How did "TréCreative" Happen?
After thinking about this blog post, I can't help but wonder why it has taken this long to share! Maybe, I just assumed others knew, or maybe it's because we often share it in our client meetings. Anyways, recently we've been asked more and more what led us to start our business. And well, here it is! The story of TréCreative is amazing to me. I say this often and I totally mean it. I seriously never thought I would ever be a business owner or even a photographer for that matter. Stephen and I both had other plans! But the funny thing is, what we're now doing is more fulfilling than either of us could have ever dreamt. That's the beauty of stepping into the unknown.
We were both college students. Stephen had always known he wanted to do something with film and cinema. He was always making short silly movies with friends and his spark of editing really grew in high school when he took a video production class. He pursued film production whole heartily in college, where he majored in Cinema & Media Arts. He thought initially he would want to go the Hollywood route and work on film sets. When he had an opportunity in college to get a taste of that, he realized it wasn't for him.
All along our dating years, we would often go on photo adventures together. Because you can't date a film major without going on those right?!? As we went on those adventures my spark for photography grew. With graduation money after high school, I bought my first DSLR camera. While Stephen was in college, we spent all our dating years apart from each other in a long distance relationship. With an exception of occasional trips to see one another and of course our summer tradition of working at Mount Hermon Camp in Santa Cruz. That would even become the place Stephen would propose years later. At camp, Stephen was one of the videographers and I was a counselor. I took my camera with me everywhere, literally everywhere! Our last summer there, Stephen got asked to be the wedding videographer for an old camp friend. The same summer, I got to be a second shooter at a wedding and got a little taste for a passion that would soon grow. That summer I was taking more portraits of people, asking the camp photographer lots of questions and slowly upgrading my gear. By that time, Stephen had sold everything he owned to buy his first "professional" camera. It was this last summer at camp that was truly the turning point. Friends starting encouraging us to make a business together with photography and videography. The thought of working together and doing what we loved was a dream! We really liked working together at camp and being creative together really grew us closer.
Camp ended and we were asked to be the videographers again at another wedding! That same year, Stephen would be graduating and moving back to Chico. All along he had been learning about social media, marketing and how to build websites. I was in Chico, still taking my camera everywhere and constantly asking family and friends to be my photo models. That winter we were encouraged to do the Chico Bridal Show and we signed up! Upon doing so, we realized we needed a website and a name . TréCreative was then officially formed! We'll tell more on the story behind the TréCreative name another day :)
It was official. We had jumped into the role of business owners, as entrepreneurs! I was still finishing school and working another part time job while Stephen went full time doing TréCreative. My idea was always to finish my degree and pursue what I was studying all while doing photography on the side. The more weddings we worked, the more I realized how little I wanted to have anything to do with my major and the more we loved working together. Right after getting married and graduating college, I eagerly jumped into the business full time. I was super hesitant to quit my part time job, but with the encouragement from friends and mostly Stephen, I finally quit and am so thankful I did!
This business has brought so much joy and opened so many doors for us! I am totally in awe of where we are now and never would have imaged doing what we do today. TréCreative is so much more for us than just making a living. It's our baby. Something we've watched grow, learn and change, just like we have! We are blessed by the couples and families we interact with every weekend. Some of our couples have become our closest friends and biggest fans and we are grateful for all you out there who have supported us along the years!