mindyheadshotsproofs-21Welcome back to another installment of Real Weddings Magazine’s Partner Profiles!
This week we highlight Mindy, the beauty behind the lens of Sweet Marie Photography. If you’ve been wanting to learn more about Sweet Marie Photography, now’s your chance! Take it away, Mindy…

Sweet Marie Photography

Hi, I am Mindy, the face and creative behind Sweet Marie Photography.
Tell us a little about your company? Sweet Marie came about somewhat haphazardly due to my love of creating things and my inability to really sit still.  It combines so many of my passions – travel, meeting new people, admiring art, and creating heirlooms – all into one pretty little package.  Tied up and tossed with glitter.
What sets you apart from your competition? I have mentioned to a lot of my clients that when you hire a photographer, there are 3 things that clients are usually looking for: Pricing, Portfolio, and the final one – the one that clients may not consider at first – Personality.  Your wedding photographer is one of the main people by your side on your wedding day.  Your family photographer is there to document life and growth.  This is no small role, friends!  I consider my greatest asset that sets me apart is wearing my heart on my sleeve for each and every client friend.
Where do you find inspiration? Hands down: from my clients’ stories and lives!  Traveling, cutting pictures out of magazines (does anyone else still do that?) and if I didn’t say Pinterest, I would be totally lying.
What trend do you see coming for weddings this year? I’m obsessed with simple wedding gowns; European lace, backless, timeless.  Is that a trend?  I don’t know!  Let’s just pretend it is.
Do you regularly blog? My website IS my blogsite and I created it out of my love for writing, fashion, and of course photography. Come by and say hi HERE!
Are you on social media? Yes, you can follow me on FacebookInstagramTwitterPinterest and Google+.
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Can you share a funny/embarrassing/touching story about one of your clients (you don’t have to include their name)? Okay, let’s pull at some heart strings for a moment.  I photographed an amazing wedding at Vizcaya in Sacramento, in the Summer of 2014, and the groom’s mother had been battling an aggressive cancer.  But that day, she absolutely won in life!  She styled her hair so beautifully, donned this gorgeous sparkling dress, and during portrait time, she stood up with her son and with cheering she proclaimed, “I MADE IT!”
Instant happy tears, such joy, and I am still to this day grateful to know her and have been exposed to her zest for life.
What’s your favorite comment/compliment that one of your clients has given you? Hands down, when clients return to you.  You let me blot your lipstick, bustle your dress, hold your babies, goof off with your groomsmen… and you come back!  Best compliment ever.
Oh and this card I received from a soon-to-be Bride.
What is your favorite fun thing to do locally? If I could, I would live in Tahoe during the summer!  It is so beautiful and has so much to offer. Biking, hiking, paddle boarding, and my favorite, just laying in the sun.  I’m so living there one day!
Do you have secret vice or indulgence? What is it? Currently lavender lattes and bark thins.  Oh my.
Do you have any hidden talents? I can touch my tongue to my nose.  But can’t do a cartwheel.  Such an enigma.
If you weren’t in the business that you are in now, what other business/profession would you have liked to have done? I actually love baking and cake decorating.  So maybe something with that?
If you were to plan your own wedding, or re-do your wedding, what element(s) would be most important to you? Photography of course, but that’s too easy.  Up next is making it totally personal and mixing it up, like, having a ceremony with everyone seated in a circle, or having choreographed dance numbers with our kids during the reception or a flash mob, taco truck, campers for every one to sleep over.  The more fun the merrier and the longer the celebration, the better!
What advice would you can give to couples getting married today? For the wedding day: give all the tasks to everyone else.  Find times to take a deep breath and look around, it really flies by.
For the marriage: don’t ever ever ever give up on one another.
For more information about Sweet Marie Photography, click HERE!
Also, make sure to follow Sweet Marie Photography on FacebookInstagramTwitterPinterest and Google+.
Blog post by Real Weddings Magazine’s Social Media Maven, Aimee Carroll.
Photos courtesy of Sweet Marie Photography.
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