Today we’d like to introduce you to Krista Garrand
Hi Krista, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Chantilly Lace started as a hobby when I was a child and continued through my adolescence. As a teenager, it was my dream to be a professional photographer, but a school administrator told me I could never make a full time living in that field. Her words derailed my dream for several years and I continued taking photos as a hobby.
After becoming a mother, I decided to step back from my full time job to stay at home with my children. As our finances were a little tighter being on one income, I started to dabble a little more in photography on the weekends. Little by little, Chantilly Lace was born. Five years later, my very part time hobby business had became my full time job, providing steady income. Videography was added as a service and Chantilly Lace continued to grow. Being able to bundle both photography and videography services seemed to thrust my business into much more success, allowing me to expand even more allowing me to hire in a team and open a planning and coordination portion of the business.
Now, 17 years later Chantilly Lace is the only wedding service of its kind here in this area. We offer Planning, photography, videography and photo booth services all with one consistent team. There are never freelancers or “second shooters” working in our business, instead we find and train our team members in-house so that we can provide our clients with a consistent and quality experience.
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?
It definitely has not been a smooth road. Much of my time in the beginning felt like I was digging the trenches. The wedding industry is very oversaturated in my area. The folks in the industry here are amazing, so it’s tough earning your way to the point of being noticed. A lot of stress and tears went into building Chantilly Lace to what it is today. Additionally, the photography and videography side of things is expensive to get started with. The gear is very costly, especially professional graded gear. It definitely took time to earn enough to afford the necessary tools required to grow.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We specialize in wedding services including Planning, Photography, Videography and Photo Booth. We offer a one stop shop for our clients, which is what sets us apart from others. Additionally, we offer a full time team that is cross trained instead of sourcing freelancers for second shooting and assistant work. My team is trained to provide the same high-standard of quality to each and every client. We prefer to take newbies under our wing so that we can share our experience and knowledge and train them to be exceptional members of our team. We promote from within our Chantilly Lace family, so that each team member not only has long-term experience in the wedding industry and appropriate skill, but provides a consistent quality experience to clients on their wedding day. Team members are specifically trained to have the same work ethic, perspective, shooting style, day-of management and they use the same tools and/or professional grade gear, creating a model and structure for staff to be fluid and interchangeable. Quality and consistency is just as important to us as client relationships.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chantillylaceweddings.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chantillylace.llc/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChantillyLaceLLC
