10 years of Marriage

Wow- writing that out makes me feel so super old! I cannot believe it's already been ten years! Looking back, at some points it seems like it has flown by, but of course at the same time also seems like forever some moments too! ;) 

I am so beyond thankful for him- I have a hard time even writing down something sappy here! I could have never imagined all those years ago getting set up on a blind date with you that we would be here! We've been through great times, sad times, new houses, new jobs, trying to figure out this parenting thing, build businesses, and so much more! No one has ever been such an encouragement to me and my dreams than he has. Seeing him as a Dad is just a completely different level of falling in love with someone! 

Quick backstory- we met on a blind date- that I got tricked into going on! From there, we hit it off right away and started dating! We dated for almost two years before getting married! We got married on a hot, sunny day in July in Virginia Beach at the Campus of Regent University. It was so much fun- hot, but a blast! For real where my love for weddings began! 

It was SO much fun looking back over photos from over the years for this post! There's some from the beginning of us dating, our engagement, the honeymoon, wedding, and life after marriage with the birth of Emmie, preschool graduation and our newest little guy, Sully! What an amazing life we're building! I am just so thankful! 

Introducing: Sullivan Michael Eiban

We are SO excited to introduce our newest little family member, Sullivan Michael Eiban! He was born on Friday, March 16th around 1:20pm weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces! So big! We are so in love, and I'm more than obsessed with his cute chubby cheeks! 

I cannot wait to share more once we've adjusted a little more to life with him! And hopefully gotten a little bit more sleep! ;) 

Thanks SO much to Sarah Mullins for snapping some photos at the hospital for us!! <3 

Our Family Maternity Photos! || Central Virginia Photographer

I’ve been posting sneak peeks from our maternity session with Michela Brooke Photography the last couple of weeks, so I’m so excited to be sharing more from our session! I LOVE shooting In-Home sessions, and really wanted that for our maternity photos. There’s something so bittersweet about recognizing these moments in the house that are going to be the last moments of our family as a family of three.  

I always think ME being in front of the camera is such a learning experience of its own because I get to remember first hand the stress that my clients feel before our sessions. I’ll admit I totally started panicking about my house not being 100% complete or clean- since we moved to the Forest area last summer, I haven’t gotten everything how I want it, all the furniture bought, and photos hung on the walls. Wouldn’t it be nice if real life was like an HGTV show that magically completed itself in one episode? ;) In reality, my house was perfectly fine put together, I didn’t need to stress out about it!

I am so in love with these photos- so so in love with them. Michlea did an amazing job of making us feel comfortable and confident- which is SO important when you’re feeling hugely pregnant and have a 6 year old that looooves to be silly and get the attention. She even paused and let Emerson and Michael have a dance party in the living room.  I am so thankful we did these photos and have these memories to always look back on!

Thanks SO much to Ashley Ancheta with Makeup by Ashley for doing my makeup and for Michela Brooke Photography for these images!! 
 

Thanks again SO SO much to Makeup By Ashley and Michela Brooke Photography for making me feel human for a day! ;) 

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Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving the Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas. Available for travel world-wide.  Ashley is passionate about cultivating genuine relationships built on mutual understanding, trust and lasting friendship.

Currently booking a limited number of wedding and portrait sessions for 2018 and 2019.  Contact Ashley today for additional information!

Wedding Photographer Planning for Maternity Leave || Lynchburg, VA Wedding Photographer

Happy Monday! Phew- what a busy weekend we had! We’re in full baby prep mode as little guy could be coming any day now! All of the sudden I want and need to get all the things done. Ha!

We’ve been working on the finishing touches for the nursery- but let’s be honest- it’ll be a work in progress for quite a while and then it’ll be in transition as he grows.  I’ve also been working really hard on making sure all of my workflows and systems are working and in place so I don’t have to work as hard as we adjust to life as a family of 4. I’ve been batch working to get everything done and scheduled, and have some super fun blog posts coming in the next few months!

If you’re a small business owner, you know how hard it can be to fully step away for any amount of time, but it’s super important to me that I am able to bond with baby, recover and rest! I’ll share later about what I’m planning on maternity leave looking like for me. To be able to have blogs scheduled, emails automated, and workflows in place allows me to ease back into work instead of trying to balance it all at once, which we all know never works out!

Here are some ways that I’m preparing my business for some time off:

1- Lists of tasks that need to be completed before my leave, and responsibilities that continue on and I’ll need to follow up on while on leave. As of right now, I’m not planning on hiring a virtual assistant or anyone to answer emails for me, so while there may be a slight delay in responses, I’ll put up an away message and know my amazing clients are prepared for it and know I’ll be getting back with them soon!

2- Set expectations. By writing about maternity leave, posting about it on social media and emailing my clients ahead of time, I’m letting clients know what to expect.  I also have an away message up for new clients, and will change it up once I’m taking more time away and responses will be a little bit more delayed.  

3- Reviewing my systems and workflows. You know I always preach about workflows and how they make my life SO much easier! Going over the past year and being able to pinpoint those moments of pain or stress really help with creating changes for the next year. With this, I highly encourage having GMail filters in place, having automatic responses in place for new inquiries, and to take advantage of canned responses to emails where you get lots of similar questions about.  

4- I’ve reached out to some amazing Lynchburg, Virginia vendors and friends to help me keep the blog alive while I’m out. I am SO excited for this- hearing from professionals in all different aspects in the industry to help Brides and Photographers/Small Business owners alike.

5- Decide on a timeline! This is so important because it can be so easy to get used to not working and start dropping the ball on important tasks that need a timeline to get moving again.  I luckily was able to take things pretty slowly the last few weeks of my pregnancy office-wise to be able to prepare.  Knowing when my next weddings are and when I need to start working on things again will help make sure no balls are dropped.  I do have weddings scheduled and on the books in the next couple of months, but have backup plans and am still limiting how many weddings and sessions I’m taking over the year for 2018.  I’ll be easing back into working full time hours again slowly to get used to adjustments!

6- Be okay with asking for help! I know that each pregnancy, delivery and recovery is very different- as is each and every baby.  With Emmie, I was able to use nap times and snuggle times to get some work done. That may or may not be the case this time- and that’s okay. I know I have people on board that can help with emails, management, and whatever else I need and I need to give myself grace and ask for help if I need it!

So, that’s my plan for this exciting- yet scary - time full of so much unknown! I’ll be sure to update after the fact with what I learned worked and didn’t work for those of you who own a business and are looking at taking some time off!

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Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving the Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas. Available for travel world-wide.  Ashley is passionate about cultivating genuine relationships built on mutual understanding, trust and lasting friendship.  

Currently booking a limited number of wedding and portrait sessions for 2018 and 2019.  Contact Ashley today for additional information!

Motherhood & Small Business: Our Personal Photos || Lynchburg, VA Wedding Photographer

I’m ashamed to admit how horrible I’ve been at this- but I’m making it my mission to catch up and be better about it! What am I talking about? Printing out our own personal photos. I know, I know- something I preach about with my clients. It’s SO important for our memories and children to have these photos to be able to relive and talk about important moments in our lives! We had a handful of little photobooks printed out and it’s one of Emmie’s favorite things to look through and talk about certain moments.  

The problem, I did not have all of my personal photos in one place. In fact, quite the opposite. Why this is the case, I have NO idea because I am beyond careful to have triple backups of all of my client photos and should be treating my own with just as much importance!

So, I’ve been working hard on getting everything in one place, organized by year and then by month. And from here, I’m creating chatbooks- about 3-4 per year as an overview and then a full book for special occasions- like vacations, family photos, etc.  It’s not anything too special or expensive- but it’s at least PRINTING out our photos and make sure we’ve got everything in a place together!

First thing I did was take a few days and collect all of our personal photos- from cell phones, instagram posts, a few different computers and external hard drives. Do you see why I’m embarrassed to admit how bad this problem is? It was SO fun going through all the photos- Emmie as a little baby and all these memories that I had totally forgotten about! That in itself was SO motivating to finish up collecting all these photos!  

Once I had them in one place, I sorted through by the years and then the months, making it super simple to then upload them to chatbooks by months!  I’m still working on getting all the books organized and ordered & can’t wait to update once I do!!

Are you good at printing your personal photos? Tell me your favorite way to organize and get your items printed!

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Ashley Eiban is a Wedding & Portrait Photographer based in Central Virginia. Serving the Lynchburg, Charlottesville, Richmond, and surrounding areas. Available for travel world-wide.  Ashley is passionate about cultivating genuine relationships built on mutual understanding, trust and lasting friendship.  

Currently booking a limited number of wedding and portrait sessions for 2018 and 2019.  Contact Ashley today for additional information!