com·pla·cen·cy -noun - a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.
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Complacency is one of the most dangerous things that a creative wedding professional can encounter. Note that I mention the word "creative" there. As a couple begins the process of selecting their wedding team, not every company that they encounter will embody the word "creative" in their business. For a select few of us, creativity is a staple of our business. It is something that we live, something that we breathe into each and every wedding that we are a part of.
For those of us that employ creativity in our business, complacency is our mortal enemy. Regardless of whether it's a photographer, a baker, a florist, a wedding planner, or an entertainer, complacency is a word that can strike fear into our hearts. It's not something that happens overnight, but It can easily rob us of our passion, our joy, as well as our creativity, and the overall drive that we had when we began our business. It's something that I believe that every one of us who are involved with weddings, has struggled with at one time or another, and it is something that we have to work hard to avoid creeping into our daily lives as a business owner.
For those of us that employ creativity in our business, complacency is our mortal enemy. Regardless of whether it's a photographer, a baker, a florist, a wedding planner, or an entertainer, complacency is a word that can strike fear into our hearts. It's not something that happens overnight, but It can easily rob us of our passion, our joy, as well as our creativity, and the overall drive that we had when we began our business. It's something that I believe that every one of us who are involved with weddings, has struggled with at one time or another, and it is something that we have to work hard to avoid creeping into our daily lives as a business owner.
cre·a·tiv·i·ty -noun -the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.
Creativity is the engine that drives the personalization process that a select few wedding professionals today incorporate into their clients weddings. Now more than ever, couples that I work with are looking to differentiate their wedding, and to have it stand out. They are looking to stretch the boundaries of "tradition" and to really add a personal touch to their wedding day. Over the 16 + years that I've been involved with weddings, I've personally witnessed this dramatic shift, and a lot of which is the direct result of guidance and direction that they receive from the team of professionals that they choose to work with on their wedding day.
Speaking of the "tradition" word, some couples see it as a bad thing, while others continue to embrace it. I'll say this: There is nothing wrong with either approach. One is not right or wrong, it's completely a matter of personal preference for each couple. With that being said, just because a couple wants to have a traditional wedding celebration, that does not mean that they can't have a personalized and unique wedding, far from it. The thing that I caution a couple with when we are discussing their wedding day, is not to go one way or another, simply because they saw it at another wedding, or on Pinterest (which is either a love/hate word with wedding professionals, but I'll save that one for another day!).
Speaking from personal experience, creativity is also one of the things that makes me love what I do more today, than at any point in my career as a wedding entertainment professional. Some say that across the board, as entertainers we are not any different from each other, and for many, that may very well be the case. What I can tell you though, is that even now, after all of the years that I've been working with clients on their weddings, I am constantly creating (and searching for) new ideas, and new concepts, things of which I've never done before to incorporate into a couples wedding, giving them the opportunity to make it even more of a personal experience for the both of them.
From my standpoint, the entire planning process with my couples is like a puzzle, one in which we work together to complete, and no two completed puzzles look the same when we are finished with them, and that is the true beauty of creativity! As creative wedding professionals, it allows us to literally create something that we may have all done hundreds of times, but do so in a way that the end result is something new and different each and every time!
Even after over 16 years as a wedding entertainment professional, I still get nervous before each and every wedding. I not only care about each and every couple that I work with, I also care about the entire experience that they have with me throughout our planning process. In doing so, I try to put myself in their place in order to treat them the way that I would want to be treated if it were my wedding day. As a creative wedding professional, we have to LOVE our clients in order to give them our very best! As two of my mentors, Mark and Rebecca Ferrell say regularly, "it's all about Love"!
Speaking of the "tradition" word, some couples see it as a bad thing, while others continue to embrace it. I'll say this: There is nothing wrong with either approach. One is not right or wrong, it's completely a matter of personal preference for each couple. With that being said, just because a couple wants to have a traditional wedding celebration, that does not mean that they can't have a personalized and unique wedding, far from it. The thing that I caution a couple with when we are discussing their wedding day, is not to go one way or another, simply because they saw it at another wedding, or on Pinterest (which is either a love/hate word with wedding professionals, but I'll save that one for another day!).
Speaking from personal experience, creativity is also one of the things that makes me love what I do more today, than at any point in my career as a wedding entertainment professional. Some say that across the board, as entertainers we are not any different from each other, and for many, that may very well be the case. What I can tell you though, is that even now, after all of the years that I've been working with clients on their weddings, I am constantly creating (and searching for) new ideas, and new concepts, things of which I've never done before to incorporate into a couples wedding, giving them the opportunity to make it even more of a personal experience for the both of them.
From my standpoint, the entire planning process with my couples is like a puzzle, one in which we work together to complete, and no two completed puzzles look the same when we are finished with them, and that is the true beauty of creativity! As creative wedding professionals, it allows us to literally create something that we may have all done hundreds of times, but do so in a way that the end result is something new and different each and every time!
Even after over 16 years as a wedding entertainment professional, I still get nervous before each and every wedding. I not only care about each and every couple that I work with, I also care about the entire experience that they have with me throughout our planning process. In doing so, I try to put myself in their place in order to treat them the way that I would want to be treated if it were my wedding day. As a creative wedding professional, we have to LOVE our clients in order to give them our very best! As two of my mentors, Mark and Rebecca Ferrell say regularly, "it's all about Love"!
A perfect example of creativity from a photographer's standpoint: May of 2015 was an incredibly rainy (and record setting) month for us in Kansas. Not one to let the rain spoil the occasion, here is an incredible image captured by the talented Lois of Lois Elaine Photographie!
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