In addition to being a wedding photographer, I am also a wedding blog editor for the popular
Southern California Bride blog. I go through a lot of submissions monthly and reject a lot of them because I like to feature fresh, new, and beautiful content to my readers. I haven't had that sense of being on the other side of things for over 5 years and with this recent shoot I did, I finally felt
(again) what it's like to be rejected.
It sucks big time.
It's no fun being told that "your work isn't quite what they're looking for" or they were expecting more "unexpected details" or they simply reject you without even giving a reason as to why (guilty of these three responses myself). When you're already in a rut and doubting yourself -- wondering if you are good
enough despite the encouragement and praises you get from friends, family, and clients -- getting rejected makes it a little worse. I remember just being really bummed when the shoot I felt was one of my best ever got rejected not once, but twice within a couple of days.
After chatting with a good friend of mine, Heather of
The Editor's Touch, (and after much thought), I found a home for my shoot -- on
Southern California Bride, my wedding blog. It's going to be featured tomorrow and I cannot wait to share all of my favorites from this shoot -- it truly is one of my favorite shoots I've ever participated in and I'm really proud of how everything turned out. Stay tuned!
But in the meantime... dealing with rejection sucks but from what I've learned, it's not the end of the road. There are so many options out there -- people who will appreciate and be excited to share your work. It's not always the biggest or most well-known blogs... you just have to look and find the right one. But don't give up. ever.
This shoot was a special one for me. I had taken a long break from photography after finding out I was pregnant with twins back in 2012. During my time off, I didn't shoot anything so when I ended up deciding that I wanted to get back into wedding photography, I knew it was going to be quite a journey as I didn't have anything recent or up to date with my current style in my portfolio. I wanted to create a shoot that was reflective of the style of weddings I wanted to photograph -- classic, elegant, and romantic -- so I teamed up with Amy of All In The Detail design who helped me plan this shoot. We were very fortunate to be able to shoot at the stunning Rancho Las Lomas in Orange County which hosts some of the most beautiful weddings in the OC. Together with Amy, we were able to put together an amazingly talented team of weddings professionals who helped bring my vision to life! I wanted to go with a soft color palette that included the colors white/ivory, green, and hints of peach. I also wanted touches of gold with lots of candles. All in all, this shoot turned out just beautifully and I'm so proud of my entire team! Now if only I could shoot a real wedding at Rancho Las Lomas -- I would die!
