10 Years of Holly Cade Photography!

"Holly Cade Photography" is 10 years old today!

10 whole years of photos, editing, hard work, confetti, happy couples, trying not to sweat too much while I run around wedding venues, admin, learning new things, laughter, joy and gratitude has come and gone, and before I know it today I’m starting another fresh new shiny year, and I'm now officially into the double figures.

Somehow I really don't feel old enough to say that, then I think of my achy back and my lack of ability to stay up past 10pm most nights, and suddenly I do feel old enough, eeek!

Thank you to EVERYONE who made my years so far in business such a success, I still after all this time feel that I have the best job.

My photography journey starts when I was just 17, and when I also had a very different haircut!

School was never my thing, I wasn't the social butterfly or the massively high achiever during those 13 years of formal education, but I managed to get through those years mostly unscathed and with decent GCSE's. After that all of my teachers insisted that I should then move onto sixth form, and to not do so would be a waste, university had my name written all over it apparently. But after a year of sixth form I was deeply unhappy.

I'd got stuck into one of those corners I think everyone does at least once in their lives, I hated it where I was, but I had no idea what to do next, so I stayed where I was. Not long before I had to go back for my second year I was talking to my dad about it, telling him how much I hated it and didn't want to do it, and he abruptly said to me "so just quit!"

Surprised, I looked at him and said "but I have no idea what to do next, I can't just drop out, what if I regret it?"

"Holly, you should never have regrets, because all we're doing is making the best decisions we can at the time we make them."

I think this is probably the best advice I've had in my life so far, and I officially became a "school drop out".

​15 years on, I haven't regretted this choice. Even though I genuinely didn't know what I wanted to do, I didn't have a plan, even though it was a bumpy road and not easy, and this business absolutely was not built overnight, I always knew it was the right choice.

Photo of me by my Second Shooter Lana Jones.

​When I started studying photography in sixth form, and then went onto The Isle of Wight College, I never seriously thought photography would be my full time job, and honestly I never thought I’d be photographing peoples weddings. 
 
When I started I was doing them mainly for a favour for people I knew, and my dream was to be a fashion photographer. 
 
Dreams are a funny thing though, they’re mostly not based in the real world, and it’s amazing how sometimes you think you really want to do something, and then actually when you start doing it you realise you were completely wrong and it’s not right for you at all 😂 
 
In 2016 I started focusing solely on weddings, because it was the kind of photography I enjoyed doing the most, and as of today with 119 weddings under my belt, it still is! 

Today on my 10th business birthday, and every day, I am thankful.

Forever thankful that I chose Photography on a whim as my 4th A Level at 16 years old.

Forever thankful to my Dad for encouraging me to drop out of sixth form after a year because I hated it, with no plan at all.

Forever thankful to my tutor Arlene at The Isle of Wight Collage who let me start the only photography course they had, over a month later then everyone else, and over the next 3 years set me off on my journey.

Forever thankful to (my now husband) Pete, who at the same time as I was going to collage gave me a job at my local Jessops store, I learnt even more about photography there and worked with great people.

Thank you to Jessops for making me redundant in 2013 when their stores closed. It gave me the fire to go and pursue this as my career, to stop making excuses and pushed me in the best way to just get on with it all, and over time it made my confidence grow so much.

Thank you to everyone who has EVER hired me to do work for them. It is always an honour. I'm completely serious. I wouldn’t have a business without you all.

Photography changed my life. I will always be thankful. ♥️

​ONWARDS!

Holly
​xo.