Meet Danny Garrett of Champagne Love Stories and Danny Garrett Photography in Marietta

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not at all! Transitioning from being an employee to being a business owner is not easy, especially when you didn’t plan for it. When you work a 9-5, for the most part, you just have to come to work and do your job and you’ll get a check every two weeks. Owning a business, however, you have to work! If you don’t work you don’t get paid, to get work you need clients, to get clients you have to put yourself out there, speak to people, seek out business, etc. It takes a lot more grind and starting out a check isn’t consistent, but the benefits are well worth it!

A shift in mindset, and being comfortable being uncomfortable was and still kind of is a struggle for me. I’ve had to handle my finances differently. The late nights and early mornings, the simple everyday “must haves” that come when running a business, the negative friends and family, the difficult clients. It’s definitely not easy, but the benefits really outweigh the the negatives.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Champagne Love Stories and Danny Garrett Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
Champagne Love Stories is a wedding photography and film company that focuses on telling the love stories of our couples. True love is rare these days but we try to really show that it’s out there and many millennials are finding it! I am most proud of how far we’ve come in just a couple of years. Kendal, my business partner, and I constantly speak on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go. What sets Champagne Love Stories apart from others is us and the photographer/videographers we choose to work with. Kendal and myself are constantly studying and trying to improve every part of the business, ourselves, and our peers. We aim to tell our couples love stories differently. We take ideas, concepts, and techniques we use and learn filming other projects and bring them to the wedding industry. People love watching movies so we aim to film weddings like they are just that, movies.

Danny Garrett Photography is a production business that focuses on small business start-ups, food/products, real estate, and corporate videos. I am most proud of the fact that this business has granted me the ability to go out and truly enjoy my work. Too many people go to jobs they hate and dread getting up in the morning to go to, I don’t, that’s truly a blessing.

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
No one is lucky or unlucky. There’s simply the people that worked to get where that are and the people that didn’t. Success isn’t something people stumble upon it’s earned. Saying someone is lucky to be where they are is kind of an insult. They weren’t lucky when they struggled to pay bills and lived in their parent’s basement, stayed up until 5 am editing, working, o game planning, etc just to get back to work at 9 am and start the day over again. Luck doesn’t exist only hard work and sowing seeds until it’s time to reap the rewards.