COLORADO SPRINGS — There’s still a lot of work to do, but Colorado is slowly but surely moving forward and working to rebound from a difficult 2020.
Many professionals as well as hopeful brides and grooms were thrown for a loop this season, many not knowing if they could go ahead with their special days.
These days wedding photographer Cassidy Osborne, of Cassidy Brooke Photography, is loading up her film and spending extra time with her family.
“I used to do like 25 weddings a year, but I joke as I add children, I take away weddings,” Osborne laughed.
Osborne and her husband have two boys and a little girl.
She does about 15 weddings a season and had already bought $4,000 worth of film for 2020. This time of year she’d typically spend a lot of time taking pictures on the weekends and editing during the week. But with the pandemic, things have slowed down. A lot of brides turning to elopements, micro-weddings and a couple of her couples outright canceled.
"That was tough because although it’s not industry standard to give back money, we just felt like it was the right thing to do. So, we (she and her husband) refunded a lot of money, $8,000 we refunded to people,” Osborne said.
Others brides and grooms though are rescheduling and looking ahead to 2021.
“Even if we wanted to cut it down to wedding party and family we still may not be able to have that (and travel to Vail), so we thought we’d try it again next year,” said Kaitlin Kennedy, who is rescheduling her wedding to next year.
She and her fiancé live in Texas and scheduled a destination wedding to Vail with Osborne as their photographer.
“We definitely say we will never forget our engagement and our wedding season is truly unique. Try to find positive and try not to get too overly stressed,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy added her vendors were so accommodating to the change, but some sadly won’t be around next year, “Unfortunately, some of my favorite vendors like for our plates and napkins they have gone out of business that was hard. Because you kind of form connections with them.”
Osborne said it’s a tough time to be in the business of love, “What’s tricky is that a lot of weddings are being postponed, the income I would have made in 2020 is gonna be completed, but my portion of it to work is gonna be followed up through next year.” This means she’ll have to work twice as hard next year.
Already with the governor’s new orders some brides are going back to their original 2020 summer dates.
Osborne said she’s also fortunate at the advice of her accountant late last year to make her business “incorporated.” That way she is an employee of Cassidy Brooke Photography and is eligible for unemployment. But she said she’s applied twice and still hasn’t received any benefits. Fortunately she said her husband’s company is doing okay right now.
She’ll keep working to make the most of a bad situation and will keep smiling behind the camera, ready to capture life’s moments, even though they may look a little different right now.
“Next year is gonna be a whole different ballgame,” Osborne said.
We know many of you are still hurting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to hear from you, the creative ways you’re pushing forward or what you need help with. Email rebound@koaa.com.
