Today we’d like to introduce you to Abbi Hearne.
Hi Abbi, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Austin, Texas, and started photographing weddings in 2014 with a prominent local photographer, then started my own business after I graduated college in 2015. Shortly after establishing our business in Texas (where I roped my husband Callen in as a second photographer), we hit the road full-time in Fall 2016. We’d been traveling all over the west any chance we got, but taking the leap to full-time was an exciting move. We didn’t know how it would work out, but we started promoting the idea of adventurous weddings & elopements, convincing couples that getting married in places like National Parks was a great way to escape the stress of a big wedding and do something that felt more true to them. We lived on the road for over three years as adventure elopements grew exponentially in popularity, then eventually found a home in the one place we couldn’t imagine leaving; Moab, Utah. But we’re still vagabonds at heart and desert is still a little too hot for our taste in the summers, so we’ve been driving up to Alaska every summer for the past five years. This last summer we bought a cabin up there, so now our business is officially based in Moab & Alaska! It’s a far cry from the country club weddings we started out shooting in Texas, but we’ve truly loved this job every step of the way and couldn’t be more thrilled with where it is right now.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Taking the leap to hit the road full-time was certainly our first significant challenge. We were giving up a really amazing community of friends, proximity to our families, and a growing local business to hit the road. We had no idea if our idea of adventure elopements would take off, but our hearts felt at home out West, and we knew it was where we belonged. We didn’t have much money when we hit the road and didn’t make very much that first year, but we were happy living in our tiny camper — for us it was truly about more time in the places we loved! Once we got more established and this idea grew, we ran into a nearly opposite problem; we were booking so much and traveling across states constantly that we began to feel burnt out and like we’d lost the freedom we were seeking. Since 2017, we’ve been paring down our bookings & locations, no longer bouncing around state to state, instead focusing in on the places we love most.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In the time since we booked our first adventure elopement in 2016, they have become much more popular and the amount of couples, as well as vendors, choosing to leave the traditional wedding space for outdoor weddings in public lands has grown exponentially. We love seeing this, but it’s also pushed us to find our niche within this niche. I’d say what sets us apart is the way we’ve always incorporated this job and our photography with our personal passions. We plan our bookings around our ideal travel schedule, and our elopements are often inspired by our lifestyle. When we photograph couples packrafting with icebergs in Alaska, it’s because that is something we love to do in our own free time. When we plan an aviation-inspired elopement in Moab where our couple gets married on a backcountry desert airstrip, the passion is pulled from Callen’s own experience as a pilot. We’ve found that while other vendors are often inspired by our work, adventures, and locations, our couples are almost always drawn to us because of the personal passions we hold for these places and ideas. Our experiences inform our knowledge, and many times we’ve been able to give our couples experiences that can’t be recreated because of our unique perspective and history in the place.
How do you define success?
To me, success is a happy and fulfilling life in every aspect. This often means less “successful” numbers in our business, giving up the drive to be the very best in the industry and instead focusing on our couples & our lives. Success is every one of our couples saying they’d book us again in a heartbeat & they can’t imagine their elopement any other way. It’s also slow days at home, an abundance of time together as a family, and a relaxed approach to our job. We’re in this for the long haul, and while the fast-growing years were certainly fun, I’m now focused on maintaining what we’ve built while prioritizing a beautiful life in every aspect.
Pricing:
- Elopements start at $12,000
- Adventure Sessions are $4000
- Family Sessions (new in 2023!) are $2800
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thehearnes.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehearnes/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thehearnesphotography
