Did y’all even read that title?! Oh. My. Goodness!!! Yay! This day has been a long, long time in the works, and we are incredibly excited that it is finally, finally here! Today, we are officially launching a brand new avenue of our business, and we even get to introduce you to somebody pretty darn special! But before we do that, let’s backtrack for a second so that we can fill you in on the story! 🙂
If you know us personally or have been following us for a long time, you know that I (Caitlin) started our business back in high school! When I started, I actually had no intention of shooting weddings… they literally terrified me, actually! 😉 Instead, I focused 100% of my efforts in the beginning on family sessions, newborn sessions, senior sessions, and other lifestyle shoots. I loved it, and it had my heart for a really long time!
Eventually, I fell head over heels in love with the wedding photography industry, and around the time when Luke and I met, started dating, and began shooting together, we realized we simply didn’t have the time to devote to the lifestyle area of what would become our business anymore. However, we still had people asking us to do lifestyle sessions super often, and it broke our hearts to have to turn those sweet inquiries away simply because we weren’t available to shoot them!
During our retreat this past winter, we realized it was finally time to do something about this fact. We decided to be praying about bringing a new team member on board who would head up a brand new lifestyle portion of the Caitlin & Luke Photography brand. Around that time, we also were opening up applications for our internship program (more on that soon!), and as we were going through the interview process for that internship, we came across an application for a sweet girl named Tori. Immediately, Luke and I both realized this girl would be a more than perfect fit for the position we’d been wanting to develop, so we started the conversation with Tori about what it might look like for her to hop on board as our new associate! We had dinner at our house one night, and after talking things through extensively, we all felt so peaceful about moving forward together, and we couldn’t have imagined a better fit for this position that we’d been praying about filling with the right person!!
And so, after months and months of training, planning, dreaming, shooting, and more planning, here we are!! It’s finally launch day! Woohoo!! So, friends, without any further ado, allow us to introduce to you Tori Streitmatter, our brand new TEAM MEMBER and Lifestyle Photographer! Yay!!
We absolutely LOVE what Tori wrote for the new Lifestyle page here on our website, so I wanted to include that below in order to help y’all get to know this girl even better:
“I’m Midwestern farm girl with a big heart for people and a deep appreciation for meaningful conversations. My goal in life is to turn every passerby into a friend. You never know what you can learn from someone ’til you start a conversation with them. (Yes, I am an extrovert through and through.)Â
Come to think of it, that is exactly why I fell in love with photography in the first place. Everyone has unique stories to share with the world, and I want to be the one to deliver the best images that help you tell the best stories possible! I believe the right photos can help enhance your story, moment, or milestone in such a beautiful and powerful way, whether you’re graduating high school or welcoming a new little one to your family.Â
I am very connected to my faith, family, and farm. I have a B.S. in Agricultural Communications & Leadership from Illinois State University. Go Redbirds! When I am not holding a camera, you can often spot me on the golf course, playing guitar, relaxing near a body of water, writing, petting a dog, or attending a community networking event of some kind!Â
I’m so happy you stumbled upon this page! I look forward to capturing you and your session soon!”
Is she not the sweetest ever, or what?! We are SO thrilled to welcome Tori on board!! Oh- and to top it all off, this sweet girl got ENGAGED last week! How fun is that?!
So… what does this mean for you? This means that if you LOVE the Caitlin & Luke style, experience & brand and want family, newborn, senior or maternity photos that look just like our engagement, wedding & anniversary photos, along with the same unique, personal & hands-on experience that we’ve worked for years to curate, you can have it! We have trained Tori from the ground up on everything she possibly could need to know in order to serve you well. She will be handling all our lifestyle sessions from here on out, and we could not be more confident that any of you will be in amazing hands working with her!! Whether you’re a past bride who wants family photos with your first little one that will have the same look and feel as your engagement & wedding photos, a mama who’s never worked with us before but has always loved our style, or a senior who wants senior photos that look like ours, Tori is for you! She is now booking sessions for the summer & fall of 2018, and you should absolutely send her a note to get something set up!!
Be sure to go check out the brand new Lifestyle page here on the website (just click the LIFESTYLE label in the Navigation all the way at the top of this page!) to get to know Tori further, see a gallery full of some of the gorgeous work she’s been crafting over the past several months, and send her an inquiry! You can also reach her easily at tori@caitlinandluke.com, and you should definitely go give her a like on Facebook and follow her on Instagram at @ToriCaitlinandLuke!!
We are incredibly excited to be expanding our team and cannot wait to see where this journey takes us! So, please join us in welcoming Tori to the Caitlin & Luke family! This is going to be fun, y’all. Happy Monday!!
Xoxo,
Caitlin & Luke
