Emotionally Booked Out

My career wasn't built out of a 5 year plan.

In this episode, I'm getting very honest about the weird, chaotic, occasionally stupid shit that somehow built my career: going to school because I had no idea what else to do, working at Olive Garden, becoming a professor, moving across the country in the middle of a pandemic, saying yes to opportunities that made absolutely no business sense, networking when I hate networking, getting burned by collaborations, getting copied, completely losing myself in the "luxury" wedding world, and eventually figuring out what actually matters to me. Defining my own idea of what successful is changed my entire life.

But here's the part nobody talks about: the chaos only worked because I had systems underneath it.

I can be creatively chaotic because I'm operationally structured. My systems protect my time, my clients, my sanity, and my actual life. They let me take weird opportunities, make art, go to therapy, see my friends, watch Saltburn for the 50th time, and still run a business that doesn't fall apart when I'm not sitting at my laptop pressing "send."

This is not a "10 steps to success" episode. It's more like: here's everything I did that probably shouldn't have worked, here's what I learned from the things that absolutely did not work, and here's why I think stubbornness, curiosity, experimentation, and knowing when to stop doing dumb shit matter way more than having your entire life mapped out.

You don't need to know exactly where you're going. You just need to keep moving, stay curious, and leave a little room for weird shit.

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My favorite kind of podcast episode: two photographers accidentally solve everyone's branding problems while talking about being queer, being visible, and why the word “luxury” needs to be put in time-out.

I’m joined by Rhode Island wedding photographer Meaghan of Rhode Tripper Photography for a wildly honest conversation about showing up online as your full-ass self, the fear of scaring clients away, queer identity, representation, performative allyship, inclusive language, and why watering yourself down might actually be attracting the wrong people.

Plus: we absolutely drag the wedding industry's obsession with “luxury,” blurry photos, Dutch angles, and “wildly in love.”

Come for the hot takes. Stay for the reminder that you don't need to be palatable to everyone - you need to be recognizable to the right people.

Follow Meaghan on Instagram!

What if the goal of your photography business wasn't to work harder but to get your life back?

In this episode, I'm joined by James, the creator of Narrative, to talk about something photographers have VERY complicated feelings about: AI.

We get into why photographers feel guilty when a tool makes their workflow easier, why we've somehow turned editing until 3AM into a badge of honor, and why being an overshooter doesn't mean you need to punish yourself with thousands of images afterward.

James breaks down exactly how Narrative works, including scene sorting, image ranking, face and focus detection, and AI-assisted editing. And yes, we even recorded a full demo so you can actually see it in action.

This isn't about AI making your art for you. It's about using technology to remove the tedious parts of your workflow so you have more energy for the parts that actually require YOU.

Because you didn't start a photography business so you could live inside Lightroom. And I'm officially done romanticizing the editing cave.

Try Narrative for Free by Clicking Here

Your Brain Is Not a CRM

At some point, we started confusing doing everything manually with providing a better client experience.

In this episode, I'm calling bullshit on the idea that automation makes your business less personal. We’re talking about why your clients don't need access to you 24/7, how “scrappy” eventually becomes sloppy, the hidden cost of keeping your entire business inside your brain, and why being indispensable isn't the same thing as being successful.

I also get into what actually deserves to be manual, what should be systemized, and why the goal isn't to make your business less human... it’s to eliminate the unnecessary shit so you have more time to be the human.

Plus, I'm sharing what I'm building with Dubsado and giving you a peek at the free webinar where I'll show you the actual systems behind my business.

Your clients don't need you to do everything. They need you to do the things only you can do really fucking well.

Register for the Dubsado Webinar Here

I had one Martini before recording this pod and I got fired up lmao Hot take? Work-life balance is kind of a scam.

Not because boundaries don't matter... they absolutely do. But because somewhere along the way we started believing balance meant every single day had to look the same. Wake up at 5 a.m., answer every email instantly, work out, meal prep, journal, close the laptop at 5... and somehow never feel overwhelmed.

Yeah... no.

In this episode, I'm sharing what work-life balance actually looks like as a self-employed creative (recorded from Oregon after one martini, because apparently that's who I am now). We talk about busy seasons, why perfection is completely unrealistic, how I structure my business around real life instead of influencer routines, and the boundaries that actually help me avoid burnout.

If you've been feeling guilty because your life doesn't look perfectly balanced right now, this one's for you.

Because maybe the goal was never balance. Maybe it was flexibility.

Yeah... we said it.

This week, Milly Baine with The Rose Reflective is back on Emotionally Booked Out, and we're talking about the elephant in the room: are wedding photographers ruining weddings?

From making couples redo moments over and over again to chasing content instead of connection, we're unpacking how ego, trends, and social media have changed the client experience... and not always for the better.

We're not speaking from some high horse either. We've both made these mistakes. We've both had to learn when to direct, when to step back, and when to remember that this day isn't about us.

We get into editorial vs. documentary photography, overshooting because of nerves, working with videographers and content creators, reading the room, and why your clients will always remember how you made them feel more than they remember your coolest photo.

This one's spicy, a little sassy, and hopefully makes all of us better photographers. Because at the end of the day...

The wedding was never about us.

No seriously, sometimes being in the wedding industry feels like a pyramid scheme.

What if the scoreboard you've been chasing was never yours to begin with? What if I told you that what you deem successful is probably way different than what you've been told?

This week's episode is a quick one, but it packs a punch. I'm talking about the myths we've accepted in the photography and wedding industry, that destination weddings, luxury venues, follower counts, and constant busyness somehow equal success.

They don't.

We're unpacking why visibility isn't the same as revenue, why burnout isn't a badge of honor, and why the most successful businesses are often the ones you don't see shouting the loudest online.

If you've ever caught yourself comparing your business to someone else's highlight reel, this episode is your reminder to stop borrowing someone else's definition of success and start building one that actually supports your life.

Because a business you enjoy living is always more impressive than one that just looks impressive.

What started as a styled shoot became something none of us expected: a real wedding.

In this episode, I'm joined by wedding planner Jen of Hitched AF and our incredible couple, PJ and Aaron, to unpack what it felt like to hand over the planning process, trust an entire vendor team, and experience a wedding that was designed around them - not trends, timelines, or expectations.

We talk about building a wedding experience rooted in queer joy, why the right vendors change everything, how collaboration creates better art, and the behind-the-scenes moments that made this day unforgettable (including the surprise involving one of PJ and Aaron's favorite musicians that still makes us cry).

This isn't an episode about wedding planning. It's about what becomes possible when people stop treating weddings like productions and start treating them like deeply human experiences.

Whether you're engaged, a wedding vendor, or simply someone who believes people deserve to feel fully seen, this conversation is for you.

Planning + Design: @hitchedaf_
Venue: @eventsbybestow

Photographer: ⁠@mckenzie_bigliazzi⁠

Videographer: @rachkobernikphoto 

BTS Photography: @photographermarybeth

Beauty + Grooming: @catehairmakeup

Cake + Dessert: @alyce.in.flourland

Catering: @sugarpinecatering

Draping: @coloradoeventcorentals

Entertainment: @electriflyevents

Floral + Decor: @growingwildbv  

Officiant: @nearlywedcoaching

Rental Company: @copartyrentals

Stationary: @honeybirdpaper

Happy Pride Month 🌈

Every June, wedding vendors rush to add a few rainbow photos to their feed. But real inclusivity? That goes so much deeper than a once-a-year portfolio refresh.

In this episode of Emotionally Booked Out, I’m joined by Ali of A Ray of Light Videography - a queer wedding videographer, advocate, and bride herself. Together, we unpack what it actually feels like to plan a wedding as a queer couple, the emotional labor that comes with constantly assessing whether a vendor is truly safe, and why representation still has such a long way to go in the wedding industry.

Ali shares what she wishes more wedding pros understood, how vendors can move beyond performative allyship, and what it means to create spaces where couples feel genuinely seen, celebrated, and cared for.

We also get into one of the wildest wedding-day stories I've ever heard - featuring a rogue DJ, a timeline nightmare, and an unauthorized Facebook Live that left everyone asking, "How did this happen?"

Whether you're a wedding vendor committed to serving people better or a couple trying to find your place in an industry that wasn't always built with you in mind, this conversation is packed with perspective, honesty, and practical ways to do better.

Connect with Ali:

Website: arrayoflightvideography.com
Instagram: @arayoflightvideography

Resources Mentioned:

https://arayoflightvideography.com/lgbtq-resources

Equally Wed by Palladino
Safe Zone Initiative (Business Training)

Unlike other episodes, this one takes the form of what it feels like to sit in on a FaceTime call between my best friend, Mallory, and me since high school. She’s one of the few people who got a front row seat to my journey, who knew me before McKenzie Bigliazzi Photography.

This episode is hard to summarize, but this is my best: Two best friends from central Illinois sit down and accidentally unpack how wildly different life looks when you finally stop settling. From bad relationships, survival mode, and feeling stuck, to building businesses, finding healthy love, cleaning up your community, and realizing you actually can change your life, if you’re delulu enough.

TBH, this episode is basically one long unfiltered conversation about figuring it out as you go.

It’s messy, funny, honest, a little chaotic, and probably the closest thing to overhearing us at dinner. If you’ve ever felt behind, stuck, surrounded by the wrong people, or scared to make a change, this one’s for you.