Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Cooke.
Hi Jennifer, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hey there! My name is Jennifer Cooke and this is the story of how I started my photography and business mindset business!
In 2018, I started photography while I was attending Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. During my junior year of college, I knew I wanted to run my own business. I just didn’t know how or when that would happen. Fast forward a few years, and I slowly began to grow my photography business through headshots, senior portraits, and family sessions.
On May 16th, 2021, Daniel and I were married at Mead Lake Lodge in Rustburg, VA. This began our journey of trust in the Lord for our marriage and everything we would need. We honestly had no idea what was in store for us!
After taking a few photos at my younger sister’s wedding, she suggested that I be a wedding photographer because she loved my photography style; therefore, I started pursuing weddings and engagements more. Alongside weddings and engagements, we photographed families and seniors. In 2022, my husband (Daniel T. Cooke) and I decided to move to the Nashville, TN area so that he could pursue a career in Film Composing & Songwriting. Along this journey, he also became my second photographer on wedding days.
Now, it’s 2025, and we are happily photographing weddings in both the Nashville, TN area and the Lynchburg, VA area. We choose to photograph weddings in both Tennessee and Virginia so that Daniel can pursue his music business in TN and so that I can visit my older sister and her family (her husband and their two children) in VA. Weddings allow us to travel and see family more often while also impacting our client’s lives through timeliness & heirloom imagery. We also love traveling to new places like the Smoky Mountains, Charleston, and Florida!
In January of 2025, we welcomed our first baby boy, Tyler, into the world! Becoming parents has been an adjustment, but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Tyler’s been such a blessing! And our JC Couples and JC Families have loved meeting him! If you’d like to listen to his birth story, it’s out on our Called to Help Podcast (Episodes 4-6).
In addition, Daniel and I really value the relationships we have with our couples, which is why we choose to photograph only 12-15 weddings per year. We also love photographing families as well as photographing branding sessions for other business owners. I run a YouTube Channel which is centered around photography education and business mindset education. I have 2 Podcasts (Unique Moments and Called to Help). Unique Moments is a podcast geared towards the wedding industry, and Called to Help is a podcast geared towards encouraging other business owners in their journey. Lastly, I have a long term goal of providing business coaching services to small business owners who need further guidance in pursuing their business goals. It’s been such a blessing to work alongside Daniel, and the Lord has been gracious to us by providing many opportunities along the way!
We can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for us in both life and business in the years to come!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being a business owner is never 100% smooth, but the struggles you face along the way are 100% worth it to make it to a life of more freedom. A few of the struggles I faced were financial, the fear of hearing no, desiring control, patience, and facing hard things in business.
At first, it will be very hard financially because most of the money you make for the first 1-3 years get put back into the business (to build it); however, once you start year 4 (if you make it that far), that’s when you’ll start paying yourself more consistently. That’s pretty much what happened to my business, Jennifer Cooke Photography, LLC. I invested in several programs and courses to learn and grow my business. It definitely cost a lot of money to learn these beneficial business skills, but I now see why it was a good investment. I also invested in camera equipment, styled shoots, and many other various photography business related expenses to build a successful business.
Second, one of the biggest struggles in business is learning how to hear “no” in the right way. Many business owners are afraid of the fear of rejection or losing their clientele. It’s a legit fear that needs to be overcome in business. This is why it’s important to always save some cash for a rainy day so that if you do go through a dry patch (not many bookings or clients), you can make it through to the other side. I have experienced this several times over the years of running my business. I’m pretty sure I’ve gone a solid 6 months without booking a wedding. However, I was able to make it through because the Lord provided miraculously through other photo based opportunities within my business. How do I deal with this fear of rejection? To be honest, I step back, pray for the Lord’s provision as well as the ability to let go, but I also make the decision daily to give my business back to the Lord to do with it what he sees fit. It’s hard not being in control, but it’s better when I give up control of the business to the Lord. This has been one of the biggest lessons I have learned in 2025, but it’s also been huge for my overall mental health and wellbeing. So, what’s the proper way to hear the word, “no”? The proper way is to see all the “no’s” as a stepping stone to your next “yes.” The more no’s you have, the sooner the next yes will come! It’s such a huge mindset shift that will help you keep persevering in business!
Another struggle for me has been control. I’m starting a new paragraph because there’s this common thought in the Christian world that you can just sit back and wait for the Lord to work. However, I believe that to some extent, when it comes to running a business, you also need to work and find ways to market your business. I would still agree that a big part of a Christian run business is trusting the Lord, but you still need to do work to bring in clients. To sum it up, it’s really a heart issue. Where’s your trust when it comes to running your business? Is your trust in money and that form of security or is it in the Lord’s overall plan for your life and business? Ultimately, yes, you have to work to grow your business but you can still give control over to the Lord! And doing so, will bring you an incredible amount of peace!
You also need lots of patience when running a business. You’re going to need to persevere through the hard times. I’ve had to persevere through dry spells when I’ve thought about throwing in the towel; however, I just stuck it out and kept going because I felt that this business was what the Lord had called me to do. I had vision that someday it would really benefit Daniel’s and my family. And looking back on the past years of building my business, I’m SO GLAD that I persevered through all the challenges. I’ve learned so much, and I’ve created a way for me to work and be a stay at home mom for Tyler. I am incredibly thankful to the Lord for allowing me to run this business!
Lastly, you will always have struggles in business. Therefore, when a struggle arises, the best way to deal with it is to learn how to overcome the struggle and get through it. Another way to think of this is…whenever something is hard for you to do, that’s the thing you need to learn how to do next. If you can always conquer hard things, you will go far in life and business!
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Jennifer Cooke Photography, LLC is a husband and wife natural light wedding and family photography team who serve detail-oriented and joyful brides desiring a celebratory wedding day and a forever family legacy! Our goal is to connect with our couples on a deeper level to form a relationship that goes beyond their wedding photography experience. Our mission is to show love to our JC Couples and our JC Families as well as to help other business owners build confidence to pursue the business of their dreams. We specialize in a light and airy wedding photography experience that is aimed towards couples who value their precious memories and who desire high quality photography that will last a lifetime. We are known for our Christian values, our commitment to marriage, our fun personality & adventurous lifestyle, going above and beyond for our clients, and our story of trusting the Lord through life’s challenges.
We are different because we connect with couples on a personal level first and then we focus on preserving their wedding memories so they can remember their wedding day for a lifetime! Our couples appreciate that we take the time to get to know them and their love story first and then we discuss what’s important to them on their wedding day. To us, it’s not just photography, it’s a friendship.
To be honest, brand-wise, we could be proud of how beautiful our photos look, but I’m actually just thankful of how the Lord has provided the right couples to us. I’m thankful that we’ve been able to serve and impact our couple’s lives. I’m thankful that we’ve been able to build a lavender inspired brand that draws in brides who desire a strong marriage and a pastel themed wedding day. I’m thankful that we’ve built a brand that clients trust! Our JC Brides literally come to us because they trust us 110% with their wedding day memories! That’s such a blessing! I’m thankful that this business allows me to be a stay at home mom to Tyler while also working from home! And I’m thankful that this business allows us to travel and see our family on a regular basis! Therefore, I’m thankful of what Jennifer Cooke Photography has become over the years as well as how it allows us to have freedom and flexibility in our life!
When we have video consultations with our JC Couples, we ask them questions to learn what they truly value so we can customize a collection that would best fit their needs. We also help our couples build their wedding photography timeline in a way that documents their love story in the way that they want it to be captured. It’s not about my shot list. It’s about documenting what’s important to them on their day. We listen to them from the start to ensure we are the best fit for their day and their love story. Part of our wedding photography experience is a complimentary engagement session. We use this time to really get to know our couples and just have fun with them before their wedding day. It’s a time where we get to learn more about what we have in common, and it’s really just a blast!
Ultimately, our couples hire us because they trust us and want to feel truly connected with us as their wedding photographers before, during, and after their wedding day. Therefore, we are different because we offer personal connection and you can’t get our level of connection and expertise from any other company.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
My favorite childhood memory was me running through my family’s yard wearing a dress feeling young and carefree. I remember just enjoying childhood and not having a care in the world. I believe that’s how you should feel on your wedding day. Young and in love and ready to embark on life’s greatest adventure of marriage and commitment to each other.
In life, I believe it’s important to have a mixture of seriousness and carefreeness. For a few years after college, I lost a lot of my carefreeness because of the stresses of running a business full time. Then, in January of 2025, Daniel and I had our first baby boy, Tyler Cooke. His birth and life has helped me to relax and have fun more in between working.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jenniferjaquithcooke.com/nashvilleweddingphotographers
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifercookephotography
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifercookephotography
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferljaquith
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jennifercookephotography
