We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Meredith Mutza a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Meredith, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I have loved photography since I took a photography class in high school. However, my parents told me that I needed to go to college to get a “real job”. I had always loved working with people, especially children so I went to school to become a speech language pathologist. I put photography on hold while I pursued first my undergraduate degree and then went on to get my masters degree to be a speech therapist. Fast forward to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was newly married and working as a speech therapist in a medical clinic. My clinic shut down during the worst parts of the pandemic, which allowed me to buy a camera and start honing my skills! I took a few photography courses online and was excited to practice what I was learning in the courses. Photography subjects were hard to come by during the pandemic so I actually started photographing my pet hedgehog, Pippin! He was a fast, small animal and he taught me a lot about photography. I practiced learning my settings as well as how to focus on fast moving objects! Once the restrictions from the pandemic lifted I hit the ground working on weddings. My husband was the first one to suggest that I take my photography hobby to the next level and become a business! Once we formed the business, I was able to leave my speech therapy job and now my husband and I are business partners and a photography team!

Meredith, 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?

My name is Meredith and I am a photographer based out of the Milwaukee area in Wisconsin! I first started my photography journey while taking a photographer course in high school. I ended up going to college to become a speech language pathologist and graduated with my masters degree in 2018. I worked at a medical clinic helping children with their speech and/or language disorders for a few years until the COVID-19 pandemic hit. My clinic shut down for a few months and I suddenly found myself with more time than I could have ever imagined. I remembered how much I had loved photography in high school so I bought a camera and started photographing everything in sight! I bought online photography courses to help me learn more about portrait photography and I tried to get as many people as I could in front of my camera to practice. This proved challenging during the COVID-19 shut downs. At the time, I had a pet hedgehog named Pippin and he became my practice buddy! I took many photos of him and even made him an Instagram account that had a couple thousand followers! When the COVID-19 restrictions lessoned, I was able to second photograph a few weddings and the rest is history. I love photographing couples, especially on their wedding day. My goal is to give my couples a gallery that they can show their grandchildren someday rocking on their front porch while telling them stories about the “good ole days”. I want my photos to capture how each couple’s unique love story and freeze those moments in time. This past year, I was able to put speech therapy behind me and step forward as a full time photographer!

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Starting a photography business can be very overwhelming, especially if you had never considered owning a business before! My husband, Mark, and I set out doing a lot of research into getting our LLC, insurance and building a website all before I started offering photography sessions. We were able to fund this new business out of our own finances to start. We paid for a starter camera and everything that went into initially starting the business. Once I started photographing sessions, we saved every penny we made into an account ear marked for new equipment. I knew that in order to make it in the wedding industry, which was my goal, I needed a much more reliable camera and lighting equipment. During the first year of owning my photography business I saved up enough money to purchase a dual slot, mirrorless camera with a lens, an on camera flash and off camera flash. Then my business started taking off!! I also trained my husband to be my second photographer for wedding day’s and bought him a camera and equipment as well. This past year, I was able to leave my job as a speech language pathologist to become a full time photographer.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

As a wedding photographer, the best way for me to get new clients is to serve my current clients to the best of my ability. Wedding days are a joyous time but they can also be very stressful. On wedding days I wear many hats. I bring supplies that are sometimes needed on wedding days (bobby pins, hangers, scissors) for when they are inevitably needed and nobody brought extra or they cannot locate they items. I serve as a calming presents for couples and their family members, gently reminding everyone that everything will work out and at the end of the day the couple will be married which is the most important detail! I always joke with my clients that I am a professional train fluffer because I always make sure the bride’s dress and train look magazine worthy. I can also serve as the biggest cheerleader for the couple and family members/bridal party. I get many of my new brides from past weddings. Bridal party or family members from past couples reach out to me because they feel that I truly cared for their loved one and they want a photographer who cares for them to capture their wedding day also!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.meredithmutza.com
• Instagram: meredithmutzaphotography
• Facebook: Meredith Mutza Photography LLC

Image Credits
All photos were taken by Meredith Mutza Photography LLC.