The Real Cam & Courtney

We’ve spent 15 years capturing the beautiful, the polished, and the picture-perfect. That has literally been our job.

But today’s post? It’s about everything else. The moments very few or possibly no one sees. The things we’ve done to make weddings days or other sessions go smoothly.

These are some of the awkward, hilarious, muddy, sweaty, tender behind-the-scenes life of Cam & Courtney Photography.

Because while our couples were celebrating the most important day(s) of their lives, we were right there in the mix. Not only with cameras affixed to our hands, but often with ties to straighten, veils to be fluffed, shoes to find, dogs to wrangle, kids to entertain and nerves to calm.

This post is a love letter to the beautiful chaos that we’ve embraced behind the lens. And we’ve even got some photos to prove it.

The Many Hats We’ve Worn

You may have hired us to be your photographers, but people have also gotten us as:

Luggage mule	Emotional support humans
Chauffeur	Make-up fixer
Boutonniere pinning expert	Seamstress
Dress fluffer	Plane pusher
Tie straightener	iPad/iPhone photographer
Venue decorator	Prayer partner
Child entertainer	Walking Pharmacy
Hair stylist	Pep talker
Dog wrangler	Baby whisperer
Wild animal scarer (true story – and more than once)	Bench wiper

And so much more!

We’ve carried dresses, shoes, coats, flowers, and crying toddlers. We’ve climbed trees, laid in ditches, deep snow or puddles, waded into water- all for the shot.

By the end of a wedding day, we were often the dirtiest people in attendance. Early on, Courtney earned the affectionate nickname of “Pigpen” (from Charlie Brown) given the state she often ended the day in… But that didn’t stop us from still getting on the dance floor to capture those party dancing moments, and dancing/jumping right along with everyone else.

And we loved every ridiculous minute of it.

Our Favourite Kind of Laughter

Over the years, we’ve collected a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes photos of each other – the kind that never make it into the wedding galleries, but the ones we take for us, because they just make us laugh. We’re good at that too on a wedding day, making each other laugh. Just another thing I love about us!

We have photos of Cam up in a tree like a wildcat or squirrel.

Photos of Courtney fallen over on the ground because she wasn’t watching where she was backing up.

Outtakes. Bloopers. Moments of sheer exhaustion and uncontainable joy.

They remind us that even on the longest, most chaotic wedding days – we had fun. Together. We didn’t just work alongside each other, we laughed together. Constantly.

We Got to Do This Together

I imagine you’ve caught the drift by now – post after post – but one of the best things about Cam & Courtney Photography is that we are more than just partners in name. We are partners in life, in parenting, in business. We are partners- period.

Behind the scenes isn’t just about the bloopers. It’s about the way we continued to show up for each other.

One of us carrying the gear, while the other carried the stress.

One running and orchestrating details with the planner, while the other handled shooting the golden hour portraits.

One of us whispering quiet encouragement when the other was feeling the pressure of a tight timeline or a difficult family dynamic.

Always a team. Always on the same side. Always in an effort to put our best collective foot forward and serve from the bottom of our hearts.

There is something so beautiful about the partnership we built. Something incredibly meaningful about the trust and the familiar rhythm we shared after all these years behind the lens, behind the scenes and side by side.

It was never just about the photos. This “job” was more than a job. It was ministry where we got to serve together. It was friendship. It was partnership. And it was a whole lot of fun.

And the behind-the-scenes? That’s where the real magic happened.

We hope you enjoy these photos – the messy, beautiful, and sometimes hilarious proof that we were all in, every time. With full hearts and dirty clothes.

xoxo

Cam & Courtney

Behind the Scenes of CCP