Over 4 years ago, Sarah and I sat down and had a meeting about our new business venture together. We were not new in our prospective careers - I'd been a photographer since 2002 and Sarah had been a makeup artist for nearly as long but we were joining our two forces together. We'd been friends for 6 years at the time and we KNEW that we wanted to do this together and so we sat down, had a meeting, and we were excited! So excited that we came up with our business name THAT day - Eye Candy. We'd jotted down about 10 other names or so but at that time, we didn't really have a plan of just being a boudoir studio, so to us, eye candy meant pretty things and incorporated the best of both our worlds (photography & makeup). Well, in our naivete, we went with it. And then realized, rather quickly, eye candy dot com is not available. Ok. How about eye-candy dot com?? Nope. How about eye-kandy dot com? Well, you know the answer to that. You'd think we would've moved on by now, right?? Nooooo, of course not, we were stuck on some version of eye candy. So, we finally realized eye-kandie.com was available and so we went with it. Now you know the backstory of our name. Deep, riiiight??
So we created business cards, a logo, a website, a facebook page and we went to work. And we started shooting everything and anybody who would let us shoot and put makeup on them. But over the years, both Sarah and I felt like we were being led to shoot solely boudoir photography. It fit us so well, it was our speed - getting to know our clients on a deeper level, we both LOVED doing it more so than any other genre, and so we dedicated Eye Kandie to solely boudoir. Over the years, though, we started to feel like our name was amateurish and we were increasingly becoming more insecure with it. We thought about changing it but oh! the work that would create for us. Neither of us felt like starting over. It's a LOT of work. Like, A LOT of work. But a few months ago, it started to weigh heavily on me how much I dislike our name; so much so, I wouldn't even use it in a sentence. I struggled with this because what does that say about me? About my business? I'm not ashamed of our business, Sarah and I have built a solid foundation and we have had some AMAZING clients come through our studio. But I couldn't bring myself to use our name in conversation. I just really wanted our name to mean something more.
Then I read this quote
““Don’t be eye candy. Be soul food.””
Oh, the gut punch. All these months of prayer over whether or not we should change our name and there I thought, did God just answer me with a quote? Yes, He did. I didn't think of our clients as eye candy, they were so much more than just a "pretty thing" to us. We strive for our clients to love and appreciate their bodies for all it does for her but also to see themselves beyond their physical self. We want her to see what we see and what her friends and family see. Not just a pretty thing, but a woman who allows herself some grace and does not spend time dwelling on the past and living with regret, but works toward what she wants; a woman who values quality over quantity and understands the investment of portraiture; a woman who loves and respects her husband or fiance; a mother who teaches and loves her children but knows she should nurture herself as well. We want her to see she is a woman of worth & beauty to us and those around her.
And so, Grace and Lace Boudoir was born. We still have a few loose ends to tie up around here, mostly on the back side of the business but we are so happy that Grace & Lace is live and that is what we will be going by from here on out!
Thank you to all our clients for their support along the way, for reading our blog, for trusting us with your own boudoir experience and for sending us your referrals.
Our business is booming and it is ALL because of you!! So thank you! We love you ALL!
~Jeni