We recently connected with Kara Singleton and have shared our conversation below.

Kara, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Was there an experience or lesson you learned at a previous job that’s benefited your career afterwards?

Most creatives have their share of stories to share around the watering hole of chaotic, poorly communicated, and underpaid jobs taken in the pursuit of a creative career. I actually have a note in my phone with a list of such stories to shock my friends and humble myself- whenever I feel the imposter syndrome creeping in, I reflect on the conditions I endured with the echoed advice of “always say yes” ringing in my ears before I learned the power of selection. A particular story comes to mind: when I was 20, I picked up work with a photo/video company capturing dance competitions. Dance conventions and videography of said competitions are two of the most intense, perfection-driven, you-only-get-one-opportunity events and the combo of the two was something I don’t miss. After two 14+ hour days, we wrapped and tore down and started the 8 hour drive from St. Louis to OKC. I was sitting in the back of the 12 passenger van at 2am as some stranger drove and I don’t think I slept a wink out of fear. When we hit Joplin, half the crew departed and left me and another young woman to drive this van the two hours remaining home. I can guarantee you my sleep and sanity was not worth that paycheck. Let’s do away with the ideology of mindlessly hustling and instead cultivate tenacity within ourselves. You should never have to break yourself to make a career and build success.
One of the most important lessons I learned through repetition: determine your worth. Take yourself seriously, because when you do others will follow suit. Be upfront with your capabilities and learning curve and advocate for a fair and competitive wage and project evaluation, especially in a freehand setting. The video production industry plays a cold, rigorous game- you’ll always feel like you’re running to catch the trendy, technology elevator. Creatives often struggle with burnout because our self worth is directly tied to our skill and thus profitability. Hitched Creative works because we respect our videographers. They’re some of the most talented artists in the area, and we give them rein to finesse their craft. Weddings aren’t as cookie cutter as they used to be, and we want our films to reflect that evolution. We know our success is because of our team, and we share that success with them.
My advice- keep honing your perspective. Your perspective is your craft.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Our creative journey is rooted in a profound goal and mission that guides every aspect of our work. When we embarked on this extraordinary venture in 2017, our intention was simple yet deeply meaningful: to create films that not only document weddings but also capture the essence of love, laughter, and tears of joy. As we’ve expanded in breadth, going from a handful of friends-of-friends to consistently shooting over 100 weddings annually, we’ve taken steps to stay abreast with techniques, artistry, and quality of service. It’s an undeniable fact that couples spend more time with their vendors than their family and friends on their wedding day, so it’s crucial to create an engaging, exciting and easy experience for our newlyweds.

We pride ourselves in communication and going that extra mile to satisfy any questions before the day and deliver that same respect and quality throughout the entire production and post process. We want our videos to look seamless and consistent, but that’s not to be mistaken as one-size-fits-all. Sometimes that means getting footage of personal well-wishes from grandma, filming choreographed dances, or discarding the ‘typical creative session’ rules to capture the couple’s goofy side. It’s up to the couple to deign their unique priorities. Another way we set ourselves apart is by delivering our couples a video book with a tangible copy of their wedding day that they can hold and show to their loved ones. Our finished videos reflects we are in the business of people, not products.

We’re endlessly grateful to have this chance to capture such an important moment and want to say thank you to those who choose to have us along for that adrenaline pumping celebration!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

The way we gathered followers at the beginning of Hitched’s journey looks nothing like the way social media behaves today. There wasn’t a hyper-awareness of orchestrating a perfect post with the appropriate laundry list of trimmings: crops, filters, sponsored sounds, hashtags, seo, geotagging, etc. We just posted a moment that we liked, and hoped others would too.

Hitched Creative may reside under the umbrella of a content creator, but we hesitate to claim the word ‘advertiser’. We aim for high quality content that will permeate effortlessly into existing followers’ daily watching entertainment, solicit seamlessly those who haven’t yet decided a videographer for their wedding, remain memorable enough to those who haven’t thought yet of proposals, while remaining stealthy enough to avoid the searchlight of a frustrated scroller’s unsubscribe button.
Enough, but not too much. Easy, right?

We believe it can be done by riding the delicate wave between object permanence and real life actualization- we want you to watch our videos and imagine them playing in your living room as your grandparents ooh and ahh, or at the breakfast table with your kids, long past the forgetful scroll of a social media hype.
This means that our films must surpass a trend and a caption and step into the realm of hardy heirlooms.
I hope we remain successful on social media inasmuch as couples who are excited to start their next chapter together can find us and take us from phone screen to dance floor.

My advice for those starting to build their social media presence is simply to put a genuine digital foot forward. Social media is ultimately a towering facade catering to an elusive audience, an audience that’s exhausted and ready to receive that genuine approach. As we better understand each other outside of a post/reel/story, we can rebuild social media as a definition: as friends, as community– the people behind the profile. It’s our hope that social media can become a place to draw closer audiences, not bigger ones, again.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

THE REVIEWS! It makes our spirits soar to hear feedback from our couples- in the wedding business, burnout is a prevalent feeling, and every review is a breath of fresh air that keeps us motivated to get better every year. We are gifted the opportunity to create a forever keepsake and wield both soft and hard skillsets. Producing wedding films allow us to be creative in a way not commonly afforded to those in the video business, and that niche keeps us excited and passionate! It’s a truly rewarding effort to watch a finished video, and better yet, to hear and see our couple’s eyes light up when they see how incredible they and their celebration looks on film.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hitchedcreative.com
• Instagram: Hitched Creative
• Youtube: HitchedCreative107

Image Credits
Image credit: Tony Zawarhi