Today we have the pleasure of sharing this interview with one of our favorite wedding photographers here. in Charleston, Catherine Ann (who goes by Katie), of Catherine Ann Photography.  I (Shelby) stumbled upon Katie and her work last year when we were scheduled to video and photograph a wedding together in the Spring. I was absolutely blown away by her website — it looks exactly like Katie’s personality: funky, alternative, vivid bright colors.

We sat down at Hotel Emeline at Clerks Coffee Company (one of our favorite spots to video-edit!) and dove into all the things: 

• Katie’s upbringing

• How she developed her unique style in photography and “found her voice” in the Charleston wedding photography scene

• Photography Style: embracing her crazy fun sense of color

• Micro-wedding trends she’s noticed in the Charleston wedding scene coming through COVID-19

• Custom wedding dress trends
  

To see Catherine Ann’s amazing website, portfolio, and learn more about her work and her approach (which I strongly recommend!) Check her out here at https://www.catherineannphotography.com/ 

An Interview With Katie of Catherine Ann Photography — Charleston Wedding Photographer  — BIG Color, Micro-Wedding Trends In Charleston SC

Shelby:

Tell me about your 2020 as a Charleston, SC wedding photographer. How did you get through it? What did you change?

Katie:

I would say we still kept half of our big weddings, and then half of them transferred over to 2021 or 2022 (or 2023!) So 2020 was definitely a lot slower than we had originally anticipated, but we still had quite a few weddings. We shot a ton of elopements, more than I think we've shot in years past.

I would definitely say we had to adapt to shifting from the bigger weddings to elopements, either on their original day or the weekend before or after. Most of our clients are still having a big wedding. We had to figure out that that was definitely something because we didn't feel it was right to charge them for the elopement and their big wedding. And we also didn't want to leave people high and dry or scrambling to find another photography team. So for everyone who was still planning on having a big wedding but was still going to come to Charleston and elope, we gifted them two hours on the elopement day.

I really think that that made all of our couples just feel taken care of and that we understood what they were going through.

Shelby:

What were some key things for you mentally getting through the repercussions of the pandemic on our wedding industry? How did you take care of yourself?

Katie:

It was definitely a lot of reading, not business books like I had been the last couple of years. A lot of reading, just cuddling with my dogs on the couch, a lot of TV show bingeing because I'm an introvert at heart anyway. So I wasn't really missing like, "Oh, I can't go out to the clubs" or something, because I've never been to a club in my life. I didn't really change much, but since I didn't have much work to do, I was like, "Oh, I'll just start reading again and watching these TV shows that everyone tells me I need to be watching." Ha! So I'm still just really in my element.

Shelby:

Any recommendable TV shows? 

Katie:

Bridgerton, I enjoyed it; I don't know who didn't. I've been watching a lot of anime, so there's that.

Shelby:

Like?

Katie:

Oh god, My Hero Academia. I've been re-watching Fullmetal Alchemist because that's my favorite. I tried to start the new Sailor Moon.

Shelby:

Wait, my first crush was Tuxedo Man. I would just stand along trees in my backyard and imagine he was around the corner.

Katie:

Yes, with you.

Shelby:

What COVID-19 micro-wedding planning trends do you love that you're seeing? And what wedding planning trends are you like, "Omg, I can't wait for this to be over."

Katie:

I am ready for bridal parties and 200-person weddings to be over. I've hated them since I started my photography journey. I feel like I love this industry, and I love all my friends in it, but I hate what the industry stands for, which is the things and who had the more expensive wedding, who had the cooler stuff; I don't think any of that should matter. So I'm really embracing the micro-weddings in Charleston, not only because I had one, but because I feel you can be more intentional.

I love that people recognize again that the wedding day is really about them. And when it comes to micro-weddings in Charleston, if they want it to be just the two of them celebrating, then that's becoming way more acceptable because of the pandemic. I hope that accepting having a smaller wedding in Charleston continues because people shouldn't be forced to have a wedding. But if people want to have 30 or 75 or 100 of their closest friends and family celebrating, I feel the guest count is what really makes a wedding in Charleston so expensive. So the fewer people you invite, the more intentional you can be with not only spending time with all those people because I'm sorry, you can't spend time with 200 people in four hours, it doesn't work.

With a small wedding in Charleston, you can have the important details or the vendors that are important to you. If your dream is to wear a $10,000 wedding dress, you can't afford that if you're trying to feed 250 people. But if there are only 30 people, things are a little more attainable. I'm not saying don't spend money on the things that make you happy, but I just feel the generations getting married now are a lot more money conscious. I do think before the pandemic we were already going in that direction of big weddings taking a dip, seeing more micro-weddings as a trend here in Charleston, SC-- people aren't spending their life savings on one day. That's why we had a micro-wedding, and then we went on this epic honeymoon.

Shelby:

Any cool style or vibe wedding trends in Charleston you've noticed?

Katie:

Definitely more custom wedding dresses for Charleston weddings. I have a bride coming up, she's getting a custom wedding dress made by someone here in Charleston, and it's going to be champagne blush pink, and it's got flowers all up and down the bodice. I have another bride who really wants this blue floral dress that she saw my post on Instagram a couple of months ago, and we can't find the designer anywhere. So fingers crossed she finds something similar. Because she keeps sending me photos that she finds online, and she's like, "I want this wedding dress so bad." So I am seeing brides leaning a little more towards more unique gowns, which I think is important because everyone's got their own personality and style. So I don't think everyone should be boxed into a white wedding dress, especially because people didn't start wearing white until Queen Victoria got married in the 1840s or 30s or whatever.

Bring the color back to wedding dresses!

Shelby:

Bring the color back! And I have to say - I love your website, your branding; it's vibrant and so refreshing to me personally. I'm from Austin, Texas, so for me, I have this impression of, "THIS FEELS FUNKY, AND IT FEELS LIKE HOME!" How did you develop your sense of style? How have you created yourself?

Katie:

I definitely had to get more comfortable in my own skin because I was definitely dressed in all black for most of my life. I was afraid of color even though I loved it. It really wasn't until four years ago that I started really incorporating more subtle color pieces. I'd wear a red shirt instead of a dark navy blue, and then that transformed into pink, which is my favorite color now. So I do wear some crazy outfits to weddings. I'll wear a bright pink tulle skirt and a rainbow shirt to a wedding, but my brides have come to expect that from me, and I have it on my website; I don't dress in all black for your wedding.

Shelby:

That's pretty ballsy.

Katie:

It is, yeah. I'm sure some mothers don't love me for it, but my brides, sometimes I'll be looking for new clothes online, and I'll see something really crazy, and I'll put it on my Instagram and put a poll up and be like, "Oh, should I buy this and wear it to your wedding?" And most of my brides will come into the poll, and they'll say yes. 

And then a bride will message me and be like, "I want you to wear this dress to my wedding!!!" So I do. So I make sure to make a note like, "Oh, wear that star tulle skirt to so-and-so's wedding."

Shelby:

I love that. I love that attitude that you can genuinely be part of the experience of the wedding day— because you are!! You're an artist coming and helping paint a snapshot of their memories through wedding photography, so why not be a part of the memory?

Katie:

Exactly. The way that I look at it is, every other wedding vendor is probably wearing all black. So if my couple needs me for something, I want them to be able to spot me from across the room or be able to tell their maid of honor like, "Hey, can you go get Katie? Remember, she's wearing that hot pink dress." But my husband, who's my second shooter, he's always in all black because he has a very different role from me. So my role is very like, "I'm the photographer, I'm here for all of you. What do you need?" Everyone knows who I am, and people are just like, "He's so quiet," which is a role reversal in our everyday life. I'm the introverted, quiet one. Like, "Don't look at me." I hate the attention, and he's the opposite.

But when we work as a photography team on the wedding day, we switch. He's in all black, and it's really just usually the groom and groomsmen who are hanging out with him. So they get to know him, but as soon as we meet up, he just fades into the background again.  None of the guests know that my husband's there. He's either up in the balcony or just chilling in the back, whereas I'm upfront for the processional.

So everyone knows that I'm the wedding photographer, but they don't realize that there's a second one. So he gets all these amazing candid photos because no one's expecting him to be there. So he does wear all black. I tried really hard to get him to do color because he's extremely colorful too. And he owns his own photography company, where he's known for floral hats and flamingo shirts, but on the wedding day, it's all black for him.

 Stop trying to be like every other wedding photographer.

Shelby:

What's one thing you wish you could have told your younger self in your wedding photography career, knowing what you know now?

Katie:

Knowing what I know now, I probably would've told myself a little earlier to stop trying to be like every other photographer. I was seeing all these successful people, shooting with a certain camera or editing a certain way, or they have a specific website layout. And I was like, "Oh, they're charging so much money, and they all look the same. So maybe if I do that, then I can start charging more, too." So when I started to do that, I think I probably did that for three or four months, and I just started hating everything. I was like, "I hate my work, I hate the way that I'm posing people, I just hate everything." I started researching what everyone was doing, what they were showing, what their colors and brand were, and the fonts they were using.

And then I was like, "All right, I'm going to do the opposite of all of that." So if you go on, I would say, 99% of photographers' websites and you go to their portfolio, it's golden-hour romantic portraits, beautifully styled flat lays, and stunning reception details. But if you come to mine, it's just emotion and laughter, and no one's really looking at the camera. And it's all sorts of different lighting situations because I show a lot of guest photos. So those were the things that I noticed not only made me happy when I was shooting, but it was what my clients would come back and say, "We love the bride and groom pictures of us, but you guys take the best candid photos, everyone is talking about the candid photos." So I'm like, "Okay, I think maybe that's the way we need to start pivoting."

Shelby:

The people are a huge part of what makes the day, and the bride and groom - these are THEIR PEOPLE! They love these people; these are special people in their life! 

Okay, I have to ask —Did you ever have a rebel phase in your upbringing?

Katie:

No, oh god no.

Shelby:

What? You wore all black; no punk phase? No goth teenage adolescence in there? What was your persona growing up?

Katie:

My persona was, I had teachers who didn't know that I was in their class for half a year. I had friends in high school and middle school because I was adopted by a bunch of extroverts who thought it was funny that I never spoke. So they would try to get me to talk. Yeah, my mom is a corrections officer at a jail, and my dad is an Italian construction worker carpenter from Yonkers. So I was terrified of disappointing my parents and getting in trouble. Both my sisters had more rebellious phases, but I was like, "How high do you want me to jump? At what time should I be jumping, and for how long do you want me in the air?" Like very rule-follower.

Shelby:

It seems like you've found your own path. What was your path to get there?

Katie:

If I'm being honest, it's because I got a divorce, which forced me to really have to be on my own for a little bit. Because my ex and I started dating right after I graduated high school, he was my first boyfriend. So I went from living at my parents' house to living with him. When we got divorced, I realized I didn't really have a backbone at the time. I was a doormat for everybody. So I was like, "Time to put my foot down and go for what I want to go for." It was good for me. At the time, it seemed like the world was ending, but now I'm like, "Oh, it's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Shelby:

Yep, fellow divorcee, I'm right there with you. Any other questions, comments, advice, things that you're like, "I want to share this." With our readers?

Katie:

I would just say, no matter what kind of vendor you are in the wedding industry, stop trying to do what everybody else is doing and just do what you want to do, because A, it makes you stand out, and B, it just makes you happy. When I was trying to be that fine art film photographer that everybody was doing, as much as I'd love to be that person or work that way, and I still love it, I look at people's work, and I go, "God, my brain just doesn't think like that."

But trying to be like what everyone else was doing, I was miserable. I don't think you should put yourself in this wedding box and just be the things that this wedding industry is telling you that we have to be. I think that that part of the industry is dying out, especially I think because of Gen Z when it's their time to get married. They don't want the Instagram-worthy weddings that we millennials were shown that we were supposed to be having. I think that if you don't start pivoting now to catering to this next generation, you're not going to make it. It's going to be too late, so you might as well do what you want to do.

To see Katie’s amazing work, visit her (amazing) website https://www.catherineannphotography.com/  and here’s a wedding we filmed alongside her!

To see Katie’s amazing work, visit her (amazing) website https://www.catherineannphotography.com/

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