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

Hi Rebeca, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

One of the biggest questions that I get asked by other photographers trying to get into the wedding photography business is “how did you get started?”. It’s a seemingly long and arduous process that can appear to be an insurmountable obstacle. However, start small and scaling up is always the way to begin.

In 2020, when I began my business, I felt like I had the skills to shoot a wedding but no actual portfolio to back it up. No one is going to hire a wedding photographer with no experience! I set up a website and got my whole infrastructure in place, but was really missing that key component of attracting clients. As a result I began joining facebook groups for brides in my area and monitoring the posts to see if there might be something I could do. Sure enough, a week or two after joining one group based out of southern Maine (I was in New Hampshire at the time) I saw an ad that was so extremely relevant it seemed fake. The ad was looking for someone to shoot their wedding who was “a student and/or just beginning in wedding photography”. I was both! I contacted the bride and told her I would love to shoot her wedding and we settled on $300 for the package price.

From there, I was able to post on social media and my website and advertise that I was experienced and had a portfolio to back me up. I slowly began to acquire more clients and raise my prices and my expertise grew.

When I got my first organic inquiry through my website asking for an engagement shoot, I was so excited that I ran out the front door of my house barefoot (with my boyfriend in tow) and down the dirt road through the March snow in celebration.

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’m a 24-year-old traveling elopement and wedding photographer based out of Louisville, Colorado. I photograph with my whole heart, meaning that, yeah, I’ll probably shed a tear or two at any wedding I attend. Capturing the real love of my couples is what’s most important to me. That’s why I’m in this business. I love working with my clients to create images that represent their authentic and raw adoration for one another. Outside of the big day, I love tagging along with my clients on a date to the mountains or even just drinking hot coffee and laughing on cold winter days. I am passionate about capturing a real & unrestrained version of my couples.

My mission is to just capture my subjects as authentically as possible.

My mom’s advice the first time I flew alone: “Stop waving to people!” I can’t help it. I like to think of my clients as friends because I’ll be there when you’re laughing, crying, feeling awkward, and just having the best day of your life. I want to be someone you text when you’re happy and wave to when you see me on the street (because I’m definitely waving to you).

I studied photography at Wesleyan University in Connecticut but began more than 10 years ago in my backyard with only a point-and-shoot and my little sister as an unwilling model. I’m currently booking for all of 2023 and 2024 in the Colorado area – but regardless of where your wedding is, I’d love to chat with you about your plans and work something out. I’m very happy and willing to travel to you. Reach out to me to see if I still have your date available!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One lesson that I had to unlearn before starting my wedding photography business was that I was too young and not savvy enough to start a business. When I began my business I was only 20-years-old and I felt like I was judged pretty heavily about my ability to take the business, money, and clients serious enough to run a business. I felt like I couldn’t start my own business because “I wasn’t at that point in my life where people start businesses”. Plus, no one I knew had ever started their own business and that was scary. It felt like other people could be successful, but I just wasn’t cut out for it.

Honestly, I think being young was an additional challenge to overcome in starting my business, but there will always be a reason not to do something. I’ve learned that it’s better to just jump into whatever you do instead of worrying about all of the “what-ifs”.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

The start-up costs for my business were relatively low compared to other businesses. Yes, I needed two cameras and a bunch of lenses and a hard-drive, but once I had purchased that initial capital I was all set to go. I definitely needed a few thousand dollars in my bank account to get up and running into a legitimate business, but I didn’t start with the best equipment. As I scaled and grew my client base I was able to purchase camera equipment that was increasingly more suited to the job at hand. However, starting out I was able to get the job done with my basic DSLR that I had purchased when I was 14 years old.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rebecaveliephotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veliephotography/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebecaveliephotography/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeca-velie-a419191a0/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGCD50H5BavGV-iZJ-YHsMA?app=desktop
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/rebeca-velie-photography-moultonborough
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/Rebecaveliephotography/