Life & Work with Lauren Shrader

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Shrader.

Hi Lauren, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I got to shooting wedding films by starting with photography. I started doing photography knowing I wanted to do weddings. I started photographing my friends in wedding dresses in my backyard or around my house and eventually made friends with another wedding photographer in the industry. I worked with her a lot shooting real weddings as her second shooter (kind of like an assistant).

From there, I was able to eventually start to book weddings on my own. I started dabbling in shooting video later, more out of curiosity, and ended up loving it! I was so inspired by video and how it can be very very emotional, and in a lot of ways can capture the emotion of a wedding day on a more complex level than photos can. You can hear the emotion of a bride and groom saying their vows and getting choked up, and you can see Dad’s facial expression change when he sees his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time (during the first look).

It’s now three years later and I’ve shifted my business to exclusively wedding films! I shoot wedding & elopement films anywhere in the country, but I book most of my work in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia. I LOVE Savannah! I’m originally from Florida and the Spanish moss and twisted trees remind me a lot of the part of Florida I’m from. I recently captured an elopement at Wormsloe Historic Site in Savannah, but I’ve also worked at Cha Bella, and on Tybee Island.

I’m currently working on a full-fledged Wedding & Elopement guide for all my couples that book in that area that will cover everything from the best locations, permits, cost estimates, and local vendors I love! That’s something that’s still in the works, among other things. I’m super excited for another year in the industry, and all the couples I will be able to meet and connect with!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say it has NOT been the smoothest ride. I’m still not in the place I want to be now. I struggled a lot with comparing myself to other successful people in the industry and getting discouraged with the level I’m on. I tend to be a perfectionist and compare my work to someone who has been doing this successfully for 10-15 years longer.

Another big struggle is trying to juggle all the tasks when you’re first starting out. There’s so much that goes into it when first starting a business and oftentimes in the beginning stages hiring someone isn’t financially feasible yet. I shoot the wedding, organize and edit the footage to make the video (I’m simplifying this here), and then there’s maintaining social media (Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, etc) keeping up with and learning SEO to rank on google, learning everything about the video, and so much more!

I would say that has probably been my biggest challenge – learning to wear all the hats. The biggest thing I have learned though is that consistency and passion are key. Consistency brings the results, and passion maintains consistency.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a wedding videographer – specializing in capturing weddings & elopements for my clients in a way that feels like them. So many wedding videos you see are so cookie-cutter – and almost predictable.

It could be anyone’s wedding video. They all have the same poses, the same shots, and the same music. But I want my couples to always feel connected to their films, and like they’re rewatching and reliving their own wedding every time. I always seek to capture & convey the true emotion of the day and prioritize their story over anything else.

I also make it a point to get to know my couples so that I know who they are and how to make their wedding film as personal to them as they can be.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
I have a couple I think fondly of. I used to walk around our backyard – 5 acres and kind of wild – totally barefoot, being connected to nature.

I also loved the memory of going to Cedar Key, FL with a summer camp and walking out into the ocean – about knee-deep – with a giant net, and circling back around to the shore with it to see what we got. There were all different kinds of fish, jellyfish, starfish, pufferfish, and lots of crabs!

We thought about everything back after looking at them all. There were also horseshoe crabs on the beach everywhere and watching them in nature was always so interesting to me. As a kid, when the world already seems so magical and full of adventure, it’s amazing to have that kind of experience.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.laurenshraderfilms.com/
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/lauren.s.films
• Facebook: Lauren Shrader Films
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpQas-SqKnNJiEZH8Da0Xqw

Image Credits
Lauren Shrader Photo and Lauren Shrader Films