Making Space for the Marriage

We photograph a lot of beginnings and milestones at Sophia Barrett Studios. Engagements, weddings, pregnancies, growing families, birthdays and anniversaries all give people a reason to stop and document what is happening in their lives.

Marriage is a little different because so much of it happens between those occasions.

Recently, Derrick and I returned to Savannah for our second year at A Weekend For Love, a retreat that gives couples time away together to focus on their marriage.

We were there to photograph the couples attending the retreat, but we also had the chance to participate in more of the weekend ourselves this year. That made the experience very different from our first year.

Photographing the Couples

Throughout the weekend, we photographed every couple attending the retreat.

This was probably one of the most fun parts for me because everyone approached their portrait differently. Some couples were playful, some were romantic, and some came through the door completely ready for their moment. Everybody looked GOOD.

What I enjoyed most was knowing what brought everyone there in the first place. These were couples who had chosen to take a weekend away from their regular routines and spend that time together.

We photograph weddings and engagements all the time, when a relationship is entering a new chapter. At A Weekend For Love, we were photographing couples already living the marriage. They have history together, families, responsibilities and everything else that comes with building a life with another person.

I don’t think we take enough portraits during that part.

We tend to be very good about documenting the beginning of a marriage and then wait for an anniversary or another major occasion before getting in front of a camera together again. In reality, so much changes in the years between those photographs.

That was part of what made these portraits special to me. They became a record of what each couple looked like together at this particular point in their marriage.

Experiencing the Weekend Together

Derrick and I also had the opportunity to sit on a panel together and talk about our experience with marriage and business.

Most people who know our work see us behind the camera, so sitting together and having that conversation in front of other couples was a completely different experience for us.

Running a business together means that Derrick and I spend a lot of time together, but spending time together isn’t necessarily the same thing as intentionally enjoying each other.

I think that distinction became clearer to me during this trip.

Because we were able to participate in the retreat as well as work, there were moments when we could actually enjoy being there as a couple. We could talk, listen to other couples and enjoy Savannah without every part of the weekend revolving around Sophia Barrett Studios.

I didn’t expect that to become one of my favorite parts of returning this year.

What Happens After the Wedding

Weddings are such a large part of the photography industry that we naturally put a lot of attention on that day. There are months of planning, beautiful clothes, flowers, family, photographs and an entire celebration built around two people choosing each other.

Then real married life begins.

And most of it doesn’t come with a photographer.

That’s actually what made A Weekend For Love interesting for me to photograph. These weren’t couples preparing to begin a life together. We were meeting them somewhere in the middle of the life they had already created.

Every couple had their own history before they walked onto our set, and we didn’t need to manufacture anything beyond that. Our job was to give them a beautiful portrait that felt like them and that they could take home as a reminder of this weekend together.

Years from now, the photograph will also show them something very simple: this is who we were then.

I think there is value in having that.

Making Photographs During the Marriage

You don’t have to wait until the next major anniversary to photograph yourself with your spouse.

One of the things I took away from this weekend is that we should probably be documenting more of the middle.

Your marriage at year seven doesn’t look exactly like it did at year one. You don’t look the same. Your family may not look the same. Your careers, priorities and even the way you relate to one another may have changed.

Those changes are part of the story too.

That’s why I appreciated what A Weekend For Love created for these couples. They had a reason to leave their normal schedules behind, spend a few days focused on one another and come home with a portrait from that experience.

And for Derrick and me, returning for year two gave us something we weren’t necessarily expecting. We were able to contribute as photographers and speakers while also enjoying some of what the weekend was created to offer.

Thank you to A Weekend For Love for having us back in Savannah and trusting Sophia Barrett Studios to photograph your couples again this year. ❤️