Two things have inspired this blog I’m sharing today. Last month, my photographer friend Holly shared a recap of what 10 days in her life as a wedding photographer looked like. I loved this post! Especially seeing how much our work days are different but are also similar. Also last month, I was photographing a wedding, and one of the groomsmen said something along the lines of, “So, if you shoot weddings on the weekends, what do you do during the week?” I tried explaining alllll that goes on during the week and he was pretty shocked! It made me realize that most people have no idea what wedding photographers actually do when they aren’t taking pictures.

So, here’s a recap of my world as a wedding photographer from last week! 

Monday 4/10:
7:15 – woke up, got ready
7:45-9 – chiropractor appointment. I go to the chiropractor once a week, usually on Monday mornings. my mom and I went together then stopped at Chick-fil-a for breakfast.
9:15-10ish – ate breakfast while my computer ran an update
10-1 – edited an album, designed some marketing postcards to order, answered emails, created a mood board for an upcoming shoot
1-2 – lunch
2-3:15 – tax stuff, completed client product orders
3:15-4:30 – edited wedding pictures
4:30 – dropped off a package at the post office, went to the mall
5:30 – dinner & relaxing til going to bed

Tuesday 4/11:
8 – woke up, ate breakfast, got ready
9:30-11 – drove to a few places scouting for an upcoming shoot
11-1:30 – Tuesdays Together meetup at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens
1:30-4 – more location scouting in the city. I had lunch at Victory Sandwich Bar then got stuck in traffic on the way home
4-7 – emails & editing
7:30-9:30 – church

Wednesday 4/12:
9-10:30 – woke up, went to the gym, ate breakfast
10:45 – answered emails, finalized and ordered an album
12-1:45 – drove to Norcross to pick up smoke bombs & eat lunch
2-3 – watched a webinar, drafted a blog post, prepped for my session
3-3:30 – power nap 🙂
4-8 – photographed my best friend Sonia’s graduation session in the city & grabbed pizza for dinner before heading home

Thursday 4/13:
8:30 – woke up, ate breakfast
9:15 – answered emails
10:15 – phone consultation
10:45-12:45 – my mom and I drove up to Alpharetta for the grand opening of Jeni’s Ice Cream! we ate lunch at Whole Foods while we were there
1-5 – more emails, culled and started editing Sonia’s pictures

Friday 4/14:
8 – woke up, ate breakfast
8:30-9:30 – organized some of my bookkeeping & budgets
9:30-11 – drove up to the Linen & Flax store in Roswell to shoot for Campfire Social
11-12 – lunch at home
12-2 – edited and delivered pictures from the Linen & Flax shoot
2-3 – emails & such
3-3:30 – power nap 🙂
3:30 – prepped for a consultation
4:30-6 – consultation with a couple for their engagement session
6-8:30 – left home to get dinner before Good Friday service at my church
9-11:30 – hung out with my friends Connie and Sarah

Saturday 4/15:
6:30-7:30 – woke up, got ready
8-10:30 – photographed a session at the Goat Farm for Ruth’s 30th birthday
11 – got home, prepped for a consultation
11:30-1:15 – consultation with a couple for their wedding
1:15-3 – finalized product orders, answered emails, imported Ruth’s photos
3-4 – nap
4-6 – edited pictures from Sonia’s session
6 – dinner

Sunday 4/16:
9:30 – slept in, ate breakfast, hung out at home
2-6 – went to the farmers market then to Lullwater Park for a picnic with my mom and sister
7 – made & ate dinner, watched a movie

Generally, my days are full of editing, scheduling or having meetings, and answering emails. Some weeks I have lots to edit, but some weeks I don’t, so I’m able to focus on the stuff that runs my business, like marketing, planning shoots, networking, & education. Running my own business and working from home gives me the freedom to wake up, take naps, and run errands when I want to, but it also means I can find myself working way past 5 pm and often on the weekends! The work-life balance is always a struggle. Another struggle… some days I’m super productive and some days I feel like I’ve literally accomplished nothing! So I try to stay on task with to-do lists and deadlines as best as I can. Also, lots of this time is spent on social media, which I’m trying to get better at! In hindsight, I should’ve taken pictures throughout the week to include in this post, but I forgot to!