Wedding Vendor Field Notes | Cam & Tia Photography
What better way to kick off some new vendor highlights with this legendary duo - Cameron & Tia! Cam & Tia specialize in photographing weddings, engagements, seniors, and families. They are high school sweethearts who not only capture some of life’s biggest moments but also educate photographers and business owners with fun training sessions and content. Cam & Tia are known for their bubbly spirit, their contagious laughter and smiles, and gorgeous photos!
Scroll though to get to know them a bit and see some of their work, and check out their website for more!
01. Tell us the story of how your business got started!
“Cam and I met in 2nd grade and stayed friends all the way until high school. Our senior year of high school we started dating, so we’re just barely high school sweethearts! After college, Cam was casually into photography and I just wanted to start a business. We photographed high school seniors only for three years very casually on the side. When we got engaged, we fell in love with the wedding industry and decided to try to book 3-5 weddings for the following year. At the time, I was a dance teacher and Cam was in law school. We were not looking for new careers, but instead something fun to do together as a little side hustle. We found out very quickly that we are not dip-your-toes-in-the-water kind of people, but instead dive-head-first. We ended up booking 18 weddings. Our second year we shot 32 weddings and both left our full-time jobs.”
02. What’s your favorite wedding trend(s) right now?
“We have always loved color and will stand by that ALWAYS. There are SO many fun things to do with MAJOR color and love to see it incorporated with bold florals, installs, linens, and more! We also LIVE for reception dresses. We are all about living your wedding day to the fullest and often, brides aren’t able to dance as full out as their hearts desire with long, heavy gowns. Let alone, you only have one wedding day, so you might as well be extra and wear all of the fun outfits.”
03. What wedding trend(s) are you over?
“Anything that doesn’t truly feel in alignment with the couple. So often it feels like couples are still doing things just because they feel like they are supposed to, but that tradition or ceremony has nothing to do with them, their values, or their vision for their lives. Impersonal ceremonies where the officiant has no deep connection (or at minimum has not spent significant time personalizing the ceremony to them) to the couple take the top of the cake for us. But for most couples, things like cake cutting, receiving lines, tons of photos with extended family, certain unity ceremonies, repeat after me vows, and more are not it. Take time to intentional craft a day that is meaningful to you and your partner versus just following the template because you think it’s the way to do it.”
04. What’s something you wish every planner told their couples?
“I wish that every planner did a deep dive for a couples’ timeline. Often, a template is used, which is great and lovely as business owners, but parts of the day are overlooked. Most importantly, we wish that every planner had a conversation with their couples to educate them on how certain choices will actually feel on their wedding day. The couple has no idea and planners need to be their guidance and truth teller when things will feel chaotic or rushed based on certain choices.”
05. What would be your dream destination wedding location to work?
“Oh wow!! We actually just shot in Italy which was a dream location for us FOREVER. We honeymooned in Italy AND it was our first Europe trip ever and so it had been a dream for a long time. This April, a couple decided to elope there and rented out a castle in the countryside of Florence. They strolled around the city eating pasta and gelato, said their vows in the castle courtyard, and ate a five course dinner overlooking a beautiful vineyard valley. It was incredible! So now, our new bucket list wedding would be Iceland. We have only spent three days in Iceland and it was not nearly enough. We can’t imagine how it would feel for a couple to just be strolling over the striking landscape, viewing waterfalls, and embracing the ever-changing weather.”
06. What is your favorite part of a wedding day as a vendor?
“We truly love sunset photos. While we are partial to yummy, ooey-gooey light, it’s much more about the emotions tied to this part of the day. Often, most of the formalities of the day are over. The couple is more relaxed. We’ve gotten the formal shots that they need and now they can just play. We’ll give our couples really open ended prompts of frolicking, twirling, and just walking off into the sunset so that we can fade into the background. We want this time to feel sacred to them. We want them to be able to step away and really soak in the moment. To be able to look at each other and say, “HOLY CRAP, we’re freakin’ married.” Sunset photos to us are not just about the photos, they serve a greater purpose for the experience.”
07. What was something you dreamed of having being part of your wedding when you were younger? Did you / will you still include that?
“Cam and I got married when we were both 24 years old. We were young and admittedly, pretty poor, haha. We always say that we’re super fortunate that we were not yet in the wedding industry because otherwise we would have known all of the possibilities and definitely blown our budget, haha. For a lot of details, we DIY-ed them or got very lucky with vendors that were just starting out (and have since become really well known). Our friends made our cake, personalized yard games, table decor, and our ceremony backdrop. One thing we would definitely prioritize would be choosing vendors more based off of personalities and values. We had some amazing vendors that provided excellent services, but weren’t quite personality matches for us and our wedding party. We would much rather click with someone that we’re going to spend the entire day with and support a business that is more closely aligned with our values. But in terms of dictating our day in a very intentional way, we are still really proud of the choices we made. Our best childhood friend married us with a super personalized ceremony. Two of our friends gave surprise readings; one was a poem and one was from a book. We cut out a lot of things that didn’t matter to us and we spent sunset on a hill above our venue looking down at the cocktail hour. We got to sit on a swing and turn to each other and say, "HOLY CRAP, we’re freakin’ married.””
08. What’s your favorite place to grab a bite to eat and/or drink right now in the Twin Cities right now?
“We are suburb people living in Minnetrista, but if we’re heading into the cities, we love Italian Eatery, Colita, and Spoon and Stable. If you find yourself among Lake Minnetonka area, you’ve got to hit up Bull & Wren, Birch’s on the Lake, or Olive’s Fresh Pizza.”
All photography credits go to Cam & Tia!