2013

Our first date was filled with laughter and an instant connection that was undeniable. We both knew we had found something special with each other and our relationship escalated pretty quickly - I mean a week after that we became “Facebook official” - it got serious fast y'all.  

Love at First Sight

2014

We had dinner a nice spot in the French Quarter. Ryan slipped away and had Anna watch a video of memories and take a carriage ride. Awaiting at the proposal spot were our families and her best friends staggered up the stairs leading to Ryan who was ready to pop the question!

We had dinner a nice spot in the French Quarter. Ryan slipped away while Anna's sister walked in with an iPad filled with personal videos of her family and friends and a special dress. After changing, a horse carriage took Anna through the french quarter while she watched a slideshow of memories Ryan had put together. Awaiting at the proposal spot were our families and her best friends staggered up the stairs leading to Ryan. As Anna would go up the steps, they would ask if she was a certain Disney Princess. They would then tell her that she was Princess Anna, and why she was better than the Disney Princess. At the top of the stairs, Ryan popped the question!

A Very Extra Proposal

2015

After a 6 month engagement, on June 19th 2015, we got married! We followed trends and did not invest in what was most important. But it is a beautiful part of our story that was a huge impact on our passion for what we do today. Around this time, we were known as "the teacher couple" as we both worked long hours at school.

After a 6 month engagement, on June 19th 2015, we got married! We followed trends and did not invest in what was most important. But it is a beautiful part of our story that was a huge impact on our passion for what we do today. 
Around this time, we were known as "the teacher couple" and spent our days carpooling to work at 5 am, visiting each other's classroom, and coaching students in the evenings. During our first year of marriage and we also cleaned a church in the evenings for extra income to pay our bills.

Married + Teaching

2016

Anna has always LOVED photos and photography in general. So after saving up she bought herself a “nice” camera as a gift to herself. After some time, she begin having people casually ask her to take photos for them. Friends, family, her sisters senior photos, cheer photos for the program book, prom photos, etc. 

Anna has always LOVED photos and photography in general. So after saving up she bought herself a “nice” camera as a gift to herself. After some time, she began having people casually ask her to take photos for them. Friends, family, her sisters senior photos, cheer photos for the program book, prom photos, etc. And she started to develop a real love for serving others from behind a camera.

Click Click!

2017

A fellow teacher friend asked Anna to take her engagement photos and Anna quickly declined and came home freaking out. Ryan questioned why not? — and the first “real” session happened! We quickly bought Anna her first professional camera (on a credit card), and started working hard on building a website and watching any and all free trainings on being a photographer.

A fellow teacher friend asked Anna to take her engagement photos and Anna quickly declined and came home freaking out. Ryan questioned why not? — and the first “real” session happened! Not long after, Ryan was a groomsman in a wedding and it was the first time witnessing a husband and wife photography team. That's when it clicked: “We can actually do this, together!”.
We quickly bought Anna her first professional camera (on a credit card), and started working hard on building a website and watching any and all free trainings and youtube videos we could find on “how to be a professional photographer”.

"Wait, We can *actually* do this!"

We booked our first official #RefugeWedding for $500 and started promoting our website and services. Behind the scenes we got overwhelmed with bookings and learning how to shoot in manual and edit in Lightroom. After Ryan broke down from stress, we decided to bet on ourselves by making a game plan to pay off our debt and build our business!

2018

We made our first social media post about Refuge Photography, launched our website and prayed. We freaked out when getting our first wedding inquiry. After panicking on what to price this at, we went with $500 and on March 17, we photographed the first #RefugeWedding. 
Behind the scenes, we where surviving but in no ways thriving. (Photographers get ready to cringe!) we did not know what culling or Lightroom was, and spent HOURS on each individual photo in Photoshop. So we finally invested in our first photography course and kept booking weddings, and portrait sessions. We quickly became overwhelmed to the point of Ryan breaking down crying. It was then that we decided to bet on ourselves and made a game plan to get our debt paid off and BUILD OUR BUSINESS!

Introducing: Refuge Photography

WEDDINGS BOOKED: 13

We sacrificed a lot but were able to pay off our debt with our last Teacher paychecks and pursue Refuge full time! 2019 was crazy and we grew so quickly. We were honored to be named Best Wedding and Engagement Photography in The Best of the Pinebelt's awards and even brought on our first two #RefugeAssociates!

2019

We sacrificed. Rice and cheap beef were on the menu every day. Date nights didn’t exist. And we didn’t spend a penny more than what we needed to for survival. We had a plan to pay off all of our debt by our last paychecks and by May of 2019, we were officially working on Refuge full time. 
We were honored and humbled to be named the Best Wedding and Engagement Photographer in The Best of the Pinebelt’s awards. Our business kept growing exponentially, so we brought on our first two Associate Photographers for Refuge! By the end of the year, we attended our first Showit United Conference and met some of our best friends in the industry!

Taking the leap + Growing!

WEDDINGS BOOKED: 31

We hired a business Coach and made some big changes behind the scenes of our business. After visiting 30A in Florida, we felt called and moved to Rosemary Beach! Our business kept growing and we brought on an assistant and a Florida associate to help us. We launched Coaching sessions and sold out in 48 hours!

2020

We hired a business Coach which helped us make some BIG behind the scenes changes in how we manage our business. During this time we had the pleasure of visiting 30A for the first time and after feeling called, made the decision to move from our Mississippi home to Rosemary Beach, Florida.
We also brought on an assistant and a Florida associate. We launched Refuge Education and began offering Coaching for other photographers. To our surprise, we sold out of our first round of coaching within 48 hours of announcing. By the end of this year, we were already seeing our coaching clients lives changing and we knew God had a purpose for our coaching and teaching hearts outside of the classroom.

Hello 30A!

WEDDINGS BOOKED: 55

We expanded on our education side and created new offerings, officially selling out in pre-sale for our #RefugeRetreat. We also welcomed our new members and Refuge officially became a team of 15!!!
On the personal side, we began building a house for the first time in the new place we call home. 

2021

Narrowing our focus and continuing to grow our business, we dove deeper into education and our passion to help others succeed grew too. We announced the #RefugeRetreat and sold all seats in pre-sale within two hours. We are still pinching ourselves!

Feeling the need to expand our team from unending demand, we announced we were hiring and had over 60 applicants. We welcomed our new members and Refuge officially became a team of 15!!!

On the personal side, we began building a house for the first time in the new place we call home. 

Growing and... growing!

Hannah Grace

WEDDINGS BOOKED:62

We hired a business Coach and made some big changes behind the scenes of our business. After visiting 30A in Florida, we felt called and moved to Rosemary Beach! Our business kept growing and we brought on an assistant and a Florida associate to help us. We launched Coaching sessions and sold out in 48 hours!

2022

What a year for our little family! This was the year with our biggest surprise yet- when we found out we were pregnant with our baby girl, and the year we brought her home into the new house we built!
We continued creating education for photographers- including launching our first accelerator group and speaking at conferences - motivating and cheering others on as we got to coach them to build the business and life of their dreams! Refuge continued crafting an excellent experience for our brides through photography, and we soft launched Refuge Wedding Films to be able to love and serve our brides through video as well! Our team continued to grow and we were so blessed with the positions we put in place behind the scenes to be able to both take maternity leave and still have our business loving and serving in full capacity!

Business & a Baby

WEDDINGS BOOKED:75