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

Michelle, appreciate you joining us today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

The wedding industry is filled with a lot of beautiful people and artists. It’s also filled with a lot of pressure, comparison, sales, and saturation. It’s taken me a while to distill what my brand is and can be, and how it can remain true to who I am as a person – in that, I’ve found that wading through the noise of the wedding industry, especially on social media, is crucial.

If you’re a person getting married, you may log onto Instagram or Tik Tok and within moments (thanks to the algorithm), be bombarded with “ins and outs,” “must have trends,” and dozens of creatives fighting for your attention. You’ll see people posting their best work from styled shoots, citing their publications in Vogue, and even offering to work for free if your wedding is somewhere “epic.” Don’t get me wrong, there is so much talent in the photo/video wedding vendor world. The photographers and videographers I work with and around are, for the most part, incredibly gifted and inspiring. But what I’ve leaned into is a piece many of them leave behind… simple documentation. Not performance. Not production. Just documentation.

I tell my couples this often: your wedding is not a set. I am not your director. You are two real people, with a real story, real community, and real union. And my job is to document that. I will make it art when I compose the shots and craft your film – but my hope is that your film is about your wedding (and you, more broadly), and not the other way around.

While other photographers and filmmakers may spend hours shooting flat lays, and pull couples for portraits multiple times each day, I operate a little differently. There are, of course, times I prompt my clients, gently encouraging movement or moments between them that will translate well on film. But outside of that, I’m very much an observer, leaning into the quiet and capturing it delicately. This can be called a documentary approach, which of course now is rising to be trendy in its own right – but the heirlooms that your wedding films and photos are should not rely on trends. They should not rely on the ego of your vendors. And they most certainly should not rely on contrived moments. If you look back at your film, and with each shot be transported to how you felt, I’ve attained my goal. If you hear the sounds of the birds from outside your window while getting ready, and remember the giddiness you experienced as you prepared to see your partner, I’ve done my job. And if your film is about your day – not your day about your film – I’ve done right by you.

Michelle, 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?

I’ve always been a creative and curious person, something I think rings true for a lot of artists. But the story of documenting goes back generations before me, and for that I’m grateful. Both of my grandfathers were hobbiest photographers, shooting landscapes and travel portraits in their younger years, and having the camera out at family functions as I grew up. My paternal grandfather had an office that smelled of leather and had a shelf of vintage (to me) cameras. Those cameras now sit on my office shelf, and I’m reminded of my creative lineage. As an adolescent, I, too, often had a camera in my hands, whether it be for the school yearbook or family vacations.

I attended a liberal arts school for college and studied Psychology, because I’ve always been interested in humanity and our inner workings. I also picked up a Film and Media Studies degree while there, and my hobby dipped its toes in the professional world. I learned the ins and outs of video production and made a variety of short films, as well as a documentary for my senior thesis. While in college, I also began to do freelance videography work outside of school as a way to make some extra money. I worked for some non profits and a church and my skillset grew even more. But my entrance into the wedding filmmaking world didn’t come until i, myself, got married in 2019. As a highly organized person, I reveled in the wedding planning process, and in that time, decided to try my hand at filming some weddings. I haven’t stopped since, and I’ve been self employed full time since 2021.

I know spend my days connecting with couples, walking alongside them as they think out what their wedding may look and feel like, documenting it, and crafting that documentation into a variety of short and long form films. I love love and I love marriage, so it’s truly such an honor and joy to be welcomed into the most intimate of days. Wedding photographers and videographers really do spend the majority of the wedding day with the couple (as opposed to other various vendors who work diligently behind the scenes) – and the trust that’s required to let someone into that is not lost on me. I leave nearly every wedding weekend with new friendships, inspired by my couples and the people that love them.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It’s so rewarding to be the keeper of memories for someone else. To be trusted with the role of documenting one of the most sacred days in their life. I really have a reverence for that – and it’s one of the most fulfilling parts of my job. A wedding film is an heirloom, and the thought of generations to come watching it and having a glimpse of what life was like for their parents, grandparents, etc is so cool! I wish I had access to that kind of familial documentation. The things I do have – photographs, home videos – are such a source of inspiration for me. A big part of who I am as an artist is rooted in nostalgia. I think nostalgia is such a powerful tool; it helps us practice gratitude, romanticism, appreciation, and hope. So when I create a film for someone else, I keep that in mind. I think of how to dig deeper into the nostalgia of it all. And the knowledge that it will become a nostalgic source of joy for them down the line, perhaps spurring them on in a tough season of marriage or reminding them of who they are, is incredibly rewarding.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Being self-employed can be incredibly lonely! I don’t have coworkers, I don’t have an office, and I don’t have a boss. It took me a while to learn how to seek and cultivate community despite that. Having mentors, friends, and support systems in the industry is an invaluable resource that I certainly wish I had found sooner. I don’t think I understood the gravity of its importance, until the loneliness of my work became unavoidable. And as much as social media has its ugly side, its beauty is that it’s brought me incredible community. There are educators and mentors out there, like Jay and Mack and How to Film Weddings, that have crafted communities for other wedding filmmakers to enter into. Choosing to take advantage of those experiences has been a game changer for my mental health and my business’ success. It’s provided a platform to grow, hone, and distill not only my skillset, but my approach and values as an artist. Having this kind of community earlier on would only have been a benefit.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.grangercreative.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grangercreative_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grangercreative
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCABRvee2S7sjBKFrjmXAKVg