TréCreative - The Story of Our Name

This blog post is long overdue. Every time we share this story in person, I'm reminded I have to share this with our online audience as well! So today is the day, the day we’ll share more about the beginnings of TréCreative and how our name came to be!

When Stephen was finishing his senior year of film school down in Southern California, I was still up in Chico also attending school. The summer prior, we were encouraged by friends to start a business together doing these things we loved so much. So we said why not! We both had minor portfolios built, and a huge passion for photo and video, but we knew very little about starting a business and even less about maintaining or growing one. However, it seemed like a fun adventure, so we jumped in both never really worrying much about it. Thinking back to that moment, we're so thankful we embarked on this adventure! Having our own business has been one of the biggest blessings we've ever received!

After deciding we were going to focus on weddings within photography and videography, we decided to sign up for our first bridal show in Chico. Like any new business, you need a name and a website so people can find you. So in between attending and studying for classes, we began to think of a name for our new business venture. We knew we wanted our name to be short and catchy, easy to remember. Prior to TréCreative, Stephen ran his own freelance business under the name "Stephen Diaz Productions". He was ready for something fresh and new and was tired of seeing the run-of-the-mill [Insert Name Here] + [Occupation] business name equation. There's nothing wrong with that method, but we just wanted something different.

We started to think of things that were meaningful to us. First, we loved being creative, our whole business was based on this passion. We knew that while the technology of photography and videography may change over the years, we want to always center our business around creativity. Second, we always liked the symbolism of trees. One of our first dates was hiking up a mountain to touch a single tree we could see perched up there from the bottom. Stephen has a half-sleeve tattoo on his arm which involves a tree. We like the endless metaphors and life lessons you can draw from trees. Growing strong, yet slowly over time. Growing together with our roots anchored deep in rich and fertile soil. Reaching up towards God, yet outward to pride shade and shelter for others. We began thinking of different kinds of trees for our name, but nothing seemed to roll off the tongue perfectly with "creative". So we did what any thoughtful college student would do, we used Google! We put the word "tree" into Google Translate to see if it inspired anything.

I remember the phone called I received from Stephen. After explaining how his Google search went, he said "Hey, how do you think TréCreative sounds, with the accent above the e? It turns out "tré" means tree in Icelandic. It seemed to roll perfectly off our tongue (for anyone who's never heard us say it, it's pronounced "traycreative"). We went for it. We had a name! We both made a quick decision, bought the domain and the name has stuck every since! Even when we re-branded a few years ago, we kept a tree atop a mountain in the logo to remind us of our roots and to always run after adventure!

As we desire to see TréCreative grow, we pray our roots would continue to grow deep in fruitful soil with a strong foundation. That the photos and video we capture would be a blessing to our couples and their families for years to come. That we would preserve love-filled moments in time that would remind our couples of the reasons they choose each other every day. That we would inspire others to look for adventure and never stop chasing after it!

We're so thankful for TréCreative, but really we're thankful for all of you. Thank you for supporting and loving us throughout the years. We truly believe without you we would not be where we are today.

We'll end this post with a little glimpse into what we believe, the TréCreative Manifesto. Love you all!

-S&C