I constantly get asked why I love being a wedding photographer or what inspired me to do this. I have my normal answers I rattle off without really thinking twice, but it got me thinking about why I LOVE photography, specifically wedding photography. It's true, I do love it. I am not a fashion or sports photographer that uses weddings as my bread and butter. Something about wedding photography makes me fall into my own hum. 

I love love, but I wouldn't say I always did. Finding love made me love it. My relationship is the thing in my life I couldn't live without. My fiancé Nick truly is my other half. I feel truly blessed to have found my match, and I love being a part of celebrating other people's love as well. 

Nick and I are ridiculous and have so many of our own little habits and rituals. I love getting a glimpse into other people's secret lives. The lives they live behind closed doors where nothing is normal or abnormal. Being a wedding photographer allows me a window into couples private worlds and I love this. 

I didn't always know I wanted to be a photographer. In fact I went down a lot of different roads until I found the perfect match. I have wanted to be an actress, a saxophone player, a nutritionalist, a doctor, a sex therapist, a social worker, I dabbled in PR and marketing until I had the ah ha moment that finally proved why every other option wasn't right. 

I won a poetry contest when I was 11 and used the $50 I won to get my first digital camera. Of course it was a hunk of junk and the images were so pixelated you could barely make out the faces, but I took photos of everyone. I loved it then and I wished I would have realized the possibilities. 

Photography is the first thing in my life I have ever felt naturally good at. I loved the saxophone, I have a saxophone degree and worked incredibly hard for it. But everything was always an uphill battle with a slippery slope I always slid back down. I still love the saxophone and I can't wait to get out of apartment life and start playing for myself. There is just something different about photography. 

I am so glad I can be at the place I am now, yet I can't wait to grow and improve. My fiancé gets to be my co-worker and business partner and I get to spend everyday focusing on what I love. I couldn't ask for more and I now believe the saying that, if you love what you do, you'll never work a day of your life. 

~Villani Photos