From Hobby to Business
Terrence Irving runs Terrence Irving Photography, a wedding photography business based in southeastern Connecticut. His journey into wedding photography started unexpectedly in 2017 when he was selling landscape photos on Etsy.
“Someone asked me to photograph their toddler, which led to an engagement session request, and then that same couple asked me to do their wedding,” Terrence explains. “I remember being terrified and then having so much fun with all of the unpredictability and stress. I said, ‘I think I want to keep doing this.’”
Now coming up on eight or nine years in business, Terrence photographs everything from intimate elopements to 300-person weddings throughout New England, bringing at least one assistant to help manage equipment and capture every moment.
Balancing Two Careers
Jeremy Rivera:
Talking to other small business owners, what challenges have you had to overcome? Were you at a nine to five before you transitioned to this?
Terrence Irving:
I’m actually in the rare bucket where I have both. I have my wedding photography business and I also work a corporate job as an engineer. The challenge is balancing the two while also being a husband and father.
The nine to five has its benefits—the stability is nice, especially for health insurance. But for me, it’s not really a side hustle. If I’m not at my day job or with my family, I’m working on my business. And only 10% of it is actually taking pictures. The rest is editing, website work, fielding inquiries, and meeting with couples.
My opinion is you’re not doing it right if the only times you talk to your clients are when they book and when the event happens. I want regular touchpoints so they know they’re not just a number.
SEO Over Social Media Ads
When Terrence started in 2019, Facebook and Instagram ads dominated wedding vendor marketing. “They never worked for me,” he admits. “I booked exactly one wedding from a Google Ad years ago. But SEO has been it for me.”
His approach has two key elements:
First, articulating his brand voice—clearly explaining who he is as a photographer and his specific expertise on his website.
Second, creating venue-specific content—”I’m sprinkling out into the world little blog posts with images and alt tags about venues I’ve worked at. When couples search for a venue, hopefully they find my blog post. They’re getting information about the location, but they’re also seeing my work and voice.”
This strategy of leaving breadcrumbs has proven effective. Beyond his own site rankings, Terrence leverages venue relationships for co-marketing opportunities.
Community Over Competition
“In Connecticut and Rhode Island, we have a really nice community of wedding photographers,” Terrence shares. When booked, photographers refer each other. “My friend Steve Walter calls it ‘community over competition.’ If I’m not available, I’ll refer couples to three trusted friends.”
Venue relationships are equally valuable. Good venues will tag photographers on social media or provide backlinks in exchange for images. Getting on preferred vendor lists means your name gets handed to every couple who books that venue.
“Being able to say I’m not just an expert with the camera, but also an expert with the location—that goes a long way,” Terrence advises. “Even if you don’t have events there yet, go visit venues, take pictures, share them, and build that expertise.”
The AI Factor
Recently, Terrence has noticed a new trend: “I’ve gotten about five inquiries this year where couples said they found me via ChatGPT.” He’s experimented with ChatGPT’s deep research feature and been impressed by what it surfaces about venues.
“ChatGPT and AI have become sort of an unpaid wedding planner for couples,” he observes. Unlike traditional SEO where you can track rankings, AI introduces personalization and unpredictability—you can’t be certain when or why you’ll be recommended.
Terrence tracks lead sources through his CRM. “The main metric is the source of the inquiry—what percentage come from SEO? ChatGPT? Word of mouth? If human referrals drop, I look in the mirror and ask what I need to adjust.”
Managing Seasonality
“I owe a lot to COVID,” Terrence reflects. “Starting right before the pandemic taught me how to deal with feast or famine from the start.”
During slower periods, he focuses on knowing when to slow expenditures and redirecting time toward marketing and content creation. He’s navigating the shift from Instagram reels to TikTok, where capturing attention in the first two or three seconds is critical.
Staying Small, Staying Personal
Jeremy Rivera:
What’s your long-term vision? Do you want to scale up or keep it lifestyle-focused?
Terrence Irving:
I love what I have going on right now. I photograph about 10 to 12 weddings per year. That lets me dial in my artistry and truly know each couple.
There are national companies that will send you a wedding photographer—there’s no relationship, no emotion, just a business transaction. I try to be as opposite to that as I can. I check in with couples, do engagement sessions, and follow up years later.
These pictures are going to be in families forever. That’s deeply personal. I don’t want to treat anyone like a statistic. I want to treat them like human beings.
My long-term goal? Keep doing what I’m doing and doing it well, maybe adding one or two more weddings each year, but maintaining that personal touch.
Final Thoughts
Jeremy Rivera:
I love your perspective on honoring the role you have as a service provider, especially for something so sentimentally connected. There’s a pride in craftsmanship with service professionals that sometimes gets lost. You’re not trying to be part of the big corporate regime extracting money—you’re creating something meaningful.
Terrence Irving:
My next wedding is a 15-person micro wedding at Aquila’s Nest winery in Connecticut. Big or small, I love photographing weddings and doing it well and artistically. The goal is always for couples to walk away saying, “We don’t think we could have gotten that anywhere else.”
Find Terrence Irving Photography at tirvingphoto.com or follow @tirvingphoto on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
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