We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessica Al-Khalifah and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, why did you pursue a creative career?
For YEARS I worked as an architect for a custom home builder. While this allowed me to be somewhat creative with the homes I designed, something was missing for me. I wasn’t allowed to dress uniquely and express myself. I had to always cover my tattoos and dress professionally and while there’s nothing WRONG with that….it’s just not my style. I used to always see how far I could push my boss with the color of my hair lol. He said it had to be natural colors so I would come in with the boldest red I could manage. Hey it’s technically a natural color!!

I just felt like the creative inside me was chained and gagged and was desperate to be set free! Que photography entering my life. My husband bought me a little DSLR for our first trip to Alaska to see if I would enjoy taking photos and boy did it spawn something in me. I just felt like FINALLY….here is something that will let me create and push boundaries of how creative I could be.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
So basically what I do is help clients have a completely intentional and badass wedding experience. Today there is so much pressure on couples getting married to have the big wedding and entertain 100’s of guests and some people just AREN’T comfortable in doing so. I help plan and photograph something that lives up to THEIR dreams and expectations. NOT their family and friends expectations.

Something I love doing for my couples that a lot of other elopement photographers DON’T do is that I am a one stop shop! I provide literally everything you need to have an amazing wedding day and liberate the stress from making decisions. I am ordained so I can legally marry them, provide florals AND a cake for cake cutting on top of photographing their day. We also help with the planning and logistics, excursions and more.

Getting here was NOT an easy road! It took YEARS of building up my portfolio and learning techniques and building up talent and learn how to best serve my clients. There was a time that I just wasn’t getting any bookings and couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong and almost gave up. I decided I was just going to quit worrying about it and start shooting for me! I started doing shoots that fit MY style and gave my artistic side a chance to come out and it was like everything just finally started falling into place!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh my gosh, definitely my husband Yousef! Without his constant support, whether financially or mentally this would have never happened. He has ALWAYS been my biggest cheerleader on the sidelines, and helping me succeed any way he can. Any time I would be at a point where I didn’t think I would succeed he would just give me the push I need to keep going and do what I love anyway.

x 

Website: www.wherethewildthingswed.net

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wherethewildthingswed/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wherethewildthingswed/

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