Meet Cody & Stephanie Hager | Photographers

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cody & Stephanie Hager and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cody & Stephanie, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It started with a fascination of all things tiny and vintage. I found myself scouring the web pining over tiny houses, food trucks, and old Volkswagen busses (something we’re still lusting after). I was sure the next business venture for my husband and I would be to restore our vintage trailer and turn it into a pop up food trailer, however, my sensible husband knew that was not us. Years of capturing our family and the love of a good party lead to the idea that would eventually come into fruition.

So there I was in bed absently scrolling when it hit me. I turned to my husband and told him we should restore our 1969 Scotty trailer into a photo booth. Much to my surprise, this time he was all for it! We enjoyed the process of restoring our trailer so much, but along the way we realized that the magic we felt really came from capturing special moments and the tiny tangible photo strip that printed.

Like most things, the photo booth trailer was the first beat to get our heart in the wedding industry. Not long after finding success with our tiny photo booth my husband looked across at me in a Denny’s diner booth and said “Babydoll, you should be a wedding photographer. It only makes sense, you love this kind of stuff!” It had been a team effort since the beginning and this wouldn’t be any different. With my passion of capturing love and my husbands desire to learn new things, we purchased a couple cameras and got to work.

The timing couldn’t have been better. Right as we got our legs underneath us, the pandemic hit. We had a love for, and at this point decent skill in photography but no one was going out let alone booking weddings. Fortunately someone was selling a 69′ Beetle though. Can you tell we have a thing for that year? It felt right. We also started on a 69′ FJ40 Land-cruiser, but let’s not get into that right now. (It’s kind of a sore subject) Not only did we love the beetle, but we found that so many others had a connection or story to the car as well. The Volkswagen beetle was once ubiquitous and has now become rare to see on the road. Every time we went for a cruise in our little bug it drew positive attention, and a car that was meant to be a fun project turned into another thing we could share with our clients. We are driving around in a memory that people share. Who remembers punch buggy? It’s a harder game to play now.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Capturing moments you can feel and allowing our couples personalities to shine through is what drives us. Our perspective is we are a merely a guide or lightning rod for the beautiful and unique moments our couples provide.

While nothing worth doing is ever easy and expanding a business during a pandemic feels almost impossible, we kept moving forward and finding new ways of being creative with our brand. The biggest lesson that we have learned is to not doubt or compare ourselves. Connecting with other creatives in the industry has done so much in helping us grow our art and realizing that what sets our business apart is us. The connections we build with our clients and other wedding vendors are what refers us to the next couple searching for a way to stand out.

We want the world to know that having a wedding can be as wild and fun as you’d like it to be! You can add aspects of who you are and what you love. Our brand was built on sharing the things that we treasure and use it as a platform for our couples to do the same.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
It’s hard for us to give La the credit it deserves because we spend so much time working outside of the city. We are really all over Socal! Our first spot we’d take you to would our favorite beach Crystal Cove. We’ll bring a picnic blanket, drinks, and bluetooth The Beach Boys. For dinner we could enjoy an evening at the Anaheim Packing District where they literally have something for everybody. We’d cruise our beetle up to Crestline, Ca to enjoy some craft soda pop and ice cream at Goodwins Market. This place is truly a hidden gem. But, if you haven’t been wined and dined before we would need to take you to Dwanes At the Mission Inn. Around Christmas the lights fill the mission inn with holiday cheer. It is so bright it could light up all of riverside. Joshua tree will forever hold a special place in our hearts, so this would be the last stop. The desert is so huge and trust me, you’ll want to get lost in it. We’d spend the rest of the week hanging out under the stars, cozying around a campfire and exploring Joshua Tree National Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Well first and foremost we have to give credit to Jesus. He has provided for us, guided our marriage, and blessed us abundantly through growing our business. Family has always been our greatest supporters. Gma Vicky, Gpa bill, and our little Ava that inspires and encouraged us every day, Thank you.

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