Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie and Cody Richings.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Stephanie: I dabbled into photography first around my junior year of high school. My boyfriend at the time got me my first DSLR camera, but I absolutely had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even know where to begin on how to use it. Fast-forward five years later, and I’m about to start graduate school and got engaged. I realized that I needed a side-gig fast because I was a very broke college student. Haha, what’s new? I picked up that same camera I received in high school, learned how to use it, and started offering senior pictures for college and high school graduates. Although I did love what I was doing, I always had an interest in couples and wedding photography. I shadowed photographers and had opportunities to second shoot for weddings a few times to get some experience. Soon after, I began getting inquiries myself. I told the couples the extent of my wedding experience, but I was thankful they had faith in me because from then on, I grew a deep love for wedding and couples photography. Personally, I love creating relationships and building a connection with people, especially with couples. I get to know them on a deeper, more intimate level on the most incredible day of their lives.
Not thinking of the long-term path my photography business would take, I got married and thought that all my couples/wedding photography inquiries would stop. “The whole point of me starting this photography business was to help me with the expenses of my own wedding, right?” Oh, boy was I wrong! My business grew significantly, and I was the busiest I ever was! What’s even better? The boy who gave me my first camera in high school ended up being the reason why I got into wedding photography in the first place. I guess that’s why I married him! Since then, Cody, that boy who gave me my camera, proposed and continued to support me through this photography journey. He watched it unfold from a “side gig” into a passion of telling a couple’s story, a story that continues to reflect and even inspire ours. He eventually became my business partner and second shooter for weddings because he wanted to spend more time with me and grow together through our creative passion.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Is running a business ever a smooth road? Ha! With all jokes aside, I think one of the hardest parts of wedding photography is getting started. Five years ago, it was “you need experience shooting weddings to get hired, but you can’t get experience until you get hired.” Thankfully, I had friends already in the wedding photography realm that allowed me to get that experience under my belt. Second, it’s an incredible investment of money to get all the gear needed to do a wedding justice. Whether it’s a small wedding with 20 people or a big wedding with 300 people, each event still requires multiple lenses, flashes, backup gear, and a stockpile of batteries and memory cards…not to mention hard drives to back up the images properly! It gets pretty crazy trying to keep up with it all.
A third challenge is realizing that as business owners, we are responsible for all the working parts of the company: bookeeping, accountant, secretary, marketing, customer service, meeting clients, revising contracts, literally everything. When I started, I tried to take it on all on my own until I cracked. I was so stressed trying to take on a workload that was impossible to tackle after working a full-time job in a nursing home. I hardly slept! There was one day that I spent 6 or 7 hours just answering emails, and I didn’t even get a chance to edit. It’s become a lot easier with Cody’s help, and it wasn’t until recently that we outsourced some aspects of the business that we’re finally able to focus on just shooting the weddings and editing.
Finally, BALANCE is the most difficult. If you think about it, weddings can very easily take over your whole life. Relationships with friends and family tend to suffer since we’re not usually free on Fridays and Saturdays. Sometimes it can become quite isolating and exhausting to be consumed by one thing, and if we overwork ourselves, burnout isn’t far behind. This year, we’ve become much better at balancing our work and personal lives. We’ve definitely become more intentional with every move. We didn’t want to get to the point where we lose the passion and love for the job because we’re so burnt out. We still want to produce high-quality work for our awesome clients.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into The Richings Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
We make up the duo of The Richings Photography and specialize in couples and weddings based in Beaumont, Texas. Together, we are a husband and wife team focusing on helping other couples have not only photos to last a lifetime, but memories that’ll last as well. We pride ourselves on our ability to work together on creating a comfortable and stress-free experience because let’s be real….planning a wedding can be quite stressful! In addition, we feel that we’re able to foster a trusting, emotional, and open relationship with our clients that make them not afraid to be themselves, but also have faith in us in capturing their special day.
In regards to our shooting style, we love capturing the authentic, emotional, in-between moments that aren’t staged and “prom-posey.” Our editing tones are warm and earthy, which is a true reflection of who we are as people. The great thing about working together as a husband + wife photography team is that we always look for ways to improve each other’s work while maintaining our goals for the wedding or photoshoot. We love to challenge each other. You’ll sometimes see us giving each other tips and reminders as we shoot because we want to find an even balance between those modern, more masculine images for the groom all while maintaining femininity and grace of the bride. It’s pretty fun working with your best friend!
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
To be honest, we’re not really big believers in luck, but big believers in hard work. Successful entrepreneurs must be driven and courageous as they continue to take risks. Both sets of our parents are thriving entrepreneurs starting businesses from the ground up. They were able to instill that passion, self-determination, and work their habits in us, and we believe that the key element of their success may have lead to that “good luck.” To sum it up, we believe that people make their own luck through preparation and good strategy.
“People often remark that I’m pretty lucky. Luck is only important in so far as getting the chance to sell yourself at the right moment. After that, you’ve got to have the talent and know how to use it.” – Frank Sinatra.
Pricing:
- Wedding Packages start at $2300, but are customizable for each couple
- Couples/Engagement Sessions: $400
- Bridal Portraits: $400
- Boudoir Photography: $450
Contact Info:
- Website: www.therichings.com
- Email: therichingsphotography@gmail.com
- Instagram: @therichings
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/therichings/
Image Credit:
The Richings Photography
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