We were lucky to catch up with Samantha Burke recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Samantha , thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

My mission as an adventure elopement photographer & experience creator is to help empower couples to have the elopement/wedding day of their wildest dreams – and to make that come to life.

As someone who got married well over 5 years ago now, my own wedding was essentially run by other people and their opinions. Over 50% of our guests that we had? I haven’t talked to since our wedding day, but we still invited them because we were pressured too. We were pressured to do a first look down the aisle during our ceremony. We were pressured to do a LOT of different things — and our wedding day ended up being a chaotic party for everyone else! Don’t get me wrong, I still LOVED the fact I married my husband, and we had an amazing day. But I wish I had someone in my corner, cheering me on to create a wedding day that was about my husband and I. We didn’t have a single private moment alone. I didn’t even get to eat dinner. And when we look back on our day, we barely remember the details.

I know everyone says, “life is too short”, but the reality of that statement is SO entirely true. Life is much too short to not do the things you want to do, to not live your life they way you imagine. When I think about this statement, it makes me think about my own wedding day and the time I was ready to quit my first full-time career job after college if they weren’t going to let me go on a trip to Italy. I remember having knots in my stomach when I had to go to my boss’s higher-up to ASK PERMISSION to take unpaid leave so I could travel around Italy for almost 2 weeks. I didn’t get vacation days until I was there for a year, and it was the only way I was going to be able to go. But I specifically remember thinking, “I’m ready to quit right here if they won’t let me take unpaid days off so I can experience this.” Surprisingly, they allowed me to go (with unpaid days off) and it was my FIRST trip out of the country. The experiences that I got to live through that opportunity was indescribable! (It also very much started a hunger for traveling)

I ended up leaving that job at the end of 2019 (9 months after my Italy trip) to become a full-time photographer, and it was the best decision I have EVER made. I hated the fact that I had to ask other people’s permission to live out experiences I was dreaming about as a child. If I was presented an opportunity to do something incredible, I didn’t want to have to rely on other people giving me permission. And let’s just say, I don’t think I could ever go back to working for someone else for a full-time career.

Needless to say, those two stories really fueled my goals for life, and what I wanted to experience in my lifetime. Hence. why I know help and serve couples with creating their intentional and authentic elopement experiences and documenting that precious experience. One quote that comes to mind while I’m writing this is, “You only get one life. It’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible.” It’s from a book called Me Before You by Jojo Moyes — and it’s a live motto for me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hey hey, I’m Sam!! I’m an adventure elopement photographer and experience creator for the passionate and adventurous couples that crave connection, and are ready to craft an intentional elopement experience that reflects the depth of your love! I’m based out of Minnesota, but I travel all over. I help couples dream elopement visions come to life and document their elopement story in the most authentic and romantic way imaginable! I fully believe that your wedding day should be all about you and your partner, and that it’s okay to create your day around you.

It can also be overwhelming and intimidating to have free reign over your wedding day! One of my favorite things is to send my in-depth questionnaire to couples who have booked yet, so I can really understand who they are individually, and as a couple. Using their answers, I craft a totally customized client portal for their planning. The client portal includes a packing list, timeline, planning checklist, vendor recommendations, location recommendations, lodging, activity ideas, and so much more — all based on their answers! My goal is to serve eloping couples so they can be as excited, stress-free, and relaxed when creating their dream elopement day.

And when it comes to their elopement day, I document all the small moments, the big moments, and everything in-between. I capture the couple in their natural element, leaving lots of room for them to soak it their day and just connect with each other. I document the art of their love so they can look back on one of the most magical experiences of their lives for many, many years.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Learning to serve my couples and really be all about them. As a photographer, it’s SO easy to get caught up in the perfect backdrops (picture-perfect mountains, beaches, etc) and the absolute PERFECT, dream lighting. It’s so easy to be say, “well that’s not the best for photos.” or staging an authentic moment that JUST happened for better lighting, etc.

But your focus as a photographer should be on the couple. If you stage an authentic moment that just happened, it’s no longer authentic and that magic gets lost. You should be telling your couple’s story as authentically as can be, while still making their photos into art. Your focus should 100% be on the couple :)

How did you build your audience on social media?

I think the best advice for building an audience on social media is to have fun and not do what everyone else is doing. Also — don’t get caught up in the numbers game. It really sucks and numbers don’t even freaking matter. Social media can become very draining, very quickly. Don’t be afraid to try new things on social media! I often talk about things I’m passionate about outside of business (concerts, books, pedro pascal, sleep token, etc) and that actually just helps me to stand out more, while creating connection to those who may be considering booking with me.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in trends and such on social media, but try to get unique and create “weird” videos because those often do very well.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sburkephotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/samanthamburke
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/samanthamburke/ Tiktok: @samantha.m.burke

Image Credits
Just me, the photographer!