So I decided to have a baby in July

We made a big announcement! Baby boy coming in July.

I can practically hear the entire wedding industry shed a collective gasp. Yes, that’s right, July. Peak wedding season.

To say I “decided” to do it this way is not totally accurate. As many women know, you can’t always plan these things exactly when you’d like. 

So when I knew that my due date would be in the middle of the season I had a choice to make – take a break from “trying” or keep going and trust that I could handle whatever was going to happen.

I decided that family comes first. Always. 

See, I had done this before. My daughter was born in September. But really, the planning started wayyyyy before that. 

When I knew I wanted to start a family one day, I realized the “I can do it all myself” mentality would no longer serve me. So I started to delegate. 

I hired someone to manage and organize my image galleries, I started using Imagen to cull and edit.

And most importantly, I built a team of associate photographers to stand in for me if I couldn’t be at a wedding in person.

Throughout my two pregnancies, there were 10 weddings and 10 couples that I could not longer be there to support in person. But you know what? 8 out of those 10 were more than happy to have my associate photographers shoot the big day. 

I was still very much involved in the process – handling all the coordination ahead of the day and all the post-processing afterwards. 

Don’t get me wrong. It was really scary. I didn’t want to disappoint my couples or cause any added stress. 

It’s also really scary to risk so much income.

But let me tell you, the overwhelming majority of my couples were so understanding. Even happy for me! 

Any you know what?! If a couple isn’t, that couple isn’t for you anyway.  

With the right people, automations, and systems there to support you, having a baby in the middle of wedding season doesn’t have to derail everything you’ve built.

I have no doubt that managing a newborn and business, plus a toddler, will come with a whole set of new challenges. But I’m confident and I’m grateful.