A few months ago we joined The Academy to learn from some of the top photographers in the country.  We are so thankful for this incredible opportunity to learn from some of the biggest names in wedding photography – even while we’re in AFRICA!  Man, I love technology.  And we are so excited about what these classes have taught us.  But at the very beginning they sent us a simple guide called “Game Changers”.  This short guide had the number one tip to improve your business from some incredible photographers.  The first tip was from Justin & Mary, two photographers we really admire.  These are two people who have hugely grown their brand but are still in the business of loving on their clients and providing them with lasting images.

Their tip was this, “Starting with Why”.  They suggested sitting down and writing a mission statement that you want your work and business to stand for.  Writing the statement and allowing it to infuse and guide every decision you make.  So that is just what we did.  When we wrote these many months ago, I didn’t think I’d share them.  But after allowing them to guide our decision making and form the foundation of our rebrand, we thought we’d share why it is that we are in this business.

1—We Love Marriage

This business grew from a shared love of photography, and a deep love for each other.  We wanted to be able to spend more time together; doing something we love with the person we love.  We want to use this business to grow our own marriage, but also to grow others’ marriages.  We want to encourage our couples to have long, happy marriages.  And we feel like we can do that through our next two “whys”.

2—We want to freeze perfect moments

We want the happiest moments of peoples lives to be frozen forever.  We want the joy and love to last. We love looking at old photos.  We fill our home with images of happy times and loved ones.  Why?  Because they remind us of the abounding JOY in our lives.  They remind us, even if things are rough, or people are gone, or we are having a bad day, that we have incredible happiness and beautiful memories in our lives.  Pictures are about more than just looking back.  They are about embracing what we have.  We want to be able to provide those frozen moments of blissful times for our clients, so they are always able to look at them and feel joy.

3—We want to encourage, inspire, & love on others

We want to use this business to love on others.  We want our clients to know they are genuinely loved and cared for.  We both feel as though we’ve been given the gift of a servant’s heart, and we want to serve others in a meaningful and Godly way.  We know the wedding planning process can be stressful and can strain relationships.  But we want to change that.  We want to be there to support our clients during their engagement and throughout their marriage.

Justin & Mary added this amazing quote.. well, really all things Mary writes make for amazing quotes.. the woman is a wordsmith on the reals (do yourself a favor and sign up for their inspiration newsletter).. but I just love this quote from them.  Because it is so true and an awesome reminder.  We love what we do, and are so honored we get to do it.

And again, just like everyday this week (catch up and enter Tuesday and Wednesday’s giveaways if you missed them!) we are doing a giveaway!!!  And because one of Michael & my favorite things to do is roam Target together.. we are doing a $50 Target gift card.  To enter, make sure you’ve “liked” Michael & Laura Photography on Facebook and share this post (be sure to tag @MichaelandLauraPhotography in your post!).