Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashlea Snell
Hi Ashlea, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was working as a manager at Chick-Fil-A in Knoxville, TN and after working there for 7 years, we got a tax refund back in April of 2015 and at the time, my husband looked at me and said “What do you want to do with this money?” I said I want to start a photography business! Just like that, my business was born. We agreed that if I got 20 people to pay me $20 each, I would quit my job at Chickfila and go full time with this gig. Within a month I was turning in my two week notice.
I ended up moving my business to Wisconsin and someone heard I was a photographer and I shot my first wedding three months into my business. I was instantly hooked. My name in the small town went crazy. I started my business in 2014 and in 2015 I had 32 wedding booked. In January of 2015 I also gave birth to my precious first born (now 9!) and then during that pregnancy I found out I had cancer. 10 days after giving birth
(https://thesnellsweddings.com/three-years/)
– and 20 days after shooting my first wedding in 2025
(https://thesnellsweddings.com/2016-1-10-alex-brittany/ )
I went in for radiation tracers and lymphnode removal surgery. Although I didn’t quite scale back then – that year I did over 50 family sessions and 20 weddings.
It was wild. I still didn’t understand how to slow down so I just booked anything and everything until I realized the real money wasn’t in Wisconsin it was with destination weddings. Within 3 years of my business I started shooting weddings all over the world including switzerland, mexico, Jamaica, Etc. I shot weddings all over and then in 2021 I moved to Northern Georgia. we found this beautiful town because it was close to the atlanta airport and then also wasn’t “in atlanta” and we had a friend who lived up here. There was a great private school and we instantly fell in love.
We bought a home in February of 2021 and after years of getting to the point of burn out, we ended up changing our pricing drastically. We knew we wanted to take less weddings then ever before. At this time, my husband ended up quitting his full time job, and joined me full time as a videographer. We still had a full wedding season plenty of weddings on the books and took that year flying all over and ended the year with over 34 roundtrip flights. We were exhausted to say the least.
We invested in coaches to help us pivot into the weddings and curate our work to attract our dream clients. We were introduced to wedding vendors we have the honor of working with to this day and just have built incredible friendships with. We are still in shock we get to do this for a living. We love what we do. we serve the most incredible clients and truly every single one of them I know are just perfect for us. my goodness – this is just a glimpse haha but i tried to condense it.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
ah, not at all. I kinda mentioned it in the other but we have moved the business to two states, have fostered a child, birthed two babies, and now in the process of adopting a child after years of dealing with the system – with no family in town to help grow our business. I am a self made entrepreneur who started this business with blood sweat and tears.
I went through battles of not knowing my worth, not charging my worth and not attracting my ideal clients. Truly just lots of joy and lots of tears into this business of ours!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My husband and I are a photography and videography team. We specialize in weddings and corporate events.
I started and grew this business ten years ago and we are known for our southern hospitality. We love weddings and also love working with our corporate clients with golf events, such as member guest weekends, wine nights, etc. We are known for being team players and doing anything in our power to help stress be non existant. We are very organized and hard workers and most of my reviews from past clients tend to mention I do everything in my power to help. I am all about taking the initiative and if there is something to be done, if i can – i will do it. I help the bride get water, pick up trash, help set tables if they are running behind – I really try and just be there to help when needed.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I absolutely love spending time with my kids. What makes me happy is being able to go and photograph weddings and events and then at the end of the day still be home with my sweet precious kids who are growing too quick. I love that I have built an incredible business that is thriving and truly I owe that to the support of my husband and to the Lord. God has blessed my business immensely. My husband is also the most encouraging and supportive husband I have ever met. He loves me for my crazy ideas, and my creative spirit. I love that I have built this life with him and spending time with him and traveling with him makes me so happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thesnellsweddings.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/thesnells_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesnellsweddings/
- Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user132557229
