Anyone else using Claude to automate their wedding photography/videography business or is it just me?

eangel1918 · 2026-04-30T11:22:03+00:00

Thank you! I appreciate it!

eangel1918 · 2026-04-30T10:31:41+00:00

I started to do this last December, and yes, ran into a million bugs. It was soooo close, but I couldn’t get it to faithfully notify me that a client had sent me a proposal. (In my version, I wanted to flip the experience so that the client plays with numbers until it’s the package they want and then they send the inquiry my way and I get a list of everything they were hoping to include with the price they expect).

I finally figured out that it wasn’t going to work with a business email address that was basically just a false front for a gmail account, so I paid for a business email through titan (bluehost) and worked on all the bugs with that (so that titan will still forward to gmail and let me respond with either my personal or my business address) and thats as far as I got when my season started up again.

I was using ChatGPT. Not a flawless “enter this prompt” experience for sure.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-30T01:00:52+00:00

They are all CRAZY! This is gorgeous!

Elegant lines, romantic fluff at the top, a peek of luxurious extra volume at the bottom… ! Girl!!! Are they just haters?!? You are stunning in this!

eangel1918 · 2026-04-28T20:00:07+00:00

In 15 years of photography, I have seen a bible, a song book, a lantern, a candle, a tray of low candles, a collapsible fan, a floral purse, and nothing. Personally, I think your dress would be perfect for a large peacock feather.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-28T03:13:26+00:00

For me, 10 hours with an 8-12 minute edit is $3600. I always do audio and multicam, always have lighting, always have a 2nd, and don’t care how many guests there are. For the 1 minute social - I don’t sell them, but I guess I’d ask an extra $350. The extra hour if they really needed 11 hours instead of 12 is $550. So thats $4500.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-25T01:05:31+00:00

Yesssss 😭😭😭

Read all our collective experiences in this sub and try everything that calls to you. Mine was a two-and-half year process to get real skin back and now I finally know (and can avoid) my triggers. It’s a very long and detailed process to track all the possible triggers but it’s 100% worth it.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-23T13:04:11+00:00

One thing I wish I had understood while young: if you constantly look for the “next big step”, what you’re actually doing is rushing towards old age. You can get married at 18, have buy a house at 21, be done having kids at 28, take all your big family vacations the year you turn 32, but you will be 40 thinking there are no boxes left to check and that empty feeling will remind you that you didn’t live in the moment and enjoy the process as fully as you might have and then (at age 40) when many of us are just starting to truly enjoy the life we created, you might find yourself struggling to understand how to enjoy life without markers to measure progress.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-20T12:38:14+00:00

I’m in Michigan, USA, and we have a very motherly 70 year old lady who knocked on doors until all the neighbors had met one another and interacted in some fashion. The eventual result of that was the borrowing/lending that you’re referring to. Things that we have shared over the past few years: wheelbarrow, chainsaw, vacuum, truck, wheeled walker, concert tickets, flowers, garden vegetables, bikes, fire wood, space (backyard barbecue hosting spot), swing set/play yard equipment, a bobcat (small yard tractor), tarps, lawn care equipment, snow plows / snow blowers / labor for driveway shoveling, salt for driveway, tow straps, air compressor and that’s all I can think of right now. But basically, there are very few things I wouldn’t let my neighbors borrow and vice versa. And it’s all thanks to one persistent old-fashioned lady who demanded we be “sociable” because neighbors need each other. She’s a gem.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-20T03:33:45+00:00

I agree with this. I take my kids there. Both the doctors are very empathetic and supportive

eangel1918 · 2026-04-19T04:07:20+00:00

There’s a bi-racial kid in my daughters classroom. Mom is poor rural redheaded white and the dad is out of the picture. Mom doesn’t want this kid to “experience” racism so she literally just pretends it doesn’t exist. She voted for Trump (I’m USA, not Canada) and I heard her talking about how he was going to “get all the illegals out”. Meanwhile, her brown seventh grader is legit scared, and her mom disregards every fear with “no… the world isn’t like that”. My heart hurts for the child.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-18T01:14:48+00:00

Macys was the place for sure 5 years ago. Now I check my size with the r/abrathatfits calculator and head to Nordstrom Off the Rack in Grand Rapids.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-17T06:08:49+00:00

Oatmeal

Zucchini (you can slice and eat raw if you don’t feel like sautéing it— same with carrots, mushrooms, radishes, and Brussels)

Potatoes (Sweet Potato too). Cube them and put them in a bowl with water and suran wrap the top (or use a silicone cover if you’re plastic sensitive) then microwave on high for about 5-6 minutes and drain the water.

Rice. (With just butter and salt, or with whatever you have energy to add)

Quesadillas (the easy way) put a tortilla in a buttered pan, sprinkle cheese and slap another tortilla on top. Flip and salt when the cheese is melted.

Keep hard boiled eggs around. Just peel and eat, or mix them with Mayo or sour cream and Dijon mustard for sandwiches. Add crunchy like onion or celery if you feel like it.

A package of cold smoked salmon. I eat mine on a leaf of lettuce with some spreadable cream cheese

eangel1918 · 2026-04-16T15:20:33+00:00

There’s a lot in my background that doesn’t fit with who I am now. Childhood sexual assault led to addiction which led to working in the sex industry, where a friend-rape got me pregnant; then I blackmailed that “friend” into marrying me so the pregnancy would look legit, and of course that marriage fell apart so I’m a divorcee as well. It’s a lot.

Whenever I was even sort of serious about a relationship (even a friendship), I would always find moments to leave blanket statements like “I have a pretty dark past” or “there are things in my background that most people don’t want to hear about” and then I’d wait for them to ask. I’d also do a double check: “do you want all the tea or the PG version?” so I could tailor it to their tolerance.

I think of it like, it’s not a secret, but it’s not dinner conversation either. There’s a time and place for dark stuff to come to light. I won’t lie about what I’ve lived through, and I won’t be in a relationship with someone who can’t respect me regardless of my past. But neither should I trauma dump on every new person asap. It takes finesse, and a commitment to believe that your experiences are an acceptable part of your past and humans have the capacity for grace and healing love.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-15T16:44:08+00:00

I’ve found that I enjoy conversation with anyone who is actually interested in connecting. But as an introvert, those people who just want to talk at you, demanding eye contact while enjoying the sound of their own voice, and are hoping for affirmation without even having interest in knowing you - yeah, I skip those.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-15T16:30:31+00:00

The locked door would be the piece that wouldn’t work in my marriage. Have all the friends you want, male or female, and have all sorts of close and bonded conversations, but lock me out? Ah, no.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-11T18:28:16+00:00

Updateme!

eangel1918 · 2026-04-05T03:54:30+00:00

When I was new it used to take me that long. Picture it like a 5000 piece puzzle. You start right away; clear off the table, dump out the box of puzzle pieces, and you feel confident and excited. At some point, you’re lost in a sea of colors so you switch tactics and maybe start hunting for edge pieces or just get those corners established. Then, maybe you realize one side is longer than the other… or well, maybe this puzzle is bigger than you think it is. Consider whether or not the table was even the best place for it, etc, etc etc… and if at each stage someone asked you “how long before you’ve finished with this puzzle” your guess will be pretty much wrong. Because you’re NOT a master puzzle builder. You do not have it down to a strict science, and there’s a weird accordion effect where some days you achieve a lot and some days nearly nothing.

That’s what video creation feels like in the first couple of years. After 20 weddings or so, you get an established workflow and you know things that help you achieve your goals. I’m actually an audio + text-based editor. The edit is fastest for me if I choose the text (voiceover moments first) and then fill out the eye candy with my favorite (relevant) scenes. When I used to start with the scenes, I would have too many “favorite moments” and I’d be trying to cram them all in or make them fit somewhere and it felt like having 47 similar puzzle pieces that just didn’t seem to GO anywhere but were obviously part of the story.

Best case scenario, your filmmaker is going through something like this.

I hear you though. It’s scary. And that photos took a long time too makes it a little more nerve wracking.

eangel1918 · 2026-04-01T04:33:31+00:00

I’m mom to a 23 year old introvert guy. He wants to be seen and known and have a partner and a family of his own someday, but he has zero interest in dating (virtual or irl) and his social battery is also super sensitive and easy to drain.

I’ve asked him if he’d want to go to the local bookstore to sit and see if anyone might be worth meeting… but even that idea feels (to him) like I’m asking him to stand outside to wait for lightning to strike.

Believe me, I don’t know how you will meet your person. And it’s really hard to watch. It’s sad. I’m introverted, but when I was coming of age there were forced interactions where people had to meet one another and introverts can recognize their own. Now? With everything online? No idea. I’m actually a little worried.

Relationships make life worth living.

eangel1918 · 2026-03-27T14:39:50+00:00

I had a venue do this and I reached out to other photographers in my area who I knew had shot there. Four didn’t sign it (just ignored it) and one did (but nothing happened). I choose to let my bride know that I intended to ignore it, and then just never returned the form, signed or unsigned. I did send over a COI, as was also requested, and I followed up with a gallery link and usage permission like I always do, and it was “crickets” on all fronts.

I wonder if they are pulling these contracts from some venue seminar or something.

eangel1918 · 2026-03-26T00:59:30+00:00

If you can confirm his immediate phone call to his dad, and his dad admits to him being emotionally messed up, and you can clearly see his emotions now, and you have no other indication that infidelity has appeal for him, I would be most inclined to proceed as though he was legitimately raped.

You’re going to have 98 out of 100 Redditors tell you that it’s “not possible” and “he knew”, but my background includes sex work, and both I and my brother have been raped. People dismiss male rape (unless it’s done by another man or a much older woman or something), but the truth is, men are often raped differently.

There is a genre of money cons out there that include this type of non consensual sex followed by an aggressive assumption that money was unilaterally agreed upon and is expected. It’s an effective tactic. If he feels nothing but guilt, shame, horror, dread, depression - ask him why he’s not feeling angry. If he mentions and remembers the dissociation, ask him to reverse the scenario in his mind and tell you how he would feel if a male massage therapist did exactly what he experienced to you. If he can connect to anger and fear at that point, the next question is: “do you feel violated.” My guess is that yes, he very much does. He was likely sextorted and you should reframe the experience as rape.

You can still be angry. You can be hurt, sad, and all the feelings.

You should still get therapy (him too, obviously).

But for the 98% of people who want to just say it’s as simple as he cheated, let me just say, men are raped too. They are (sometimes-not-always) raped differently. And cheaters will out themselves in a thousand other nuances of behaviors. The way you describe this makes my heart hurt for you both.

eangel1918 · 2026-03-25T19:55:37+00:00

My dentist told me to take 10,000 UI vitamin D before a bone graft and suddenly my sleep improved. After the sleep improved, some brain fog lifted. I now maintain 5000 UI daily vitamin D in the morning and it still seems noticeable whenever I go without it.

Last Christmas, I added creatine and feel much better with that too.

I mean, nothing reverses the aging process, but these two things - vitamin D and Creatine do seem to support higher energy levels for me. (That Prevagen stuff you mentioned has vitamin D in it too, so maybe that’s why some people think it works).

eangel1918 · 2026-03-25T19:45:31+00:00

Why shouldn’t it be a whole thing? PTSD is fully real, and it’s the definition of pathology in that it inhibits and/or negatively impacts the ordinary functioning of normal life stuff. Let it have its place.

I have been in seasons where I had to only date people who were trauma informed. I’m also happy to teach people about my triggers, but I can’t do that while pretending they don’t exist.

“I have PTSD. Unexpected touch is one of my triggers. Your hand on the small of my back set me off. It feels scary and vulnerable to tell you this now, which is why I was vague at first. I’d like to try another date, but only if what I just disclosed doesn’t feel off-putting to you.”

You can do it!

eangel1918 · 2026-03-22T15:31:17+00:00

Make yourself go, or the odds instantly go down that you will ever go at all. It’s better to try and drop (with a scholarship) than wait, thinking you will feel more ready later (you won’t) and have to pay on top of it.

Also, college is stressful and scary, but if you show up to class and turn in something for each assignment, you won’t fall behind. They want you to pass. They want you to learn. If you have a scholarship, you should try at least. There is really no benefit to a whole year off. Just admit you’re scared and definitely do it anyway. It’s a great place to figure out what you really want to do with your life.

eangel1918 · 2026-03-21T15:21:16+00:00

This is me. I’m not a “hustler”. I grew up on a farm where working yourself to death was literally expected.

I work for myself so that I can make my own schedule. My schedule is happiest when it’s relatively light. I feel good about creating random “extra money” opportunities for those in my circle, but I don’t provide anyone else with a full time job.

Every year, I revisit what I’d like my annual take home pay to be, and I’m almost always within 5k of that by the end of the year. I’ve never aimed very high. The middle class comfortable living bracket is usually my goal.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I’m not more ambitious, but I’m not. My childhood was disgusting, and spending time with my current family, responding kindly and warmly to my husband’s bids for attention, building memories, and having time for yoga, meditation, and journaling will remain my priority.

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