Colorado Bride Turned Wedding Photographer

Meet Haley Hawn Reidy, Traveling Colorado Wedding Photographer

We are chatting with Haley Hawn Reidy today about how she became a traveling Colorado Wedding Photographer and where her travels have taken her. Here she is pictured above with her husband David on their wedding day at The St Vrain.

Haley holds a special place in our hearts and history here at The St Vrain! She was literally THE SECOND BRIDE to get married at The St Vrain when we opened the doors in the Fall of 2017! She came for a tour before renovation construction had even begun but quickly got hooked on the vision of a brick walled LUXE industrial Colorado wedding venue just minutes from Boulder and near the Denver metro area!

She married David, one of her best friends from college when things turned spicy post graduation! After being married one year, Haley and David moved to the UK where he completed an MBA at Oxford University. Haley siezed the opportunity to develop her photography skills traveling the country side, capturing life at Oxford as well as a British bride and groom here and there! Really…look at this elopement in the Scottish highlands!!!

Upon returning to the US in 2019, Haley took the leap to pursue her passion full time for capturing one of the most important days in a couple’s life! To date, her wedding photography has taken her to Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas and back to Colorado! We can’t wait to see where she goes next! What we do know is that she will be photographing a wedding back at The St Vrain (her favorite Colorado wedding venue, wink, wink ! ) this coming summer! Don’t you just love how life so beautifully comes full circle?!

What we love about Hayley is her personal and approachable style of working with couples to capture their wedding day in a way that uniquely captures who they are!! We know she learned a lot by being on the the other side of the lens! We caught up with Haley and got her to dish on a few things:

Tell us a little bit about your WHY for becoming a wedding photographer?

When David and I got married, the whole process of wedding planning made me realize that I needed to be doing something much more creative and people-focused than the remote digital marketing role I was in at the time! I had loved every aspect of planning my wedding, but knew I wanted to focus on photography, since it had been a hobby since I was young. On top of this, I had learned a lot about the ins and outs of wedding photography from the bride’s side (the necessity of having a “special shots” list, why I should have hired a second shooter, etc.), and I wanted to use my experience to give future brides and grooms the absolute best wedding photos they didn’t know they wanted!

Tell us about living abroad! Does the average Brit celebrate weddings differently than we do here?

Holy smokes yes! I like to tell people that wedding photographers in the UK work twice as hard for half as much as us American photographers. This is because wedding ceremonies typically happen around lunch time, meaning photographers are on-site capturing the getting ready photos between 8-10am, and the party doesn’t end until midnight or later! I also loved that they tend to have more intimate ceremonies, only inviting their closest friends and family. For the wider circle of friends, they often invite “evening guests” that arrive for the dinner and the rest of the celebration. In general, I felt that they emphasized the event as more of a family reunion, and they tried to get as much time with their guests as possible!

What are you learning about yourself and your biz in this crazy upside down time we’re all in?

I am not totally sure that I’ve processed what we’re going through right now (it still feels like a dream we’ll wake up from), but if I could pinpoint it to two things I would say this:

First, I’m learning that I am fueled by my community and it’s given me so much hope to see everyone pulling together to support each other. We truly can’t make it in life on our own!

Second, I’m learning that my business isn’t just a business–it’s my passion. I think that if this were truly about profit for me, I would have thrown in the towel and moved on to the next thing as soon as I realized that the wedding industry was going to take a direct hit from this virus. Instead, I’ve realized how much I not only want to see my business thrive, but also my friends businesses around me, and each of the couples we’re serving. We’re all pulling together to support each other however we can right now, and that gives me so much life.

Where you can find Haley:

Instagram: @haleyhawnphoto

Pintrest: www.pinterest.com/haleyhawn/

Website : HaleyHawn.co