Today we’d like to introduce you to Claire Crumrine
Hi Claire, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Before I went to college I always knew that I wanted to major in something art related, but never in a million years did I think I would be in the wedding industry. I found my love for photography my senior year of high school when I mixed in some photo pieces into my final AP art class project. Every girl in the 2010s loved taking photos of their friends, but I started to love product photography. I decided to go to BGSU and major in Visual Communication Technology with the hopes of landing a job in the digital marketing world.
College came and I got an internship with a local wedding photography company. I was very hesitant about it as everyone talks about wedding photography being such a stressful and scary job, but I needed the internship and my photography professor told me to try it out. I photographed my first wedding the summer of 2020 and was instantly hooked! I loved every single moment from the day and getting to capture the emotions, the intimate moments, the in-betweens that the couple doesn’t get to see. I knew from then on, I wanted to be a wedding photographer.
I stuck with that company for another 4 1/2 years and in May of 2024 I launched my own photography business, Copper Stitch Photo Co.! I wanted to branch out a little more within the photography world. Now I photograph families, maternity, newborns, boudoir, as well as weddings. It’s been so much fun getting to find my own style, but navigating the world of running a business is no joke. This is my first full year and I’m ready for wedding season to start!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It definitely has not, but what business has had smooth sailing?! If you have, tell me your secrets! I definitely struggled with figuring out how I want to run my business versus what I was taught from working for someone else for almost 5 years. I also didn’t see a lot of the backend of running a business so I went into starting my own like a chicken with it’s head cut off. I had a short timeline of getting my business up and running to start booking weddings for 2025 and so the stress of making sure I checked every box of the legal end of things and then a website, etc. was a lot. Thankfully I have a super supportive fiancé, family, friends and the wedding photographer community in the Toledo area is amazing.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m proud of myself for starting this business. I know that sounds cliché, but I’m usually the type to go the safe route. In college during my senior year I made a goal to start my own photography business 5 years after graduating, and I did it 3 years after! I had a choice I had to make and instead of going to find a job I probably wasn’t going to love, I decided “Why not?” I told myself if I fail, at least I tried and said I did it instead of always wondering what if. Now, I’m going into my first full year and I’m almost at my goal for the amount of weddings that I wanted to book for 2025!
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I don’t know if I would call it luck, but I would just say everything that has happened even when it felt like things we’re all going wrong and I couldn’t catch a break, it was all perfect timing! Looking back from this time last year to now, I’m so thankful for all the obstacles, “bad luck”, and all the good luck that has come my way. I think I am quite lucky this year as my first year in business to be in the place I am, becoming profitable when I had no idea if I would even book one wedding this time last year!
Pricing:
- Weddings start at $3,400
- Elopements start at $2,800
- Boudoir starts at $400
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.copperstitchphotoco.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/copperstitchphotoco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61559311035705
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/copperstitchphotoco/
