We were lucky to catch up with Erica Steinhouse recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you have any thoughts about how to create a more inclusive workplace?

I think there are so many things the wedding industry can do differently to make it more inclusive. Language is a HUGE one. Using inclusive language on your social media platforms and website really shows how inclusive you are in the wedding industry. Some examples would be asking for couples pronouns, stop using using exclusive wording like “bride” and “groom”. But just showing you are inclusive goes along way in letting couples know you are accepting to them, having LGBTQIA+ couples in your portfolio. Having POC in your portfolio. I believe if you’re in the industry of love, you should be accepting to all forms of love, PERIOD! Moments that really pushed me to show inclusivity is when I was seeing before my eyes couples getting turned away from other wedding vendors because of their sexual orientation. I think that’s extremely messed up. Seeing that before my eyes, makes me incredibly sad but I know I can be the person to accept them with open arms. Letting them know I am a safe space for them, but there are also several other wedding vendors that accept them the way they are! That’s how it should be.

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?

I got into the industry about 10 years ago after college and a friend from school knew I was looking for a photography gig and she got me a job working in Chicago as a wedding photographer with her company. I think the goal is to always want to have your own business, but companies are wonderful for building a portfolio and moving up to the top! When I moved to Colorado I went full time with my wedding photography business but now have shifted myself to photographing more elopements. My brand has become about helping couples curate their elopement experience their way. I believe that your wedding/elopement is unique to you and should be treated as such! I really love helping couples plan their elopement from start to finish from location to making it personal. I bring my personality to all of my work and it’s all about energy. I love helping couples walk down memory lane and doing prompts to get them laughing and smiling and as cheesy as it sounds, remembering why they fell in love. This helps get those real candid moments that you will see in my photography. I just love making it as stress free, care free and comfortable for them as possible!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

This is one of my favorite things to talk about! My biggest advice to building a social media following is just to simply: put your personality out there. Whether you’re shy or outgoing, show yourself! As TikTok and reels on instagram have gained traction, I made it a priority to post my work, showcase my face and who I am and what I believe in. I don’t have a HUGE social media following and that doesn’t matter, but having clients DOES. I promise if you post in one or twice in a week, it’s putting yourself out there and you will get booked because it out.

Have you ever had to pivot?

A time I had to pivot was when I decided to do wedding photography full time. I used to consider myself “a jack of all trades”, I did a little bit of all different types of photography. I did family, maternity, concerts, weddings, you name it, I did it. My instagram and website were all over the place with different types of work. I was honestly lost. I think what changed it all for me is I had an audit done on my website by another photographer and they told me they weren’t sure what I specialized in. To be honest, I didn’t know what I specialized in either. So I sat myself down and made a thought out plan of what I wanted to do and I decided to shift my focus to one type of photography that.i loved: weddings. I shifted my brand, deleted old work and cleaned up social media and just dove in head first to the change. It SAVED my business. It only grew year to year since then and that was about 4 years ago. I’m not telling anyone they need to niche down, but focusing on 1-3 different niches in your field will help strengthen yourself into a stronger photographer in that niche!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ericasteinhouse.com
• Instagram: @ericasteinhousephoto
• Other: TikTok: @ericasteinhousephoto

Image Credits
Photos by Erica Steinhouse Photography