My last post was very “personal life heavy” (thanks to anyone who stuck through the whole thing!) but I also want to reflect on what 2017 for AMP. In short, this year has been a wild mix of emotions. I’ve gone from feeling so grateful for this life and job to incredibly stressed and anxious to blissful happy to ridiculously overwhelmed. I think the main reason for that was because of the craziness of moving multiple times and being “unsettled” in my personal life, but all around, my professional life this year was pretty incredible. Like I mentioned before, I booked 19 weddings for the 2017 year, which is the most weddings I’ve had in one season. It ranged from April to November and brought me all over the Bay Area. It was my first year that I didn’t have a destination wedding, which was a nice change because I was able to really soak up some of the amazing wedding venues we have in the Bay Area. A few of my favorites include the gorgeous Olympia’s Valley Estate, shooting my first elopement at SF City Hall, and this incredible camp wedding at Camp Cambell (plus about 15 others that I have yet to post!). I’m still planning on doing a big 2017 recap post like I’ve done in the past, but knowing me and my backlogged list of weddings I still want to post, that might not happen for a few months (so stay tuned!)

My couples this year were incredible. I somehow had the coolest brides with some of the most stunning wedding dresses I’ve ever seen, and every couple was so sweet and loving and grateful, which I feel really really lucky about. I don’t know how, but I always lucky out with the BEST couples!! Thank you thank you thank you to every single one of you for trusting me, lovin’ on me, and letting me be a part of your lives. You are why I do what I do and I’m so grateful for it.

Aside from my couples, I was able to meet and connect with some incredible wedding industry peeps that made this year so much fun. Since we’ve moved around a bit over the past few years I wasn’t really be able to find “my people” in the industry, but this year introduced me to some incredibly lovely and giving folks who I’m so grateful for. I can’t wait to see what 2018 brings in terms of making new friendships and nurturing old ones.

And to top it off, I was also lucky enough to be able to travel quite a bit for work this year. Aside from photographing weddings, engagements, portraits, I also photograph a lot of corporate jobs with SGP and Associates. It involves a lot of conferences, parties, and headshots, and then I’m lucky enough to be a part of their incentive trips throughout the year too, which have brought me all over the world. This year I went to Cabo and Budapest (with a quick layover in Amsterdam, which was AMAZING!), but I’ve been flown to Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Italy, and Greece, and having these travels in addition to weddings is what keeps me fresh, inspired and alive. It’s truly the greatest gift to be able to combine my two favorite things – photography and travel – and I count my blessings every day that I get to do this for my job.

All this to say that 2017 was a pretty crazy year both professionally and personally.  I’m very happy to that it’s over, but very happy that it happened. I’ve grown into more of the person I want to be, and learned how to run the business I want. I’ve grown as a photographer, as a wife, as a friend, as a daughter, as a sister and as a girl in the last year of her 20’s trying to figure out life. And in 2018, I want to keep doing that – growing. Even though I hate to admit it, I’m my best self when I’m busy and constantly moving. As an introverted extrovert, being busy kind of exhausts me and I crave alone time, but I’ve learned that that’s not necessarily when I’m my best. I’m hoping 2018 will be filled with lots of incredible weddings, some amazing travels, exploring new avenues of photography, and a the perfect amount of rest and relaxation to keep me fresh.