The New MGP Office Tour & Saying Hello To 26!

Thinking back to when I had my first couple of photo sessions, I had my Lenovo laptop, memory cards, everything laid out at our kitchen table in mine and Brian’s first apartment we had together almost six years ago! (shout out to Alyssamay LaBanca! I’m looking atchuuu girly!) I was so excited to come home from my day job at the time, get set up at the table and work on the photos I had taken to get them ready to deliver. Looking back, that wasn’t the only kitchen table that my business was built on. I’ve grown and worked in so many places, whether that was the couch, our bed, the spare room in our townhouse that also was the home for our bunny, our luggage and sleeping bags, and my entire craft supply collection that I grew my entire life (that could be a whole ‘nother blog post!), and I always dreamed of the day that I could have my own space dedicated to only my business. To keep all of my camera gear together, organized and ready for the next shoot. To keep my laptop in a safe place next to all of my hard drives, memory cards, and everything else that was important to keep this business running. Knowing that everything was in it’s “home” and I didn’t have to “pick up” after every editing session. And heck, to have a place that I can look around and feel INSPIRED! I wanted a space where I can walk in and know that business hours have turned on and I need to get stuff done! Although, working from home does have its struggles when there is a cute pup chasing you out of the room wanting to play, or you hear the washing machine beep down the hall ready for it to be unloaded, and knowing I can walk out at any time if I wanted to go grab coffee with a friend or what not. The flexibility and freedom that this job (I can’t even call it a job because I love it so much!) gives me, is such a blessing and I could never be more thankful for it!

The day we closed on our first home together (last September, yay!) was such an exciting day, for many obvious reasons! But I knew exactly what the 3rd bedroom was going to turn into and my dream of having my own office for my photography business was getting closer and closer! The days of sitting at the kitchen table were almost long gone! Seriously though, if you come to our house and sit in all of our chairs at the table, you will easily find out which one was my “office chair”! Haha! It’s pretty bad!

Fast forward to today, and my dream is ALIVE! It’s here! It’s finished! It’s put together and I love every single thing about it! A huge thank you for my hubby for taking these photos for me and always being patient when I say “uhhh take one more like THIS”! I love you Brian!! Haha!

Before we jump into the official office tour, I wanted to take a second to write a little note to myself on this very day that I turned 26 years old. Twenty six years ago, I was brought into this world and was given a purpose. A purpose that is different than everyone else’s, and that’s what makes each of us so special. Some people don’t find their purpose until later in life, and some find it pretty quickly. I think I was a lucky one to find it very easily. I always had this fascination with celebrating. With documenting. With LIVING! The smallest of things would occur and I would want to find someway we could celebrate it or make a big deal about it. It’s national ice cream day? I went out and grabbed a cone of my favorite flavor. It’s Bachelor Monday? My best friend would come over for wine and chocolate roses for a viewing party. It’s the first snowfall of the year? I grabbed my camera and pup and documented that day! Even though this is my 26th year of seeing snow, this snow day was special! My dog Zoey turned a big 5 years old? I threw her a birthday PAWty! Seriously, I did. You can see it all HERE! During homecoming week in high school, (Go Big Blue!) I probably made all of my friends sick with how intense I got with the dress up days and festivities and the shirts we made and I HAD to go to the parade and we HAD to go to the football game and take a million pictures! Because, something exciting was happening and we needed to celebrate! And don’t even get me started when a big holiday rolls around. I have to put out all my decorations, and buy or make all the festive snacks and just. freaking. CELEBRATE!

The point I’m trying to make is that this life we have been blessed with, deserves to be celebrated. AND documented. Every big and small thing about it, deserves to be celebrated and documented. I think the purpose I was given in life is to be a reminder that this life shouldn’t be taken for granted and I hope to be some sort of inspiration to people. Don’t take this life too seriously, and have fun! You only GET one of these lives so why not make it fun? The reason I say to document all the small and big things about life is your memory can only hold on to so many things. Yeah, you’ll remember your 21st birthday, your wedding day, the first time you held your first child that made you a mom, and these are all HUGE things! But what tells the story of your life and how you LIVED are the small moments. The small celebrations. The small things. You most likely aren’t going to remember these things but when you are 80 years old, you can flip through your albums you created (I’m telling you! Make albums! Get your memories off of your phone!) and see what your favorite ice cream flavor was on national ice cream day in that year of your life, or the crazy things you used to watch on TV that probably aren’t around anymore, (gosh I hope The Bachelor isn’t still on when I’m 80!) , or remember what those shirts looked like you made for homecoming after they have been long gone in the trash.

So the note to myself, on my 26th birthday, keep being you, Megan. Don’t ever let anything change the view you have on life. Some people laugh at how much you go over the top when you celebrate even the smallest days. Some people around you will not want to be at that same level as you when it comes to celebrating things. And that’s okay. Don’t let that effect how YOU decide to take on a day. If you aren’t an inspiration to anyone in the world, be your own inspiration. Take care of yourself, now more than ever. And keep being you. Happy Birthday!!

Now without further ado, I would like to finally welcome you to my happy place! The Megan Goggins Photography office!

This might be blowing my surprise to all of my future brides, but upon booking their wedding day with me, my couples get a special package in the mail as a HUGE thank you for giving me the honor of being their wedding photographer! Before, I would have all the pieces to the boxes scattered out in so many places and every time it was time to send another one out to a sweet bride, it was like I was reinventing the wheel each time! So in my new office I wanted to shelving unit where I can keep ALL of the supplies I needed in ONE place!

It wouldn’t be a Megan Goggins office without macarons! Am I right?

This is my content calendar that I’m wanting to use to plan out future blog posts, Instagram and Facebook posts, see 4 months at a glance to plan out my weddings and when those blog posts will go up, etc! I am a HUGE paper/pen type of gal so having my schedule for these things on a Google calendar wasn’t working for me. I use a paper planner to schedule out my personal life, photo sessions, holidays, appointments and all that jazz so I thought adding in all of my content planning to that same calendar was too much! It’s a work in progress but I’m liking having this huge board up on the wall where I can see it every time I walk in!

I also am using this board to pin up all of the Save The Dates and thank you cards I get as a daily reminder of how amazing my couples are and how thankful I am of them! :)

Ohhhh this camera bag. Since day 1 when I got this thing I have loved it more and more every day! First of all, can we talk about that color?! I’m obsessed! It fits SO much in it and the strap is so comfortable! This comes with me to all of my engagement sessions and wedding days and I get so many compliments on it! This is the Missy Mint bag from Jo Totes if any of you want to be bag twinsies!

These glasses are a MUST and definitely changed the game for me when it comes to editing and screen time! If you get the crazy eye twitches and headaches from looking at your computer or phone too much, you need these! They are from Pixel Eyewear and the moment I first put these on, I could tell SUCH a huge difference and that these actually work! I really like that these glasses don’t have a yellowish tint to them like some blue light blocking glasses do so I can wear them when I edit!

Annnnd there is the infamous paper planner that is attached to my body (or my desk) at all times. This is from The Happy Planner and I have been using one from them for the past several years and probably won’t ever switch to a different brand! The disc system that they use allows me to take out and add pages in where ever I need to and makes it completely customizable! Happy Planners for the WIN!

Every office needs a yearly vision board! I made this one myself actually with foam board and linen fabric wrapped around it! Then I took an open back frame, spray painted it gold, and stuck the board inside it! Wa-laaah and you’re welcome!

Peep - Hello Zoey in the corner! Haha! When you aren’t wet from just having a bath we will take pictures together at my desk soon! :)

Thank you so much for following along my journey and to each and every person who has stepped foot in front of my camera, spread my name out to a friend or family member, engaged with my content I share, and just being a part of my story, I can’t thank you enough! You all have allowed me to make my dream of being a wedding photographer come true and I now have an official MGP home! Also thank you for everyone who has wished me a happy birthday so far today! I love you all! Now, I am giving myself the green light to sign off and to go celebrate with festivities and some of my favorite things (pancakes and a nail spa! YAY)