Happy January, friends! Welcome to a brand new year and a brand new decade! We can hardly believe how fast 2019 went by, but we know that 2020 is going to go by even faster. As we look ahead at our 2020 calendar that is already filled with some BIG things (like having a baby!), we wanted to take a moment to fill you guys in on what the year will look like for us, as well what our availability will be in the coming months.
In an effort to be fully transparent with our couples, clients and future clients, we wanted to make a formal announcement that we will not be taking on as many weddings in 2020. Due to the needs of our growing family, we have decided that we will be limiting the number of weddings we take on and only adding 3-5 more this year. We will also be extremely selective with the weddings we take on to ensure that they are 1) a true Rowlands Photography couple 2) have a wedding that we can accommodate for and 3) their wedding venue is within 3 hours of our home. On average, we spend 8-10 hours at each wedding, excluding travel, so this makes for long days away from our children. Because of that, it’s important to us to ensure that our time away from our children is time well spent. We will only be saying yes and investing in couples who truly embody what it means to be a Rowlands Photography couple. Knowing that our time is extremely valuable, we will not be saying yes to every inquiry that comes our way.
While we may be saying no more often this year to weddings, we will be saying yes to more sessions. Family sessions, couples sessions and senior sessions that only take us away from our children for an hour or two are much easier for us to manage than a calendar full of all-day weddings. That being said, if you already know that you’d like to book us for a session this year, go ahead and shoot us an email so that we can have you on our radar as we plan out this busy year. Check out our calendar below for more updates, promo deals and more!
January
As the days get colder, we’re spending less time outside and more time inside. We may be secretly praying for snow (just a little bit!), but overall we are just trying to make it through one of the slowest months of the year.
Because it’s colder and no one wants to be outside and would rather be cozy inside, we are running a promo on in-home sessions through the rest of January and February! Book an in-home session with us before February 29th and you’ll receive $75 off your session!
February
We hope to see many of you for in-home sessions throughout the month of February, so be sure to take advantage of our promo deal while you can!
On February 5th, Michael and I will be celebrating TEN years since we met at the NorVA. If you don’t know our story, it goes a little something like this:
“Girl enters photo pit. Boy smiles like he knows her. Girl wonders why boy is smiling at her so big. Boy finds girl on MySpace (yeah, we’re THAT old) after the show. Girl finds out that boy is underage (eek!) and friend zones him. Boy turns 18 and boy and girl hang out. Boy and girl start taking pictures together. Boy plays girl a song on guitar. Girl swoons. Boy and girl live happily ever after.”
But really, when we met 10 years ago, I had no idea that I was meeting my future husband. And yet, there he was, at the young age of 17, smiling at me with one of those “I know you” smiles. Though he didn’t know me then, he certainly got to know me soon after that.
We are so honored to be able to say that we have been shooting beside one another since the day we met. And here we are, 10 years later, still photographing couples and families, doing what we love every day. What a joy.
We will be planning a little “babymoon” away during the month of February as well and we can’t wait for that!
March
We are hope, hope, hopeful that March will be baby month! I am due the last week of March-first week in April, but we are praying that this little one does not follow in his/her brother’s footsteps and show up 2 weeks late. Trust me when I say that we will be trying ALL the things to ensure this baby comes naturally and on-time, if not early!
Having said that March will be a slow month for us and we will only be taking on very select sessions during the beginning of the month. If you are in need of a couples, engagement, family or senior session in the month of March, please plan to schedule your session before March 15th to ensure we can make it happen!
April
Because our little one’s arrival is unpredictable right now, we will not be scheduling any sessions between April 1st-19th. We have one wedding booked in Callawassie Island, South Carolina the weekend of April 18th. After we return on April 19th, we will available for a few select sessions throughout the end of the month, though this will mainly be reserved for our 2020-2021 wedding couples for their engagement sessions. If you are in need of portraits during the month of April, please contact us as soon as possible to schedule your session.
On a more personal note, at the end of April, Chelsea will be celebrating her 30th birthday! 🙂 And she is only happy about this because she knows she doesn’t look like she’s 30 years old.
May
Hopefully by May, our little one will be a month or so old, so we will be back to our regular booking schedule and hopefully feeling great!
Note: Though we will have fairly open availability for weekend sessions for couples, engagements, families and seniors, we are booked at capacity for our May weddings and will not be opening up more dates.
We may be offering Mommy & Me mini sessions in the month of May ahead of Mother’s Day. If this is something you’re interested in, contact us!
June, July, August
Do you have a summer time wedding scheduled and still need a photographer? We have some limited availability throughout the summer months to add a wedding or two to our calendar. Contact us today with your date to learn more!
As usual, we will also be open for couples, engagements, families and senior sessions throughout the summer months as well.
September, October, November
Our fall months this year are still fairly open for wedding availability and we’d love to add a few more Rowlands Photography couples to our calendar! We have a few booked per month, but we would love to chat with you about your wedding day if you are still in search of a Hampton Roads Virginia wedding photographer.
Fall is also one of our favorite times of the year to do portrait sessions, so if you’re in need of engagements, family or senior photos this fall, contact us to schedule your session!
On a personal note, November is always super busy for us because we get to celebrate Michael’s birthday, our anniversary (6 years this year!) and Isaiah’s birthday all in one month!
December
As we have the past two years, we will be offering Christmas tree farm mini sessions again! Though dates have not been set yet, if you’d like to be on our email list to be informed when session slots go live, contact us today!
Though December weddings are not super popular, we are available for 1 more wedding during this month, if you’re hosting your dream wedding in the month of December. Click here for more details.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this wide glance of our 2020 year! Because we are expecting our second child this spring, we wanted to be open and transparent with our followers and clients about our availability for the year.
If you’d like to be a Rowlands Photography couple, please contact us here with your date soon, as we are taking on significantly less weddings this year than we usually do. If you’re a client who wants to book a session, please reach out with a date or time frame in mind so we can get you scheduled for your ideal season!
We hope to see you in front of our cameras in 2020! 🙂
Blessings,
Michael & Chelsea
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Rowlands Photography is a husband & wife wedding photography team specializing in weddings for the joyful, authentic and timeless bride. Hampton Roads Virginia wedding photographers who travel all over Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Do we know yet??? Girl or Boy???
We will be finding out when he/she arrives!