It’s that time of year my friends! Families are getting together, kiddos are excited about the holidays, and we’re already missing summer time! For us, it’s also a time of reflection and over the years we started finding ourselves doing a “year in review” blog every year. We weren’t sure if our friends, fam, and followers would ever even look at them but consistently they are usually one of our most popular blogs every year. It’s cool for us getting to relive all the moments and laugh as we download and order everything, but it’s been cool to see our couples enjoy it over the years as well! For us we feel like you are all a part of the JCM Fam and we hope that’s the feeling you get as you scroll through the memories. Also, it’s pretty cool to see one image from every wedding in one spot :)
In 2022, we were blessed to again have our busiest year ever! Obviously 2020 was a little nuts for everyone, but being the positive people we are, we always keeping our eye on our goals, and what we can control! One of the positive voices in our industry during that time was that of Pye Jyrsa from the world famous SLR Lounge. In short I remember him sharing a message of hope and perseverance for all of us in the photography industry, especially for wedding photographers. He had shared some historical data and talked about how after a period of a major economic downturn (for whatever reason), businesses that survive typically had the biggest years in their history following. It’s cool when you stay true to the course and actually see things come to fruition as these last two years were our busiest ever! Again, we are beyond grateful for those of you who continue to allow us to be a part of your stories and spread the word. This was also a big year because we took a leap and started JCM Photography - Jackson Hole all the way across the country, but more on that below! Let’s hop into all the fun metrics from 2022!
2022 By the numbers
108 Weddings & Elopements - (90 JCM; 18 BALSAM MOUNTAIN)
83 weddings on the east coast; 25 West Coast
East Coast = 8% elopements
West Coast = 76% elopements
1 wedding every 3.3 days
36 Different venues
4 Private property/air bnb weddings/scenic locations
74% of our weddings were outside of Asheville
32% of our weddings were outside of WNC
5 States - (NC, SC, GA, TN, and WY)
486,000 - Approximate number of wedding photos taken
31% - Of our couples also had an engagement session
*******572 weddings/elopements in 7 years!!!*******
2 things that stood out to us this year:
It’s polar opposite on the west coast and east coast with regards to weddings vs elopements. on the east coast we’re 8% elopements for the year, and on the west coast we’re 76% elopements.
30% of our weddings & elopements occurred at 3 venues.
I still remember when we just quit our day jobs and I had one more pay check coming in from cashing in PTO, and Jenny had just picked up a PT job that paid next to nothing. We had a vision, passion, and purpose but never did we dream we would get to this level. Triple digit weddings and elopements in one year, let alone two years of that in a row! A lot of you have probably grown numb to all the times we thank you all for the continued love & support but we we’re not done yet, so thank you all for another amazing year and letting us chase our collective and continued dream on this journey we call life. We love you all more than you know!
With the continuing ebb and flow of being a business owner, and trying to develop our vision into something meaningful, fulfilling, and sustainable, 2022 was the official start of a big jump of for us. It saw us give life to what is now, JCM Photography - Jackson Hole! A lot of you already know how that came about but for those of you who don’t know the story, here it goes. We renewed our vows there in 2020. We fell in love with the area, which is hilarious because if you would’ve asked us 3 years ago about Wyoming, we would’ve been like… “Uh, you mean desert and tumble weeds?” After sharing some of our vow renewal photos, one of our awesome couples whom we just booked was about to travel there and asked us if we would do their engagement there if he got us free plane tickets (he worked for the airline part time). Before you knew it, we went back several times over course of 6 months and continued to put in the foundation work for learning the area, networking, and getting a feel the different lifestyle. 2022 was the first year we lived out there most of the summer. We loaded the truck down, grabbed the dogs and headed towards the sunset. For 2023 we’re going to be out there from June through mid September. Don’t fret, we’ll still be in Asheville most of the year, we can’t handle the winters out west! As 2022 comes to a close, we’re excited about more growth and connecting with so many new couples over the coming months! Big thanks again to all of our couples, and a special thank you to our amazing team for all of your hard work this year!!!
