First, let me (JP) start off by saying that I am humbled every year when I look back. That’s due in large part to our clients & community! THANK YOU doesn’t suffice – we are in FULL GRATITUDE to you all!!

This year was a wild ride. Kerr turned One in January, we had our busiest wedding seasons yet, & we found out about Baby Rainsford due in March 2020! We learned a lot, made LOTS of mistakes, wondered if we were heading in the right direction & ultimately ended the year more EXCITED about 2020 then any other year of our business.

So what DID we learn?

• First – We learned (again) that we can’t do it ALL!! This year we doubled our team – YES – doubled!! We now have 2 photo editors who help us edit our wedding galleries & we also hired a new team member to help us publish wedding blogs consistently (you may have noticed an increase in weddings being posted this fall – that was not just a coincidence!) This gave us more space to do the tasks & projects that WE needed to do for business. It may sound backwards to outsource, but it gave us more flexibility & freedom ultimately growing our business as a whole!

• Taking time OFF is ESSENTIAL!! This was the first year that we said “no” to weddings for all of July & August. And while this was VERY hard at the beginning of the year – once we arrived to our time off, we couldn’t have been more thankful. It was SO healthy for our family to WORK hard then REST hard!! We also didn’t shut down our office during our “off” months. Instead we shifted our focus to education & reflection on our business. We also took intentional time off of social media. It’s amazing HOW MANY people have commented or asked questions about this. More to come on that soon!!

• It’s HEALTHY to try something new! We LOVE photographing weddings – we absolutely LOVE it!! But as we came to the middle of 2019, something in us stirred – we were ready to try something new! We hosted our first workshop for wedding photographers in July & completely fell in love with coaching & mentoring photographers! You can read all about our first CONFIDENCE workshop here!! We walked away completely energized & excited – not only to photograph more weddings, but to “marry” education & photography. We found a new love & are SO excited for more to come in 2020.

• Lastly, we learned to SURRENDER (again)! Ultimately, I feel like this is a theme for our family that we will learn over & over. Trusting in the Lord & not in our current circumstances is the HARDEST lesson & somehow the Lord keeps bringing us to the end of ourselves. We have fallen hard on our knees repenting for our lack of trust – asked for faith & He. Has. Answered. He has also never forsaken us! Every step of the way we can see His guidance & love – even in those hard weeks & seasons.

From the bottom of our hearts – we THANK YOU for supporting our business! There are no words for how humbling it is to walk by faith & see the cloud of witnesses running along side of us – cheering us on. We are indebted to your love & trust!

All our love, The Rainsfords (Ryland, JP, Kerr, Baby R & Scout!)

All photos by Emily Barbee – you’re a gem, dear friend!!