HMP Year in Review: 2020 Reflect

A love note, a candid thank you, to you

Oh 2020, a curveball like nothing I hope any of us have to deal with ever again. Two things I am so eternally grateful for and constantly thanking my lucky stars over: 

One – we totally survived postponements and reschedules with only one canceled wedding! It was thanks to our May 2020 wedding, both a blessing and a curse, that we purposefully did not have many spring 2020 weddings in the first place. But of course, that meant we had to postpone our own wedding. 

Two: neither AJ or I, or any of our family members got COVID. (Brb, gonna go knock on wood!) My parents are older and needless to say mean the world to us so I’m SO grateful for their health. Side note, if I ever said no to plans or didn’t hug you when we distanced outside with you – their health and safety is why! ❤️

Not that really anything has changed much, but I know we’re all feeling a little bit of hope with vaccines being distributed (my parents are in line!!) and all the changes coming in the next few weeks. The new year just brings on that refreshed sense of hope too for all of us, I think.

I learned last year that you can’t really grow unless you reflect. 

Actually, I learned that from one of my best decisions of 2020: my business coach! She used the analogy of climbing up a ladder:

If you’re constantly climbing higher and higher without pausing to look around and appreciate where you are, and look down at where you used to be, then you’ll never appreciate all that climbing you did! Focusing on the rungs above you also mean you’ll never feel like you’ve made it, and you’ll never feel fulfilled. I’ve also completely thrown out the idea of “making it”. Everywhere I am I’ve made it!

Here are all the big bright shiny things I’m so proud of accomplishing – especially in a pandemic year:

✨ HMP Rebrand!

I started off the year real strong by launching the HMP rebrand in February! Working with Carrylove Designs to define my brand and my image was one of the most rewarding parts of last year!

✨ Postponed our own wedding

I thought AJ and I had tackled just about every hardship a relationship could in our last 9.5 years, but HEY let’s throw a pandemic in there ok?? All you fellow COVID couples out there, I know you feel this pain and I’m sending you hugs and a drink. Also, we know this just makes our relationships that much more badass right? Right.

The most heart wrenching part of this is that we have been holding our breath until things are more concretely safe, and in doing that it feels like our wedding day has just drifted away from us. Sometimes I think about my wedding dress hung up in the closet waiting to be worn and I want to lie down outside on our deck for the rest of the day because the heartbreak, uncertainty and unfairness of it all is too much to handle. 

We’ve just started talking to our planner about seeking out a new date and venue. TBD, more on that soon!

✨ Launched IGTV series

Having a video series has always been a dream of mine, and being stuck at home with empty weekends thanks to postponement, I just WENT FOR IT! 

It was terrifying to put myself out there in video form, who knows if it would be helpful and I knew I was opening myself up for judgements. But it has been nothing but rewarding to hear from my brides how helpful they have been! 

I’m especially proud of my engagement session series! After putting those out, we had some of the most creative, inspiring engagement sessions of my career!! Thank you to my brides for being the absolute best!!

✨ IG Live Series

Born from the IGTV videos, at the end of 2020 I started a LIVE series with my fellow vendor friends!!! Lives are so fun because you get real time questions and comments! I’m excited to bring these back this year with my new Tip Tuesday varieties! 

✨ EOY Goals

Somehow amidst a global pandemic, I still hit our end of year weddings booked and income goals. Like I mentioned earlier, this was the year I hired a business coach and a bookkeeper/accountant (that’s how I know I hit my goals lol). I’m thanking my lucky stars to have still hit all of my goals! 

✨ Most Important!

The most influential thing I did this year was define my why for all of this. Personally, this was so important and not to be dramatic but semi-life changing. 

Creative entrepreneurship is a rainbow wave pool of things you should be doing, arbitrary mile markers to decide whether you’ve “made it” (remember that from earlier?) With your business being yourself (and for me, my name!) it’s easy to get swept away and let it become your identity.

I believe we all deserve to be truly, and deeply loved for our authentic selves. We deserve to find that in our soulmates, and find it in ourselves. And with HMP, I want to share that with our couples! I want our photos to embody that genuine, authentic love our couples have found in each other. And I want to show how each and every one of our couples are beautiful and deserve to have that deep love! 

Maybe a bit of a rant there (and words are not my strong suit, hence the whole picture thing), but I really feel it in my bones. Discovering this and pin pointing it has been the most enlightening thing of this last year. I feel eternally grateful to our couples for inspiring this spark in me, and for letting me execute it every day..and somehow call it a job?? 

✨ Biggest Win

And now to the biggest win of all this year!! It’s that every single couple who has booked us is totally aligned with who we want to be serving. They have the biggest hearts, they are fueled by compassion and love, and at the center of all of their plans is their relationship. Their partners and their best friend is number one. That is the biggest gift I could have asked for, and feel so blessed and thankful for each of these couples I get to serve!

Here’s to 2021 being an up year on this rollercoaster! I believe no mud, no lotus, and we have nowhere to go but up (right?? Putting that into the universe regardless!) I’m thankful to you for being on this journey with me and for all your love and support! I’m wishing you and your family love, safety and light this year ❤️

xoxo,

Holly