With the TCPPA group! It was an honor to be able to share “All About Wedding Photography” with these fellow photographers and entrepreneurs!
Minneapolis “cold” is different from Atlanta “cold”.
If you’ve been following us on Instagram, you have probably recently seen what we were up to in Minneapolis. It was a short trip, but boy did we have fun and meet so many amazing people! We did so much that I felt like I was there for a week! You may be wondering why we even went there! So what had happened was… back in 2017, we shot Taren + Harrison’s wedding and our host, Morgan, was there! Since then, we were connected through Instagram. We had no idea at the time, but she runs a photography group in Minneapolis called TCPPA. When she was lining up the speakers for the group for 2020, she invited us to be one of the them! We were so stoked and truly felt honored. That booking happened last summer in June of 2019, so we had to wait several months. When the time finally came, we were more than ready to go!
While we were getting ready, many of our friends kept saying, “You know it’s going to be cold there, right?” I look up so many things all the time, but I don’t know why I never looked up Minneapolis weather… When people around me said that, I guess my brain couldn’t really comprehend what “cold” is like up there compared to here. So, about a week before the trip, I finally went on the weather app to look up Minneapolis, and it said, “Currently 9 degrees”. I was like, “9? Like just 9? Not 19?” I mean, what does a single digit temp feel like? I don’t know?! So, I started freaking out a little and got frustrated at myself for waiting til the last minute to pack and just not feeling prepared with clothes and just felt that I was surely going to die there. Craig kept telling me that everything is going to be ok and that it’s really not a big deal. HA! That’s easy for him to say! I mean, he lived in Canada for 20 years! I was so determined to buy a pair of fleece lined jeans, but Craig talked me out of it. Yeah, “cold” was quite different than here. I’ve never seen plowing machines in action and trucks that just transported snow. I mean, say whaaaat? There were PILES of endless, deep snow everywhere. Wow! Now, that is a sight that you get to NEVER see in the south for sure! I’ve been in the south for the majority of my life, so seeing even an inch of snow is shocking to me. We took short walks here and there and yes, it was FREEZING, but it was actually surprisingly ok and seeing all the locals walk around like it was nothing made me feel more at ease too. We actually saw someone in shorts. CRAZY, I say! But more than anything… it was BEAUTIFUL! Ah…. the view everywhere we went was breathtaking which brings me to the next point of how the cold literally took my breath away. I didn’t know that when it’s THAT cold, it makes you cough! LOL Seriously, if someone had a camera on me trying to walk in the snow, it would’ve been one sight to see.
Two southern eskimos :)
Every scenery was stunning!
When I saw all that snow when we landed, I put these socks on right away! Morgan, our host, told me that the key is for your feet to stay warm and she was SO RIGHT! (Proud to say that Emma, my daughter, bought this pair for me for $3 using her own money from Old Navy! hehe)
In Minneapolis, everyone is family.
I didn’t quite know what to expect… Everything was going to be new to us. People, environment, weather… Craig has been there once before for an engagement shoot, but that’s it. The most important goal we had was to be informative speakers and to get the job done. But, God gave us more as He always does.
Everyone we met there treated us like family…. I just told a friend of mine that it was like visiting family that you haven’t seen in awhile. Their hospitality impressed me! All the personal touches they gave us was not something that they had to do, but they did and we felt beyond loved! As soon as we landed, I received a text from Morgan welcoming us and making sure all was ok with a photo of herself! It was so friendly and I immediately felt like I have known her for years. The couple that we mentioned earlier, Harrison + Taren, live in this city as well and the three of them are great friends! So, we all met up together for dinner that evening as well the next day when they graciously became our models during the LIVE demo part of the session.
The BEST photography group I’ve EVER met!
Morgan was THE sweetest… look at all these personal touches. And, she even offered to be our ‘UBER’ driver! Morgan, thank you for everything!
Ah… the reason why this trip even happened! Taren + Harrison! We all went out to eat at “Hai Hai”. If you love Asian Fusion, this place is a MUST! It was so unique and GOOD!
Ya’ll… this is the part of our business that I just can’t get over and stop saying. Becoming friends with our previous clients is the biggest blessing of all! I mean, how awesome is that?! That is something so priceless and something I will never take for granted because we are so thankful for it! We got to see their newborn baby too! Isn’t she adorable?! Made me want another baby… almost. ;)
On the second day when it was the day that we were speaking, we got to finally meet everyone on the board and the group. Gosh, I just can’t get over how friendly and welcoming everyone was! All the nerves went away when it was like speaking to my friends with everyone that we met. We spoke on “All About Wedding Photography”, so we covered our work flow from when we receive an inquiry to our post wedding delivery with a LIVE Off Camera Flash demo in between. We had four hours to do this and I can’t believe that we actually ran out of time! The whole session was interactive with all sorts of questions which we loved. Answering questions was my favorite part because that means they learned something! When it comes to speaking or being part of anything educational with our business, our goal is simply to help. If I know that the information we shared was helpful and it made that person grow as an entrepreneur or photographer, then it was all worth it! And, it is my hope that everyone who came was able to get at least one thing out of the time they invested in us and that it was something helpful that they can now apply to their skill or business.
The reason why we came! TCPPA!
Loved every part of this…
Our two fav shots from the LIVE demo that we did inside and OUTSIDE! Taren + Harrison were troopers!
Food is UH-MAZING!
Even though we were there for just three days, I think we ate a week’s worth of food. But hey, I didn't mind it at all because that is my number one love language! :) And, when the standard of food excellence is like the one in Minneapolis, I could eat literally all day. Wow! The food was seriously so good! Didn’t know that Minneapolis was known for great tasting yummies. Well, now I do and I can’t wait to go back! Here are a few more restaurants that we recommend! (By the way, the hotel we stayed in was Radisson RED Hotel and it was AWESOME! Sorry I didn’t get any photos… only had videos.)
Ok…. when you have “Bacon” as part of your restaurant name, you know it’s going to be good! This restaurant was literally one block away from our hotel and we went TWICE because it was that good! It was called Bacon Social House - go there!
I mean…. look at that BACON!!! So, each bacon you see on that plate has a different flavor. Just when I didn’t know bacon could get better, it did! I had to balance out the calories with a salad though. :)
Can you guys tell that we had a great time? Oh yes… after these last couple of days, Minneapolis officially has a special part in my heart. Many people suggested that we go there during another season like Spring or Fall, but you know what? I actually loved it there with the snow and the freezing temps! It made it special and an experience that I never get here in Georgia, so yeah, I can’t wait to go during winter again! There were many places we wish we had time to visit like the Minihaha Falls and the Mall of America and other museums and parks, but we had to get back to our kiddos! Oh, how we missed them…. BUT! We made time for a very special person, and that’s Ali! She’s also our previous bride who resides in Minneapolis. We contacted her last minute to see if she could come out for breakfast before we flew out and she did! WITH HER BABY BOY! Her hubby had to work, so we hope we can see him next time! My goodness… seeing our couples have babies and starting families is such a heart warming thing to witness. I feel like a distant auntie. :)
Look at her boy looking at the camera! We met up at Eggy’s Diner and yes, that place was so YUMMY too! We so appreciated Ali who is pregnant with her second child come out in the cold with her baby! Wow! It was so good seeing her and catching up with her as well.
Even the airport’s food was GREAT! This place was called “Shoyu” and they had a great variety of good Asian foods including my fav, Korean! ;) (Sorry there’s no link - couldn't find their website.”
Until next time, Minneapolis!
Well, thank you for taking the time to read our blogs and following us on Instagram especially on the stories! It’s been so fun getting to know many of you via DM’s and just interacting there. And, did you hear that we began our YouTube channel this year? Wooo hoooooo! We will be sharing all sorts of resourceful things on this channel related to photography, business and basically our life, so we hope you love it and subscribe! We are ALWAYS open to suggestions and ideas, so let us know anytime. If you have a topic that you’d like for us to cover too, just DM us. As always, thank you!
With much love,
Craig + Unchong