2020 A Year like no other

What can we say about 2020? It was quite a year, to say the least.

We started the year so excited about our 2020 wedding season. We had a great year laid out and couldn’t wait to celebrate with our wonderful clients. However, as many know the world became engulfed in a worldwide pandemic we now know as Covid 19. At first, Matthew & I remained hopeful that things would calm down before the late spring/summer, but as May 2020 rolled around it was quite apparent that wasn’t going to happen. Not only was the virus spreading like wildfire we were officially sheltering in place, and the entire wedding industry collapsed. Venues big and small shut down, the government issued gathering restrictions, people were scared of getting sick. It literally felt like life itself was upside down.

Chaos would be a good way to describe the state of the wedding industry. We were getting calls daily from panicked brides not knowing what to do. I vividly remember crying over the remnants of a business I worked so hard to build. It was essentially wiped away in a blink of an eye. I know many of you reading this may feel that it seems a little trivial to cry over weddings when people were sick and dying in the world, but these events feed and clothe my children. It is more than “just a wedding” it is my livelihood. After a lot of tears and fears, I pulled up my bootstraps and decided that I needed to figure out something else to do. I found solace in photographing family portraits. I rediscovered the love I had for family photos. Here is a small excerpt from a Facebook post I made about the situation.

“…I cried many tears because it felt like a door had closed on something that Matthew & I had worked for over 10 years to build. I personally felt empty and sad. On a whim, I decided to do a few family portrait sessions. I wanted the camera in my hand! After photographing a handful of families I rediscovered the love I once had for family photography. It was like a window had opened. What a blessing it was to get to see my past couples again. Getting to meet the little families they started made me so happy. I also started photographing couples who’ve been married for years but hadn’t take photographs together professionally really since their weddings…. “

With that post, we announced the transition of our brand from just Sal & Bella Weddings to Sal & Bella Legacy. “Capturing your legacy from the wedding day and beyond.”

In the end, as odd as it feels to say, we found many blessings that came out of our time of navigating the pandemic. We grew stronger as a family and found love in other avenues of photography.

If you’ve made it this far into this post I appreciate you taking the time to read this blog. Now, let’s take a visual stroll through 2020.