We had the good fortune of connecting with Michelle & Pete Fuentes and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Michelle & Pete, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My husband Pete and I (Michelle) have always wanted to be entrepreneurs. It’s something that connected us when we were first dating. We got into photography & videography when we started a travel blog back in 2017. We got married in 2019 and were very selective with the photographers & videographers we chose to capture it because we knew that was the only thing we would have after the day to remember it. We were SO happy with our photos and videos and still to this day look at them all the time and the experience we received from our photographers and videographers was incredible. Shortly after our wedding we were randomly approached by a couple to capture their engagement shoot. We decided to do it even though we didn’t have any experience and ended up having SO much fun! It clicked right there. We knew we wanted to work with other couples and we naturally progressed to weddings and elopements. We wanted to give them photos & videos from their own weddings so they can cherish them as much as we cherished ours and give them an amazing experience during such a special time in their lives. After a couple years of capturing weddings and elopements we found out that we connected more with intimate weddings & elopements and the couples that decide to have smaller celebrations. So in 2022 we decided to focus on capturing intimate weddings and elopements.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The photos and films we create for our couples make us so excited! We focus on capturing moments that feel natural and we really love to tell the story of each unique couple. We’re so proud of the reviews and the kind words our couples leave us. We connect with them on a personal level and being there to capture such a special and vulnerable day in their lives always creates such a strong bond. We leave every wedding & elopement feeling like we did more than just photograph it. It definitely was not easy to get here. It took a lot of trial and error and learning what we love to capture, how to capture it, and how to find the couples that also love what we love. We learned to just always keep educating ourselves. We learn something new that we incorporate into our business from every couple, every wedding, and from working with other photographers & videographers. Something that sets our brand apart is that we are a couple in love capturing other couples in love. We have been through the wedding process ourselves and we know how special it is.

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?
I would definitely take them to South Beach to check out the beach and the Art Deco buildings there. I would take them to Wynwood so they can see the incredible graffiti art and they have the best bars in Wynwood. I would take them to an authentic Cuban restaurant because we obviously have the best Cuban food here.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would not be here without the unconditional support of our families. Both of our families have always believed in us and supported us every step of the way. Our friends have also always supported us and cheered us when we hit milestones in our business. We also have had incredible mentors. We mentored with Megan Macphail earlier this year and we credit her for the most successful year we’ve ever had in our business and lives. Films by Stanton has also been an incredible mentor for us this year and pushes us to be more creative with our films. But the best support we have is each other. It can be difficult at times to work with your spouse but knowing we both are there for each other, pushing each other, and loving each other throughout this journey has been the absolute best part of working together.

Website: www.michelleandpete.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/michelleandpetephotofilm

Facebook: www.facebook.com/michelleandpetephotofilm

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI6Py2km67hUvz9ZmVFNkBA

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/michelleandpetephotofilm/

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