It’s a new year, so I feel like it’s the perfect time to introduce you to my team. JTP used to be a one-woman show, but that certainly is not the case anymore. I could never keep up with everything all by myself. I have learned that my business is more successful when I have help. I can serve more clients and offer a better experience across the board.

I have the most talented group of ladies that work with me, and I feel so blessed. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for each of them and honored to do business with them.

I’m so thankful for these photos by the talented Ellen Talbot. In years past, we have done our own photos with a tripod, so this year I decided to hire someone to do our photos, and I am so glad I did. Ellen did an amazing job!

The Photographers

Jennie Tewell: Owner / Lead Photographer

Thanks for following along this far! I’m Jennie. I have been a photographer for the past 9 years, but have been a full-time wedding photographer for the last 6 years. I love photographing weddings because it allows me to freeze time. After your wedding is over, your images are what you have left.

I love capturing every single detail that makes a wedding day unique. My favorite part of every wedding is when the groom sees his bride for the first time. Whether it be during a first look, or when she is walking down the aisle. That is a moment that can only be lived out once, but with photographs can be remembered many years after.

When I’m not shooting weddings, I love spending time with my family. My husband, Andrew, and my three girls, Ashlyn, Caelyn, and Lauryn. We love taking walks, and playing board games. The beach is my happy place. The older I get, the more I realize I want to live a simple life. I’m currently on a health and wellness journey. Hello, new year! I’m enjoying researching more about how our bodies respond to things and what our bodies need and what they don’t. It’s been really eye-opening and has been a different hobby for me in the last couple of months.

Andrew works full time in ministry, so we love to spend time volunteering and working at our church. Our closest friends attend our church, and we love the fellowship and community within the ministry.

Andrew and I also enjoy fixing up homes and pretending we are Chip + Jo even though we are nowhere near their level. We recently remodeled our entire home that we are in now, and it was by far our biggest project to date. I still haven’t blogged the finished project, because truthfully, we still have a few things left to finish. A word for the wise… a project like this will take way longer to complete once you decide to move in. 😂It’s worth it though, and will definitely be our favorite project. You can see some before pictures here. We don’t have plans on starting any new flips or makeovers in the near future. 2020 is our year to simplify our schedules, and a house flip with both of us working full-time jobs is certainly not simple. lol.

Brianna Hemphill: Associate Wedding + Portrait Photographer

Brianna started photography by working as a second shooter with me about 4 years ago. She was a fast learner and grew to love photography. 2 years ago, I wanted to expand my associate program and knew that Brianna was the perfect choice to fill that role. Brianna is one of the most gifted photographers I have ever worked with.

I love every opportunity when we can shoot together. It makes me reminisce back to when we used to always work together when she was my full-time second shooter. Now that she lead shoots so many weddings, we rarely get to shoot a wedding together. When we do, it makes for a great day!

Brianna works photography as a second job. Her first job is actually an accountant. She has her masters in accounting, and this girl knows her numbers. The firm she works with is amazing at working with small businesses, so if you need an accountant or CPA, she is your girl! Even if you aren’t local to us, she works with a lot of out of state businesses as well.

For those of you that don’t know, Brianna is also my sister-in-law. I’m married to her brother, Andrew. 😉 Brianna’s husband Trent works in law enforcement, and we are so thankful for his service to the community. Brianna and Trent had their first baby this year, Tatum Reese, and she is completely changed their world. Brianna loves spending time with her family, watching Alabama football (Roll Tide!), and keeping up with their two labs, Cooper and Sundance.

Jaimie Woodruff: Associate Wedding Photographer

Jaimie shot her first wedding over 10 years ago. Jaimie worked for herself as a successful photographer for many years. When I first started shooting weddings, Jaimie was kind enough to let me second shoot with her so I could gain more experience in the wedding world. I will forever be grateful to her. She was a very established photographer, and someone I looked up to greatly. My first wedding I ever second shot was for Jaimie. I learned a lot from her about weddings the few times I shot with her, and I have always looked up to Jaimie as a photographer.

Fast forward a few years, Jaimie moved to California. She eventually made her way back to Alabama, as she couldn’t stay away from us for long. 😂

I reached out to Jaimie about joining my team. I thought there wasn’t a chance in the world she would ever work for me, but shoot for the stars, right!? Well, Jaimie said yes, and she has been working as an associate wedding photographer for the last year. Jaimie has so much experience in shooting weddings as she has shot well over 100 weddings herself.

Jaimie has been married for 8 years to Trey or as she says, “a handsome nerd”. They have two boys, Loch and Linc.

Jaimie loves to travel, and she enjoys making photo books from each of their trips. Goals! Jaimie also loves home projects, and she is currently binging Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Behind the Scenes / Where the Magic Happens

Julie Wruck: Post Processing Manager

Julie is responsible for all of the images after I edit the sneak peeks. She culls, edits, delivers galleries and takes care of album design too. She has been pretty busy the last few months as we closed out our busiest wedding season yet. This fall and winter we had 25 weddings in just 3.5 months! That is a lot of editing. And Julie has delivered every single one of them on time, and even early. When Julie joined me several months ago, I knew I needed a change in my business. I was overloaded with work. I outsourced my editing some, but it wasn’t consistent.

I would only outsource when it was a dire need, and I didn’t realize that the more I was behind my computer editing the less I could put my heart into my business. I was getting burned out by working around the clock… literally. It wasn’t a healthy place to be in, and I knew if I didn’t change something soon, I wouldn’t be able to continue at that pace. Not to so say that I don’t love editing. I do love to edit, but with the growth of my business, it was unrealistic to think I could do it all on my own.

I reached out to Julie to see if she would be interested in just culling for me. She started culling initially, and then I trained her to edit and do my albums as well. She was literally a Godsend to me, and an answer to many prayers.

Julie has worked from home with her husband, Doug, for the last 7 years. He owns a printing and graphics company, Compel Printing and Graphics. While she still does some work for him, I’m so thankful he shares Julie with me now. 😂  Julie is also the mother of four amazing kids, 3 of which are teenagers. Her favorite thing to do is go running with her husband and spend time with her family.

Julie says, “It’s like Christmas every time I send her something new to edit!” Julie’s guilty pleasure is a big bowl of chocolate cherry passion ice cream.

Amber Deavers: Office Assitant

Amber is the newest member to the JTP team but has an important role at keeping things going. Amber comes in every Monday to my office, and she pretty much does everything I don’t want to do. 😂 Sorry, Amber! All of the tedious things that most business owners dread, she handles. Like updating address lists, keeping my client database up to date, etc. She also goes through all of the weddings and does the first initial culling to prepare me to edit my sneak peek.

I look forward to Monday’s because I enjoy getting to work with Amber. She gets to hear me sing to my Spotify playlists. Not many get that luxury, so she is pretty special. Side note: I don’t sing well! My kids have grown to love her, and are sad that they had to go back to school because they will miss getting to hang out with her on Mondays. Amber has a joyful spirit, and has a touch of sarcasm to her personality which is one of the reasons we get along so well.

Amber is attending the University of South Alabama pursuing dual degrees in Recreational Therapy and Social Work. She spent the last 5 summers running a horseback riding program at a YMCA sleep away camp.

When she isn’t working or in class, she enjoys spending time watching Netflix with her two cats: Calypso and Chester. She loves cooking, horseback riding, reading, and being with friends and family. She says she does nothing fun or exciting, but she works with me so I don’t know what she is talking about. 😂

These are my people. I never imagined having a team of people working with me, much less, such a talented one. When I went full time into weddings 6 years ago, I never imagined being able to work with so many clients. I never imagined that I would even have a need for a team. That was never even a thought I had.

I’m humbled. I’m grateful, and I’m excited for the future of JTP. I have some big plans and dreams. I didn’t know how to dream for my business 6 years ago, but I certainly have dreams now. I look forward to the next 6 years and beyond, and can’t wait to serve the clients we will work get to work with.

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