From Hobby to Successful Business

Photographers Megan Vaughan and her husband, Mitch, are living the dream, working together to capture some of the most cherished moments in people’s lives. While they’ve worked hard to make their business successful, the credit, they say, belongs to someone else.

“Looking back on it now, the doors that were open to get us to where we are now, without a doubt, I think it was a God thing,” says Mitch.

Megan agrees, “It's not mine, it's not ours. It's always his. It's always been his.”

When they married in 2011, photography was just a side gig for Megan, who was teaching full-time. Mitch was a welding engineer in the nuclear industry who was away sometimes weeks at a time. And while they hated being apart, they were determined to pay off $85,000 worth of school and car loans.

“The game plan right from the get-go is we don't like owing people money and we want to get rid of the money that we owe,” Mitch recalls.

A big part of that plan was something Mitch had learned from his parents – obediently tithing and giving to God

“It was a matter of continually giving like we had planned from the start. It didn't matter, you know, what-what the financial situation was for the month, like we'd – that was our plan, we were going to continue to give,” Mitch declares.

Megan was on-board from the beginning. “As my faith grew, like, I knew that it would be taken care of. Like, that's what we're supposed to do, that's what we're called to do, so let's do it. How could something bad come from being obedient?”

By keeping their spending in check and giving obediently, the couple chipped away at the debt.  What they didn’t expect was how Megan’s business started to grow.

“And then all of a sudden we would get – like I would book a wedding or somebody would decide to pay in full,” Megan remembers. “And so it was just an influx that we were able to just put toward the debt again.”

After two years, they had paid off their debt completely! Then, Megan started doing so well she was able to leave teaching and pursue it full time. Mitch started helping out shooting video when he could. In 2016, their son, Max, was born. Now, more than ever, Mitch wanted to be home.

“I want to be able to be there for those, you know, pivotal moments in his life growing up, his first steps or his first words. And to me, you know, no job was worth missing out on those times.”

Megan also felt the strain. “I wanted to be a team; and I missed my teammate.”

All they needed now was to find Mitch another good paying job, so they prayed and continued to be obedient with their giving and finances. Megan formed a partnership with a local wedding venue, and before long, her income had surpassed Mitch’s!

“I went from 13 weddings one year, to 30-plus,” Megan smiles.

By 2017, she had so much work Mitch was able to leave his job to work with Megan full time. 

Today, they’re raising two children and although wedding bookings have slowed due to Covid-19, the Vaughan’s are confident that God will see them through this challenging time.

“We were obedient and I've seen the blessing from that," Megan says. “I feel like as long as I continue to give my business back to him and just fully trust that if I'm supposed to do this, he's going to make it happen.”

Mitch agrees, "I truly believe where we're at is because of that obedience, because of just giving back what he's given to us. We've tried to out give God and we have failed every single time. It's kind of a humbling moment to just kinda sit there and go, ‘Wow, this is not us; this is God.’”