based in Colorado Springs, Colorado and Warrenton, Virginia. Whether I’m by the mountains of Colorado or Virginia, my soul feels at home, surrounded by rural living and the raw beauty of nature. I genuinely love what I do, and feel so passionate to share the enthusiasm and joy of these celebrations with you!

DOCUMENTING LOVE'S UNSCRIPTED CHAPTERS FROM COUPLES & FAMILIES IN COLORADO + VIRGINIA

@stephaniemessickphoto

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May 23, 2013

Secret Garden | Sonya Ruth and Stephanie Messick Photography Workshop

Don’t let anything step in your way of success. When given advice, take it and run! I love giving that encouragement and push to other photographers because their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn reminds me of myself when first getting my business up and going. Believe me though, I am still enthusiastic and eager to move forward in my business, but it is a different feeling. You get to a point where you ask “When will I feel satisfied with my business?” and honestly that is a HARD question to ask. We all get sooooo caught up with business that we forget that our lives should not so consumed around our career … even if it is our passion. Don’t forget who is important in your life because those who surround you and look over you matter the most. I know I am at fault for not always giving the most attention to my family/friends and enough praise to the Lord, but it is so nice to step back and remember that.

Let me tell you, as soon as we left the workshop, I could tell that everyone was excited about meeting new photographer friends and yet overwhelmed with the answers/new information from the workshop. 🙂

Sonya approached me about doing a workshop with her in Northern VA and I could not turn down the opportunity! I was scared and unsure if I could fulfill this partner position. Totally normal! Sonya has given me that push in my business from the start as she led me my first wedding. I honestly said that I was not going to take on my first own wedding until June 2014 … can you believe that?! How much opportunity would I have missed out on!!! Between this year and June 2014, I have 40 weddings booked and I would have missed out on my FABULOUS brides! How sad! Haha! So I knew that I have to dive into this opportunity (even though I was scared and unsure) because something greater would come out of this 🙂 I knew that I had a lot to offer, so I trusted God in this challenge and dove head first! I took on the role of talking about organization and the back end of business. I was explaining to the attendees how important it is to have a clean and organized back end of your business so your clients are happier. I have developed systems (including the workflow I posted for yesterday’s blog) that makes it easier to stay on track client to client. Also, it was so nice to give the photographers starting out advice HOW to start your business. My gosh, I can admit that I am not a business person when walking into this and have learned SO much from the year. I’m sure that alone overwhelmed them. Haha! There are just things that we just don’t know about unless you know someone who has gone through this … or if you are a business person.

The workshop I can say was a huge success and I absolutely love these girls!!! Thank you alllllll for an amazing time! 🙂 xoxox

Sonya talking to some of the girls

Then, we had our lovely set up! 🙂

Loved the cake! 🙂

 GO CHLOE! She did an awesome job modeling it out for the attendees! 🙂

Then, we had our AMAZING bride/groom models! My goodness, they ROCKED it! So proud of these two! 🙂

One of my favs!

Adorable and I LOVEEEEE the colors!

Cute!

Look how amazing that dress is on her! Thanks Blush Boutique for the dress! 🙂

Another FAV.

Beautiful!

My goodness, isn’t she GORGEOUS?! And I absolutely LOVED the flowers!!! Thanks Shelley’s Floral Enterprise for the amazing arrangements!

Walking to the next set. 🙂

One of the attendees taking charge! So proud everyone for blossoming during the workshop! Loved seeing the growth just through the 8 hours we had together!

Love it!

Adorable!

Love.

EVERYONE and including the dog … lol! Turk just had to be apart of the group shot but definitely was letting the camera know his good side. 😉 Such an amazing and inspiring group of ladies! xoxo

VENDORS:
VENUE: Bears Den Farm
FLOWERS: Shelley’s Floral Enterprise
MODELS: Jessica and Ian Loch
HAIR/MAKEUP ARTIST: Alexis Lage
DRESS: Blush Bridal Boutique
STYLIST: Katelynn Tilly
CAKE: Amanda Messick

Thank you to ALL who helped make this possible! 🙂

  1. Virginia Allen says:

    Simply beautiful Stephanie!