We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Justin & Ashley DeMutiis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Justin & Ashley , appreciate you joining us today. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

I would say three main things set Justin and I apart from other wedding photographers in our industry:

1- We are a husband and wife team and fully understand what couples are going through while wedding planning, and what they want! We know what it’s like to look for a wedding photographer- we were in their shoes just a few years ago! We craved images that looked natural and effortless. We yearned for a photographer who cared about our story, not their own portfolio. But in this social media world of trendy filters and “ do it for the gram” attitudes – this was easier said than done. That’s why we’re on a mission to present our clients with frame-worthy images that capture who they genuinely are as a couple- all while providing an experience that is a step above the rest.

2- We offer an experience a step above the rest. We truly believe that our experience (And our images) should make you feel something. Our images will make you feel nostalgic. They’ll aid you in reminiscing on your wedding long after the memories have begun to fade! They’ll make you feel like your best self, and help you to feel the joy of your wedding day all over again.

Our client experience will make you feel cared for. We care about your story, your upcoming marriage, and even the details of your wedding planning! Our experience will help you to feel relaxed- knowing we’ve got every detail under control. We pride ourselves on our professionalism, and over 10 years of experience gives us the tools to handle any situation!

Put simply, we believe your once in a lifetime celebration deserves a once in a lifetime photography experience.

3- We use film cameras mixed in with digital cameras. Through more than 17 years of photographing weddings, we’ve found nothing captures light, color, movement, and emotion quite like old school film. It’s classic for a reason! That’s why we use a combination of film and digital cameras on the wedding day to capture each moment and memory beautifully and artfully. Our website and instagram images were taken almost exclusively on film!

Justin & Ashley , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Justin fell in love with photography more than 20 years ago learning to photograph beautiful landscapes. He soon discovered that he found beautiful locations and landscapes even more captivating when there were couples in his images- especially couples in love! At the age of 17, he photographed his first wedding, and by the time he graduated from college, he was full-time in his business.

I (Ashley) come from a background in the bridal world! Straight out of college I began working for a chain of bridal salons and worked my way to the regional manager position. A Christmas party brought Justin and I together and as they say, the rest is history. From the moment we met, we knew we had very complementary skills, and dreamed about working together. 4 years ago, we took that leap and I joined him full time!

Today, after over 12 years in business full time, we’re a husband-and-wife luxury photography duo with a true passion for helping our couples to look and feel their absolute best behind our cameras! We believe that a once-in-a-lifetime celebration deserves a once-in-a-lifetime photography experience, and we pride ourselves on serving our couples in a way that is a step above the rest and capturing classic, timeliness images that will stand the test of time.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

Justin and I met at a Christmas party for wedding vendors! He strolled right up to me and asked for my…. email address ;) At the time I was the regional sales manager and buyer for a string of bridal salons in the Southeast, and h’ed already had a successful photography business for 8 years.

Fast forward 5 years and we’d been married for 2 years, but dreaming about working together from the moment we met. Justin loves photography and has a true talent and passion for it. From helping people feel comfortable in front of his camera, to editing, to album design… I’m his number one fan!

I on the other hand have a real passion for people, business, and customer service.

We knew our skills were highly complimentary and that by joining forces we could grow his business and live a life of balance with lots of time together, too.

Four years later, here we are! People think we’re working on top of each other all day every day but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Justin has his specific duties and roles, and I have mine. We basically have two totally different jobs in the office and each stay in our lane. It’s been an amazing partnership and so much more fun than either of us even bargained for. We love working together!

How did you build your audience on social media?

I would say the main ways we’ve built our social media following are by being consistent, serving our audience first and foremost, and going with the flows and changes that are inevitable on social. Instagram is a tool, and when its used properly it can be amazing! It brings in about 40% of our leads/clients.

I think so often people get hung up on the idea of not wanting to change, and it really holds them back from growing and using social media to its fullest potential. I remember when IG stories first debuted, everyone said “this is dumb, no one is going to watch these”, and of course, now we know that to be totally false. Stories are hugely successful for businesses in connecting with their audiences directly! The current pain point is reels. Everyone complains that they don’t want to do them, but personally by just leaning into the IG trend, we doubled our following over the course of a few months. Rather than complaining every time a change happens on social media, I’d highly encourage leaning into it and trying to have fun.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://justindemutiisphotography.com/
• Instagram: @justindemutiis
• Facebook: Justin DeMutiis Photography

Image Credits
All images taken by us :)