Meet Taylor Chavez

Today we’d like to introduce you to Taylor Chavez.

Hi Taylor, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started as a photographer in high school, shooting senior photos for my friends on a simple DSLR camera my grandpa bought me for Christmas one year. My desire to create art has always been an integral part of me. I, to this day, enjoy getting my hands dirty (either on a ceramic wheel or canvas) and running around jumping into the ocean or hiking up mountains for the “perfect shot”. There is something so satisfying about being able to say, “I made that!”. I started in wedding photography back in 2018 after my boyfriend (now husband) challenged me to take the leap and stop making excuses. To me, weddings are a sacred affair. I was always so fearful that I would make mistakes or ruin someone’s memories for a day as important as that, and because of that, I talked myself out of photographing weddings for years. But as of January of 2020, I was officially going on year three of shooting weddings, and I was on track to shoot more than double the number of weddings I did the year prior. My little business was flourishing after what felt like a life-changing risk to begin offering my services to photograph weddings. Enter the pandemic, June 2020 my business came to a crashing halt.

After much painful deliberation and emptying my savings account to pay my couples back their retainers, my business closed its doors and I swore I’d never shoot another wedding again. January 2022, I am now married to my rock of a husband, we had just moved to SoCal from the Central Valley and he encourages me to get back into events. Intimidated, I open up XO Photo Company LLC. What was at first a photo booth and event rental company is now as of the Summer of 2022 a multifaceted media company offering wedding and event photography as well as photo booth and event rentals for Southern California and the surrounding areas! I am so excited to be a part of this new community, and I love that I found my footing again in the event world after a rough ending back in 2020. I feel so blessed to be offering event services to couples, families, and friends on a weekly basis, and XO is set to break records for 2022 and 2023 from what were set to achieve back in 2020! To God be the glory!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Not at all – between self-doubt, outside factors and obstacles, moving to a new area and having to re-establish myself in the industry… I have found being a small business owner is by far one of the most challenging yet self-rewarding things I have ever tackled on my own. To this day – I still cannot believe that I decided to open XO after having my first business come crashing down on me. I think that anyone who has run a business and made it through the pandemic to see the light at the end of that tunnel are some of the BEST people you could possibly hire to be a vendor on your team. They have seen it all, and they have endurance unmatched. I am so excited to see how I am able to grow and educate myself further to better offer my luxury event services within the area and network with this new community. I have made so many wonderful new friends through my events so far, and I am so excited for what the rest of 2022 and 2023 hold for XO!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
XO Photo Company specializes in capturing bold and emotive weddings, elopements, and intimate events. We also offer modern open-air photo booth and event rentals servicing the Southern California Area. XO is different from other companies in the area because we are a one stop shop for event media coverage. When you book with XO, you know for certain that your most memorable memories will be captured and documented for generations to come. I love that the brand itself is centered around my husband and I’s relationship. After doing long distance for almost a full year while dating, long work days would often make it difficult to stay in constant communication with one another, “xoxo” was often what we would text each other when we were too exhausted to call or text, but wanted the other to know we were thinking of the other. And I love that during that season, our memories and simple iPhone selfies, photos, and videos together in our camera roll helped lessen that gap. XO Photo Company is determined to help capture every fleeting moment from your events. We understand that time spent with family and friends doesn’t need to be lost, images are so special and we understand the importance that a group photo or memory captured can mean. Life is so short, and we love celebrating all lives special moments with our clients.

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I am no stranger to planning a wedding or understanding the importance that a photographer holds for your wedding. I planned my own full-sized wedding, start to finish in 45 days! We weren’t even officially engaged, with a ring on my finger, until one week before our ceremony! After doing long distance with my now husband for almost 6 months being over 2 hours apart, and then him moving to SoCal and being over 4 hours apart for 3 months, I told him I couldn’t handle being so far from him any longer. He “proposed” to me with a promise, simply without the ring, and just over a month later, we had a full wedding ceremony and reception with over 150 of our closest friends and family in attendance! Food trucks, pizza, tacos, dancing, and a PHOTO BOOTH made the night a giant party with all of our favorite people. The photo booth at our wedding was the reason why we opened XO in the first place. We loved the ease of use and sleek and modern design that the booth offered, and I took the bull by the horns and opened XO with a hope and a dream a short year later praying that I could dip my toe back into the event world in a whole new area. Here we are now! Almost two years of marriage under our belts, and we don’t regret a thing about our big day. It was beyond magical. And I am so happy that I invested in a photographer and friend to photograph our day how I would have wanted it documented myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://xophoto.co/
• Instagram: @xophotocompany (photography) & @xophoto.co (photo booth)
• Facebook: facebook.xophoto.co
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/xo-photo-company-photography-fullerton (photography) and https://www.yelp.com/biz/xo-photo-fullerton-11 (booth)
• Other: Photo booth website: https://xophotocompany.squarespace.com/

Image Credits
XO Photo Company LLC