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Victoria Rayburn explains that Victoria Rayburn Photography is closing.

Victoria Rayburn Photography Is Closing

Engagements, For Photographers, Personal, Priority Pursuit Podcast, VRP Weddings, Wedding Planning Tips, Weddings

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This is a very bittersweet announcement to make, but I have made the decision to close Victoria Rayburn Photography. 

While I cannot begin to explain how much I’ve loved working with brides, grooms, families, and other VRP clients over the last eight years, working nights and weekends ultimately isn’t right for my family long term. 

With this in mind, I’m excited to share about a new venture and some important details for VRP clients. 

While I explain how I came to this decision below, you can also listen and learn more about this choice by tuning into “Episode 116: When & How to Pivot a Small Business” of The Priority Pursuit Podcast at the top of this page or wherever you listen to podcasts. 

 

God presented an opportunity to partner with Treefrog Marketing at exactly the right time.

Victoria Rayburn partners with Treefrog Marketing to teach small businesses how to to effectively market themselves.

This might come as a shock to many of you, but this isn’t a sudden decision. In fact, this has actually been in the works since December 2022. (I refrained from making a formal announcement until now, because I didn’t want VRP clients to fear that I would give them anything less than my best work.)

I am closing Victoria Rayburn Photography to partner with Treefrog  Marketing—a marketing agency for small businesses—and to serve and educate small business owners and leaders full time.

In case you aren’t familiar with the story of my career, I used to be Treefrog’s content director. While working at this incredible agency back in 2015, I started my photography business as a side hustle simply to have a creative outlet.

As a result of using the same strategies that Treefrog uses for their clients (Small business owners, I cannot recommend the flywheel marketing method enough!), I quickly ended up with more business than I knew what to do with. As a result, in 2018, I decided to become a full-time wedding photographer and marketing coach for other photographers. 

While I love the photography industry and I’ve had the privilege of photographing hundreds of weddings and sessions for the most amazing people, about a year ago, I realized that photography just wasn’t going to give me the life I wanted long term. 

Yes, I enjoyed my work. And, yes, I had no problem filling my calendar and meeting my booking goals. But, in all honesty, after watching my marriage suffer as a result of my work schedule, after losing my dad and having to photograph a wedding just three days later and then having to arrange his memorial around my wedding schedule, and as I started to think about what I wanted life to look like with children, I came to the conclusion that I needed to make a change. 

I mean, I had all of the systems and protocols in place, and my business was arguably operating as efficiently as a photography business could, but my life literally revolved around other people’s love stories and lives—while I was putting mine on the backburner. In other words, I realized that running a photography business wasn’t ever going to give Zach and I the life we wanted. 

Now, at this point, I was already offering marketing and SEO coaching for other photographers, speaking at conferences, and The Priority Pursuit Podcast had been up and running for about a year and a half.

I enjoyed educating other small business owners—often more than I enjoyed taking photos. And, with this in mind and because I knew being in the education space would allow me to spend more time with my family, I made a three-year plan to slowly pull out of weddings and transition entirely into coaching, educating, and consulting. Now, just based on numbers, I thought it would take three years before I could officially stop shooting weddings, but God had other plans. 

You see, just a week or two after writing down my plan, I met Kelly Rice—Treefrog Marketing’s founder and chief strategist—for coffee. Now, when I decided to leave Treefrog and be a full-time small business owner, I think it’s safe to say that nobody rooted for me more than Kelly did, and over the years, we’ve kept in constant contact and met up regularly to talk about business, life, faith, and more. Basically, Kelly has been the biggest blessing of a mentor and friend to me. 

During this particular coffee date in December 2022, I spilled my guts to Kelly and explained my business plan. But, what I didn’t expect Kelly to say was, “Why don’t you partner with Treefrog and do exactly that now?” 

Long story short, Treefrog needed someone on their team to focus on the education side of the business while the rest of the team focused on serving agency clients. Kelly more or less offered me a position on the spot, and the next week, we got together again to decide what this partnership would look like. 

Over the last year, I’ve been fulfilling the weddings and sessions I already had booked for 2023 while working with the Treefrog team to serve small businesses. Treefrog absorbed the podcast, and all of my coaching and other services now fall under the Treefrog umbrella, which has allowed me to better serve small businesses than I ever could on my own. 

I know God’s hand was clearly in each and every step of this transition. I mean, when this decision was made, we had no idea we would be expecting our first child in December 2023. As a result, while this has been a very difficult decision to make, I know that this is ultimately the right decision and God’s plan for this season of life. 

 

IMPORTANT Details for VRP Clients

Victoria Rayburn informs VRP clients about closing sales and how to back up their photos.

Victoria Rayburn Photography will close on December 31, 2023. And, I want to make sure that all VRP clients have their photos safely preserved. With this in mind, there are a few important details that VRP clients should be aware of so that they can protect their photos. 

 

Most importantly, thank you!

Like I said, this is a very bittersweet announcement to make. Nine years ago, having a photography business was just a dream, and thanks to VRP brides, grooms, families, and other clients, my dream became possible. 

To everyone who has ever been in front of my camera or referred my small business, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for trusting me to be your photographer, for your support, and for making my dream possible. I’ll never be able to explain the honor of getting to celebrate with and capture special moments for you. 

 

Download All Photos by December 31, 2023

With the business closing, I will be shutting down all galleries. If you’ve yet to download any of your galleries, please do so by December 31, 2023 as online galleries will no longer be available. 

If you need a link to your gallery or your PIN, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

If you don’t download your gallery before December 31, I may be able to help you afterward, but that will depend upon whether or not I still have your photos saved to a harddrive. Also, if you need your gallery reuploaded, there will be a $55 reupload fee for all sessions and a $225 fee for all weddings. 

Please, please, please take the time to download your photos and back them up to at least one (preferably two or three) cloud-based systems (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.).

 

Use Any Remaining Credits by December 31, 2023

If you have an outstanding print or album credit, please be sure to use it by December 31, 2023. 

You can learn more about wedding albums here, and you can use any print credits by opening your online gallery, adding images to your cart, and using your print credit code at checkout. 

 

Save 20% on All Wedding Albums When You Order by November 30

If you’ve yet to order your wedding or engagement album, I would love to offer you 20% off any size album if you place your order by November 30! (If you have a remaining wedding album credit, this credit will need to be applied before the discount). 

We are due December 8, and simply so I have time to get your album designed and sent to print, I would so appreciate it if you’d consider ordering your wedding album sooner rather than later. 

Again, you can learn more about wedding and engagement albums here. 

 

Save 30% on Prints, Canvases, Holiday Cards, & More with Code “FINALSALE”

If you’ve yet to print your photos and want to ensure that your photos are printed well, I’d love to offer you 30% off any print order made between now and December 31! 

To take advantage of this final print sale:

  1. Open your online gallery
  2. Add images (prints, metal prints, canvases, holiday cards, and more) to your cart
  3. Use the code “FINALSALE” at checkout to receive 30% off your purchase

 

Photographer Recommendations

Just because I can’t be your photographer any longer doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to have great photos! With this in mind, I do want to share a list of photographers with prices and photo styles that are similar to mine and whom I highly recommend.

 

Wedding Photographers

 

Family Photographers

 

Thank you for eight wonderful years of business!

Victoria Rayburn shares that Victoria Rayburn Photography is closing.

Once again, this decision wasn’t made lightly. I have been blessed to work with the best clients and vendors over the last eight years, and I will certainly miss being part of the photography and wedding industries and communities. 

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out. But, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for supporting my small business. And, if you are a small business owner (or even just thinking about starting a small business or side hustle), I hope you’ll check out The Priority Pursuit Podcast and the many other resources we produce at Treefrog Marketing.

Forever grateful, 

Victoria