Meet Emilie Gates | Owner/Photographer at Appalachian Wedding Photography & Owner/Manager of The Holler House,

We had the good fortune of connecting with Emilie Gates and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Emilie, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
One thing that I think has hugely impacted my business is the ‘yard sale method.’ Every year growing up, our family would have a yard sale to clean out the old and keep the house in order. My mom would be in charge and the rest of the family would lend a hand and follow her lead to sell everything out there on the driveway. Her method was to keep it moving; if something was still there after a crowd had looked through a table of items, then shuffle the items around. Give them a new presentation; a new angle. We never sat in a chair and waited for folks to come and go. We were on our feet rearranging tables, combining and regrouping like items, displaying sections differently and shifting the rear items forward. The mentality of that work ethic has impacted every angle of my business life. I have found that follow-through is just as important as picking up the phone with a new client. Making a new connection with a venue is just as important as having a website. Editing an elopement is just as important as editing our most famous wedding. The yard sale method has taught me that preparation, a vision, details and execution of a plan is what makes success. Success will not find you. You have to find success.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Appalachian Wedding Photography is me and my husband. That is it! We are total opposites, which helps us relate to all of our clients and serve them well. I love people. Chad loves to edit. I love to plan with our wedding clients. Chad likes to capture a point of view that will surprise the clients. He likes range. I like personal and up close. So, it works! We want weddings to take a personal approach so that every wedding is like no other. We love personal plans, details and thoughtfulness tangled up into the day’s plans and, most of all, we love real love and friendship. Give us real and we will capture it. We are really good at helping clients find their true smile and their authentic selves. This is always our approach with portraits and the capture of the day’s events. We try to build a timeline to be tight so that there is not a lot of lag time. We want a natural flow to the day without clients; an excitement that doesn’t get interrupted by a clock or by waiting on someone.
Our style of photography is candid and leans toward documentary. I work with the clients with more direction than Chad by directing any changes that might need to be made; like a strap out of place or a twisted veil. Chad takes the approach of a pure capture and often surprises me with his point of view. I love it so much. I still find it amazing that the two of us can photograph the exact same weddings, together, year after year, and still have very different eyes and perspectives. We love our clients and often keep in touch with they for years and decades after the wedding.
One the way home from every wedding, we talk about how it went and what our favorite shots were. That helps me with planning for future weddings. I’ve always tried to have input in the timeline since so much depends on being in the right place at the right time. I’d say that the reason that we are so successful is that we are a part of the planning, the conversations and the dreaming; together, with our clients, from the very beginning. Oftentimes, my initial conversation with new prospective clients is an hour-long phone conversation. Just chatting and laughing, listening and throwing ideas back and forth. I do think that investing early on is so important, not just sending out an email reply with a pricing guide. I message back and forth sometimes as much as a few times a week, and always try to have phone calls as well. Texting makes everything way more personal than emails. I want to be reachable and relatable. I want to share my heart and my passion. I am so grateful to have a partner that sees my strengths and, most of all, my weaknesses and makes them his strengths. Chad takes on the tech side of the business, keeps up with all the gear prep and purchases, backs up everything, culls through every single photo that we ever take with our five cameras at every wedding and then edits and designs albums. He lays out this amazing gallery that I just have to send to our sweet clients. I get all the perks of this job! It is really a great balance. He likes what he does and I LOVE not having to do what he does. Win-win.
I’d love for every client to be so comfortable and confident with our work and us as people, that they would be vulnerable and real with us and with each other. I want real. I want true- I don’t want a production. I want to look through these weddings that we capture and sit for a moment and re-live those laughs. I want to see the hold and the touch. It’s pretty cool that I saw it in real life, in real-time and then captured it, holding that love forever in a photograph. It is a power like no other. We have this superpower that helps others cherish each other, proving the beauty in their love for each other and bringing forth a forever story for the generations to come. It’s a stamp of yesterday for the future. Capturing emotions and real love- it is magic.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my best friend were coming to the mountains for a week, I would show her all my favorite spots. I’d probably pick her up from Atlanta airport and drive the easy two hours to the mountains. It is crazy to see the change in the landscape that happens in such a short distance. My BF would come during the you-pick apple season and we would ride the tractor up the mountain to gorge on all the apples; straight from the trees. Merciers Orchards would be the first and only stop to grab their delicious chicken salad, a huge bag of honey crisp apples, a few caramel apples, a dozen apple cider donuts, a gallon of fresh pressed cider, and a few handfuls of their bottled crisp hard cider. For real, it is such a wonderful collection of goodies that we could live off of this loot for the week! And, no, I am not getting paid to advertise for them. We would head to the Ocoee White Water Center Blue Holes. That is what the locals call it anyhow. It’s a magical spot where the river follows the water release schedule for the power and when the water is low, these holes in the rocks open up for little sunbathing spots and crystal-clear swimming in a maze of rock features. This is where my children learned to swim. This is where we bring couples for engagement shoots and elopements. It is public land and there are trails and an incredible walk bridge over the river. After relaxing and taking a dip at Blue Holes, we would drive ten more minutes into the National Forest and find ourselves at GoForth Creek. Everyone on the river road just drives right by this gem. The creek is more of a stream with tons of waterfalls rather than a flat creek. There is hiking for miles up the creek but the waterfalls and layers of rocks at the parking area are enough to get your fill if you are not looking for a workout. I love this spot so much because of the convenience of the parking area and because it is unregulated, meaning- no parking fees or passes are required. I have brought wedding clients to this spot to get married on the large boulders and to be surrounded by the forest.
The beginning of the Ocoee River in TN is actually the Toccoa River in GA. We would take a float trip on the Toccoa River after launching in at Horseshoe Bend Park and flip between the tube and a swim as we floated down the water. It’s another spot that is available anytime. For a little adventure, we would hitchhike back to our truck once we got out of the river near Copperhill/McCayesville. This small town is sure to offer up a sweet driver with an empty truck bed to take us in the back to our vehicle. Part of the fun of living in the mountains near all these rivers is hitchhiking. Our family has often offered kayakers rides up the river to catch another trip. These folks are usually wet and in wetsuits with only a paddle in hand, so we know that they are cool!
The Murphy River Walk is a must for us to visit. It offers endless trails, paths and options for picnics and girl talk with all the benches throughout. I would say it is one of Murphy’s treasures. I like to enter into the River Walk at the Train Depot and exit over on the other side of town. This allows me to walk through the adorable downtown and shop on my way back to the car. Black&White Market is a must on my walk through downtown. It is a locally owned shop that is so great because it is filled with handmade pottery from my favorite potter- Christie Walker, antiques and all kinds of lamps and lights. I swear that I have probably bought 10 lamps there.
My best friend and I would be driving my truck and would thrift shop every day. We would hit every surrounding town and find the most amazing prizes at wonderful prices. It’s not like in the big cities where everything is picked over and overpriced. Our thrift shops are full of treasures. There is nothing like finding something that has been loved well and carries a story. Thrifting is our favorite activity; thrifting is our love language.
Eating is also our love language. Murphy has this incredible sandwich shop called Red Brick Deli that offers all the smalltown vibes with delicious options. Splitting is an option but we won’t, we will order two and swap halves. I would totally shoot a love-story lunch at this deli. It’s that cute and quaint; right across from the Henn Theater with the old marquee from back in the day.
Our nights would be spent outside, under the dark sky filled with stars. We love living here because light pollution is low and the stars are so visible. My BF and I will definitely go to my other favorite swimming hole at the rocks on Lake Nottely in Blairsville, GA. These rocks are so beautiful from the land and from the water. It’s another wonderworld and so fun to play and capture playful pictures that have the most amazing backdrop of the lake and the mountains. The water is clear and clean and we would definitely take a night-time dip and swim out into the lake until we get too scared and have to swim back. The evenings are cool up here in the mountains but the water is perfect and crisp and energizing.
Life up here in the mountains is simple and lovely and easy. It’s perfect.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Shout out to my MOMMA! She is the founder of all my umph. All the effort that goes into my work; my stick-to-it-ness; my creative approach and my energy; and most of all, my willingness. My mom, Carol Gates, taught me how to work at a young age. She coached me through whatever it was we were working on: cleaning, organizing, selling or landscaping. There was no project too small or too big that didn’t deserve 100% effort and commitment. She is my ultimate teacher and spurred me into adulthood with an eagerness to succeed and spread my wings far and wide.

Website: https://appalachianweddingphotography.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/appalachianweddingphotography/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AppalachianWeddingPhotography