photoEdge: A History (Part 4)

The first year of photoEdge was definitely a full one! Not only was I getting used to living in the South, but also both Dave and myself were getting used to being business owners. Talk about a first year of firsts! First wedding, first portrait, first studio space, first time driving in Charlotte, first bridal show, first wedding consultation, first senior portrait, first time business owner, etc.
photoEdge started out in the office at the Edge's house in Waxhaw. During the first 3-4 months or so, most of our time was spent out on the road. We visited hotels, wedding venues, met with coordinators, went to marketing lunches, bridal shows, etc. Anything we could do to meet other wedding professionals and grow the business we did. When we weren't out on the road we were in the office with one computer trying to figure out what the website should look like. Or how to design an album. Or what our brochures should look like and if we should even have one.

March 31st of 2007 was our very first wedding as photoEdge. Corey and Elise had a beautiful outdoor ceremony at Bethelwoods Meeting Center. About a month later we had Billie and Jack's wedding at the Doubletree Southpark Hotel. Slowly but surely we started to book more and more weddings for the rest of the year.

Dave's little office was starting to feel smaller and smaller. Dave had looked into renting studio space before I had even agreed to move out here, but everything was super expensive. We both had this vision of renovating an old house and turning it into a studio. Our slogan is Your Photographer For Life and we designed our business around building relationships with our clients. With that in mind, the idea of a house seemed so much more intimate than a rented space. Then it happened, the big white house on Old Providence Rd went up for sale. It was perfect! Exactly what we'd pictured. During the end of May we took a tour of the house. It definitely had a lot of work to be done, but we could see the potential immediately and put in a bid. By July 5th we were moving in!


We spent the next the next 4 months renovating the house, continuing to build the business, shooting weddings and trying to build up more family portrait business. On November 1st the photoEdge studio officially opened it's doors. November and December were spent adjusting to having a studio space and preparing for 2008.