Life Updates: New Beginnings

It’s been a while since I blogged anything personal, but a TON has happened. I felt like we needed some life updates! I literally don’t even know where to start… wedding season has been CRAZY.

The covid wedding boom has caused an influx of weddings for the fall 2021 season. Most wedding vendor’s books are completely full with reschedules from weddings that were cancelled due to covid. So not only are we still catering to half of our 2020 couples, but also an entire new group of 2021 brides & grooms. That means that I pretty much have a wedding to photograph every weekend, but sometimes multiple. As in, I photographed a TRIPLE HEADER weekend in August, guys. It means everything to me to give my all to each of my couples, and ensuring that on a weekend that I am serving three of them is especially draining.

New Beginnings

So in the midst of this hectic season (that I am so grateful for), Roman QUITS HIS JOB. He has been working at the shipyard in Newport News for almost 7 years as a welder. His passion is people- serving, teaching, & creating. So when his job tacked on some weekend requirements right in the midst of wedding season, he decided to leave sooner. He wanted to make sure he could be my second shooter for our upcoming couples. He has been my second shooter and assistant for about two years now… and I would have had to find about 8 second shooters with less than a week’s notice. So thank god he had already been planning to start his own business as well!

Roman started a mobile welding business he’s calling Eppig Welds, and he’s officially diving headfirst into that! This means that because he can create his own hours, he can schedule his life around our couples, which means so much to both of us. It truly was a blessing in disguise. He went from working nights to being home with me, working on his business. Quite frankly, the biggest adjustment was for Stella. She usually sleeps on Roman’s side and now she’s salty she’s been pushed to the bottom.

Loss

As much as I hate to kill the mood, these are life updates… and speaking of our dog Stella, we lost our sweet Bandit girl while all of this was happening. I swear that she waited until Roman was home at night again to make sure I could be safe without her. She was 16 years old and a mama to a ton of puppies. Roman has had her since he was in middle school, and when we bought our house in 2016, she moved in with us.

Last week she passed away, and that in itself has been quite the adjustment. I’ve never had a dog until I moved in with Roman, so I’ve never dealt with the death of one. It’s been really sad. But I know she is in a much better place and won’t have to live in pain, so that makes it easier. Stella has had a really hard time with it… so rotisserie chicken for dinner and lots of lovins it is while her little heart recovers!! 🙁

Future Plans

Okay, back to the happy. A few more updates and I will have the internet completely caught up I believe! Roman, his brother, Rilee, and I are planning a cross country trip stopping in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona for Christmas! The boys will be snowboarding at a bunch of different resorts while Rilee and I… I mean, honestly just enjoy ourselves. HAHA. I have an engagement session scheduled at the freaking GRAND CANYON during the last few days (INTERNAL FREAK OUT), but other than that we are just going to batch up some content, relax, and hike!

We rented an RV so Stella can come with us!! That might possibly be my favorite part, and hopefully a good distraction for her. She loves being around us, car rides, walks, and the snow, so I know she will be in heaven. By the way, anyone been to Arizona or Utah in the dead of winter? Chains will be necessary, we know, but so over the moon stoked to see Arches & the Grand Canyon snow covered.

I believe that’s all for the fall 2021 edition of Life Updates with Jamie, but as always you can follow along on my Instagram for (almost) daily updates and all of my current shoots. Thanks for caring, talk soon! xoxo-Jaim