We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Steph Pickard. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Steph below.

Steph, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My most meaningful project is the one I’ve been working on within my business for the past couple of years. Starting in 2020 when Covid hit, the wedding industry really took a turn. A lot of it was obviously due to lockdowns, but that was the year almost 75% of my weddings went from full-size weddings to smaller, more intimate gatherings – and that’s where my passion for my current project started. I felt the shift in how these intimate weddings were compared to larger weddings: their wedding day was totally focused on celebrating their love in a way that was meaningful to them. These wedding days were about the couple themselves, and stripped back a lot of the traditional fluff to really bring it back to what the day is supposed to be about – them and their love for each other! Seeing days like this was so inspiring, and even though eloping here in Michigan wasn’t as popular yet as it was in places out west, I wanted to bring the possibility of having a beautiful adventure elopement here in Michigan to the forefront.

So for the past few years, it’s been my passion to try to empower couples who want to elope to feel confident in making that decision to celebrate their love in a way that’s meaningful to them, while also showing couples that Michigan can be the perfect place to have an adventure elopement.

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’ve been interested in photography for as long as I can remember, when my parents gave me a hot pink Barbie polaroid camera when I was a kid and I would set up photoshoots with the neighborhood kids hahah. It’s not something I took seriously until I got to college, when I decided to ditch my pre-med studies to a photography degree (which my mom was not thrilled with, but she came around haha)! When I first started out I never expected to get into wedding photography, but I was lucky enough to have some of the most amazing couples early on which just led me to falling in love with that career choice.

I specialize in elopements and intimate weddings, and what sets me apart from other photographers is that I work in-depth with each of my couples to co-create custom & unique wedding experiences! I go beyond the “show up & shoot” and help my clients plan their day from helping to pick locations, sending accommodation guides, activity ideas, custom local vendor referrals, packing lists, and of course at the end of it delivering images that are fun and intimate and really showcase my couples’ relationship. I’m really proud of how much I’ve been able to show that eloping here in Michigan can be just as beautiful as eloping out west, and I’m proud to have clients have chosen to come to Michigan from other states to have me photograph their elopement here! That’s seriously such an honor it’s hard to put into words.

I always emphasize to everyone I talk to that they deserve to have an incredible wedding experience from inquiry to well after they’re married, and that they deserve to have a wedding day that feels like THEM – whatever that may be!!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Reading “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie was huge for me when I was first starting out. Just reading and understanding how to communicate better, empathize better, and listen to details about what people were saying was all huge in helping me to better serve my couples!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect is seeing how impactful your work can be! I’ve had clients where their last photos of a loved one were photos I took from their wedding day, and that just always really brings it home on how important of an investment photography can be. And how it’s so much more than just photos, these are truly memories that you get to carry with you for the rest of your life!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://stephpickard.com
• Instagram: @stephpickardphoto
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/stephpickardphoto
• Other: pinterest – @stephpickardphoto