Vendor Spotlight: COURTNEY BOWLDEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Tell us about your business.
I am an award-winning international wedding and elopement photographer based in Seattle (I have won 8 years in a row of "The Knot's best of weddings"). I love making couples feel confident and special while getting their photos taken. I use film and digital cameras to create bright, airy, timeless and romantic photos while also capturing candid moments between couples. I love capturing all the little details of every wedding. 

Why did you want to get into the wedding industry?
I love LOVE. I love capturing special moments between people in love and think marriage is such an important step in someone's life. I love being able to witness and be there for my couples during this big step in their life. 

What makes your business stand out?
From the moment I am hired, to after the wedding, I focus on making my couple's feel appreciated and important. I love helping my couple's with advice and tips to make sure their wedding day is perfect- and help them feel more at ease planning their wedding as most couples have never had to do this before. During the wedding day, I love focusing on moments and details that a lot of people either forget or miss. It's my job to tell a complete story of the day, not just the moments. I love to people watch wherever I go (totally not creepy), which allows me to anticipate reactions and know when to take a photo. I thrive on going above and beyond and love to help my couples have the best wedding day possible, which often times means helping calm them down during moments when they feel anxious or nervous or when something doesn't go just right. I can make anyone who dislikes getting their photos taken feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera by how I approach taking photos and how I interact with the couple.

Tell us about your personal Style when it comes to your craft?
I feel telling a story of any event is the most important thing, so I capture both candid and important posed moments, like family portraits. I love classy, timeless photos, so I don't edit too much of my photos. I feel being honest in my photos is one of the most important things I can do as a photographer, as it's telling a story and capturing the moments as they are. 

Favorite part of working with couples!
Getting to know them and helping them out during the process. 

Favorite part of wedding day!
Truly, all of it. From the beginning to the end, the entire day is so fun and exciting. I really love first dances, toasts, the first kiss and especially first looks. I just all the emotional parts of a wedding day. 

Advice to couples in selecting a vendor in your category!
Although I feel it's so important to jive with your photographer, you also want to make sure that they have experience and can help calm couples when things get out of hand. Look at reviews, ask the photographer about situations that they have had to help their brides out or get creative when something doesn't go right.

Business Name- COURTNEY BOWLDEN PHOTOGRAPHY
Phone Number - 360-927-6545
Email- CBOWLDEN@GMAIL.COM
Website - WWW.COURTNEYBOWLDEN.COM
All Social Media Handles INSTA: @COURTNEYBOWLDEN // FB- FACEBOOK.COM/COURTNEYBOWLDENPHOTOS // PINTEREST- CBOWLDEN

EA Vendor Spotlight: Fancy Cat Studio

Tell us more about your business!
​The Fancy Cat Studio is a boutique graphic design studio specializing in wedding invitations and signage. I also offer modern calligraphy, engraving, and small business branding!

I've been doing graphic design for as long as I can remember, and taught myself calligraphy in 2013/2014.  My team consists of just me (for now!) and we are based just east of Seattle, WA.

Why did you want to get into the wedding industry?

 ​When I first learned graphic design and calligraphy, I didn't have any intention of getting into the wedding industry, mostly because I didn't know anything about it, and it seemed so out of reach.

After I started posting my work on Instagram and getting envelope addressing jobs, I started to do more research on what it was like to work on weddings, and made a point to reach out to some people in the industry. The more I got into it, the more I could see myself in it.

I used to be a therapist for couples and families, where we would work through the hardest times in people's lives. As much as I wanted to help, it really burned me out, and the idea of celebrating people's love and living through their happiest moments was really refreshing. This aspect of the field also kept bringing me back.

What makes your business stand out? ​
Similar to a lot of other fields, the art and design industry is really saturated and it is incredibly difficult to stand out. I try my best to create unique, never-before-seen designs by drawing inspiration from outside sources, like nature, fashion, and architecture.

More recently, I've been experimenting with common mediums and challenging myself to use them differently. An example of this can be found in a sign I made for a bridal style event.

Wood signs have been popular for years, and although beautiful, I wanted to find a way to stray away from that look. I ended up laser-cutting the text and coating both the words and backboard in acrylic paint. It turned out really cool, and was unlike anything I've seen!

Granted, new ideas don't always come this easy, but I'm grateful when they do.

Tell us about your style when it comes to your craft?​
My style is clean, minimal, modern but also fine art, and upscale yet approachable. I love using soft or muted colors, but have been experimenting with brighter shades, lately!

Favorite part of working with couples?
I love hearing about special things about each couple's relationship and how we can translate those into paper goods. Each couple has a story, and being able to help tell it to their friends and family through things like invitations and signage is truly an honor.

Also, I wish I got to do this more often, but getting to see the couple's faces the first time they see the ceremony space after months of planning is really special. I've only gotten to experience this once as a vendor, but the feeling it gave me, I'll never forget!

Favorite part of the wedding day? ​
This is a tough question, because I just want to say, all of it! As a stationer, I typically don't set up or attend weddings, so getting to see previews on Instagram from fellow vendors throughout the day never gets old!

Advice to couples in selecting a vendor in your category? ​
The most common misconception I get from prospective clients is that they have to know exactly what they want their invitations or signage to look like. This is not the case at all! It's perfectly ok to not know what you want, and as a designer, a big part of my job is to help bring your vision to life.

Business Name: The Fancy Cat Studio
Email: crystal@thefancycatstudio.com
Website: thefancycatstudio.com
All Social Media Handles: IG- @thefancycatstudio

EA Vendor Spotlight: Breanna Plus Kevin

Tell us about your business!
We are a husband + wife photography team in Seattle! I (Breanna) have been shooting for over 10 years, and the last 6 years have been mainly weddings and families! Kevin and I met our freshman year in college and got engaged in 2016. Since then, we’ve shot all of our weddings together, and just had our 100th wedding at the end of 2019!

Why did you want to get into the wedding industry?
Your wedding is one of the best days of your life, and probably the biggest party you will ever throw. To be a part of so many “best days” is such a blast, and we couldn’t ask for better jobs. Also, the vendors we get to work with are one of a kind, and coming together to serve our couples is so rewarding.

What makes your company stand out?
As a husband and wife team, our couples know that we have been in their shoes. We have so much experience working together as a team, and can capture the day well because we know what one another is focusing on! We are there to help the day go smoothly, and capture the moments as they come!

Tell us about your personal style when it comes to your craft!
When we are shooting engagements or weddings, we have a good balance of helping direct the couple and capturing candid moments as they happen! Some of the best photos come from natural interaction, so we do a lot of movement-based prompts, but make sure to get some classic portraits for Mom’s fridge, too! In terms of our editing style, we want the photos to look like how the day did - so we don’t alter the images too drastically, just enough to enhance the beauty of the day!

Favorite part of working with couples?
Our favorite part about working with couples is the relationships we are able to form. We will often meet up beforehand to get a chance to know each other, which makes taking photos that much more fun! Every year, we get new friends for puppy play dates, board game nights, and happy hour! It’s incredible to be a part of their lives during such important seasons, and for some, follow along as they start a family.

Favorite part of the wedding day?
We have different favorites! Mine are the speeches, they get me every time! It’s so great to hear how loved the couple is from their friends and families, as well as the quirky stories about how they met. This group of people probably won’t ever be in the same room, so being included is such an honor. Kevin, on the other hand, loves the dancing and has such a blast capturing the energy – you’ll definitely find us on the dance floor!

Advice to couples in selecting a vendor in a wedding photographer!
Our advice for picking a photographer is to not only find someone’s work you love, but also their personality! You spend the majority of your day with your photographers, so having fun with them is so important. Also, check out reviews from past couples – I’m sure you do the same for Amazon purchases!

Business Name: Breanna Plus Kevin
Phone Number: 206-245-7198
Email: hello@breannapluskevin.com
Website: www.breannapluskevin.com
All Social Media Handles: @breannapluskevin