This is an announcement that I’m SO excited to share, as it has been a couple of years in the making.

   With over two years of confirmations, preparation and prayer, it is with great joy that I share the news that we hired an Associate Photographer and Wayne is stepping down as second shooter. He will continue to remain involved with MP as our CFO, official dad-joke teller and my greatest support.

   While this was a hard reality for my heart to accept at first, the Lord’s hand has been completely over this entire transition. The process has been one filled with blessings and God-ordained events. This story is much better than the one I thought was being written and it has brought so much goodness to my life and this business. I’m so excited to finally share a little behind the scenes with you all!

The need.

   Soon after I began this company, Wayne and I got married. It made sense for us to jump into my dream of being a husband and wife team. While photography was never Wayne’s dream, Wayne came alongside me as a second shooter, CFO and all things in between (all of our grooms can testify how my man is practically a fifth groomsman on the day of)! 

   About two and a half years ago, Wayne shared that his deepest desire was to become a physical therapist and begin a doctorate program. He felt called in a different direction than the one we were currently on. Upon hearing his heart, tears immediately began to flow down my cheeks. While I believe it WAS okay to grieve the loss of a dream, my heart wasn’t in the right place. I was standing in the trench of selfishness, only looking out for my own dream. After many tears and conversations with the Lord about my dreams and my desires, I felt the gentleness of Jesus tugging at me and softening my heart in the way of reminding me that marriage isn’t about me. Also, I realized my dreams weren’t lost, just shifting. For years, Wayne had willingly set aside his desires and dreams to come alongside mine. He has been whole-heartedly believing in me and lifting me up towards higher ground for years. It was time for the pleasure and honor of coming alongside him and his dream, proudly lifting him up towards it. This is all while trusting that the Lord had better plans for this business than I could imagine. 

   Around the same time Wayne started school, I became pregnant with Ethan. Burned out, I knew I needed to take on less weddings in order to serve both my clients and family with my best. Even while taking on a limited amount of weddings, we were getting inquiries for dates that were already booked or unavailable. Plus, Wayne was working full time, became a new dad, was in a doctorate program, traveled for lab AND was still shooting weddings on the weekends with me. We needed help.

The Lord was preparing a way for our Associate Photographer! 

The process.

   In preparation for this position, I began asking myself what the vision for Molliner Photography was. It is my greatest privilege to work with the MP team. Since adding both Tori (Office Manager) and Ashley (Creative and Content Director), I realized that I was thriving off of sharing this business with my teammates. It shows up in my work and in my joy. While I could shoot weddings on my own, it was never my desire to do this alone.

   Wayne and I prayed over whether or not this was best timing and direction to take. Once we felt God’s peace over it, we began the process. We prepared for growing our team by taking a team building course (thank you, Nancy Ray!), bulking up our business emergency savings, and figuring out the characteristics and heart we needed an Associate Photographer to have.

   After two years of preparing for the position, we announced that we were hiring! AHH! We accepted applications were floored by the many applicants who showed an interest in joining our team. My heart! We held four (very) serious rounds of interviews. While all of the interviewees were exceptional (seriously this was the hardest part!), we were depending on the Lord for His direction. Something I asked the Lord for was for both Wayne and I to separately, but clearly, hear from Him which applicant was supposed to join us. I didn’t want to influence Wayne’s decision, nor did I want him to influence mine. We just really wanted to have confirmation from God. If I’m going to choose to depend on the Lord’s guidance in my life, then I was going to also choose to depend on Him for this person. Guys, after the final rounds of interviews, IT TOOK FOUR WEEKS! Four weeks of intentionally seeking the Lord and looking to Him for this answer. While there were times that I grew impatient and weary waiting for an answer, I can honestly say that every second we waited was SO WORTH IT… because He is always faithful to come through.

I am actually so giddy with excitement, so incredibly thankful and just so honored to introduce you all to the person we have been praying about for two years. As for Wayne, I couldn’t be more proud and more excited for him chasing what he’s passionate about. Our new dreams are a reality, thank God!

Stay tuned tomorrow to read all about Kim and see her beautiful face…