By Hollie Slade – Forbes Magazine – February 26, 2014
Weddings have changed. What was traditionally a merry but relatively predictable affair has been transmogrified into an occasion where couples increasingly want to put their stamp on every element of the day. A glance at Pinterest’s most pinned confirms this, with strings of handmade origami cranes, hand-lettered signs and homemade favors consistently trending.
To complete the aesthetic, couples want their wedding artistically documented by not just any photographer, but one who is cognizant of their vision – be it rustic glamor or southern charm – and can snap creative, quirky portraits that look natural and un-posed.
The three entrepreneurs behind George Street Photography were ahead of the game on this.Named after the basement apartment they shared in Chicago after college, Michael McMahon, Tim Muller, and Dan Creviston had all fallen in love with the reportage, photojournalism-style early on.
The old friends – two videographers and one photographer – decided to work together rather than freelance. Over the past decade they’ve quietly built out their brand, allowing brides to quickly source photographers that shoot photos this way.
“I remember looking at books famous photography – take the sailor and the nurse in Times Square, it takes you right back to that moment,” says Creviston. “What people want from their wedding isn’t a lineup of all the people that were there, they want to remember what it felt like on their wedding day.”
“I think that when we realized that we have the same aesthetic and the same vision for storytelling that’s when we started to grow,” he says.
“We quickly decided back then we needed to grow teams because we couldn’t do everything and we needed to do it so we weren’t tripping over ourselves,” says Muller.
The company recruits talent and pays them a flat rate to shoot weddings, while others sort out bookings, editing and prints. Revenue was $20 million last year, up from $12 million the year before and the company’s now active in 40 U.S. cities.
Read more:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/hollieslade/2014/02/26/dont-say-cheese-how-this-small-wedding-photography-company-grew-into-a-20m-business/