It was a decidedly decisive moment that set Emilie Sommer on herserious search for studio space. She had just stepped into anotherroom to grab a second sample album to show to a prospectivecouple seated at her kitchen table when she overheard the fatherof the bride bemoan “that dog,” as Emilie’s adopted lab, Dakota,brought him her tennis ball yet again.“I was so ashamed and embarrassed,” explains Emilie, a Port-land, ME-based wedding photojournalist and owner of EmilieInc. “I remember at that moment knowing I never ever wanted torisk losing a client because we had met here.” Less than two yearslater, and Emilie Inc. has settled into a space that while warm andwelcoming like her kitchen table, projects the positively profes-sional image that has been the cornerstone of the Emilie Inc. brandas it has developed from a one-woman home-based businessinto one of the country’s most recognizable boutique weddingphotography studios.While the studio, located at the edge of the Portland’s hip artsdistrict, is fewer than five miles away from the South Portlandhome Emilie shares with her husband, J. Sandifer, a sales rep forliveBooks, it took years for Emilie to arrive here.The first signs of the Emilie Inc. brand were seen more than twodecades ago when, as a youngster growing up in Hollis, NH, Emiliewould spend her days playing office and practicing her signature,which even then was comprised of all lowercase letters with bigdots over the i’s. After graduating from Syracuse University’sNewhouse School of Public Communications, Emilie went onto work as a photographer and picture editor at

USA Today

in2000–2001 and then as a picture editor for

The

Washington Post,

starting in the summer of 2001.A longing to return to her family and rural roots following 9/11combined with a growing frustration over being at the computerinstead of the camera as the night picture editor at

The

Post

ce-mented her decision to move from dreamer to doer and pursuethe wedding photography business plan she’d written out follow-ing her reading of

The Practical Dreamer’s Handbook

by Paul andSarah Edwards.She started Emilie Sommer Photography in 2003 while still at

The

Post

, but left her position later that year to become a full-timephotographer and move to Maine in 2004. “I just kind of felt my way through the process,” Emilie explains of beginning and laterincorporating her business. “I knew nothing about marketing orbranding. I just knew I had the opportunity to make a new namefor myself here because nobody knew me yet so I could use my D.C. credentials to push me forward.”That new name was Emilie Inc. and in mid-2004 Emilie rolledout the brand with a fresh and fun pink circular logo with whitelettering and big brown polka dots above the i’s. The colors andcircles were inspired by, of all things, a pink and brown showercurtain Emilie found at HomeGoods and the “Inc.” added on to herfirst name simply sounded good.“I don’t even really like pink but I liked the combination of thosetwo colors together. And I loved the sound of Emilie Inc. It soundssort of feminine and friendly yet serious and strong and business-like at the same time,” she says. “When I see my logo, it makes mesmile. It’s approachable and fun.”After recently giving Web site advice by phone to North Caro-lina wedding photographer Kristine Dittmer, of Kristine DittmerPhotography, Emilie received a thank-you email telling her, “Yousound as nice as your logo looks. I have to say you have one of my all time favorite logos… love the mix of your friendly, approachable

By Samantha DePoy-Warren

emilie sommer

a practical dreamer in

pink

name combined with the business-like ‘Inc.’And all those vowels have a synergy. It justreally works.”The brand is the perfect personification of the always-smiling Emilie, who is as sweetand sincere as she is smart and savvy. Andit was that savvy side that led her to seizeupon her frustration over potentially beingperceived as unprofessional and turn it intomotivation for moving Emilie Inc. out of herhouse and finally finding it a true home.Throughout 2007 and into early 2008,Emilie searched the greater Portland areafor a studio spot, seriously consideringthree before falling in love with the second-floor of 227 Congress Street, an open 1400square-foot space located in a brick build-ing that also houses an artsy cafe with a vegetarian menu and live acoustic music.Her three-year lease began on April 1 andafter massive renovations with the guid-ance of a local interior designer, the studiocelebrated its opening with a gala in lateJuly, attended by a who’s who of the region’swedding industry, including several dozenother wedding photographers.True to the Emilie Inc. signature, thestudio walls, dotted with wide windows,are painted pink or brown, and atop thehardwood floors sit brown rugs and cus-tom chairs and a couch swathed in a mod-ern pink and brown baroque-style fabric.Canvases featuring beaming brides andgrateful grooms grace the walls in a way that evokes an art gallery. Every detail fromthe sample albums on the coffee table (of course, their covers are brown) to the tis-sue box in the bathroom (yes, it too is pink)are a reflection of the brand that Emilie hasbuilt, and the image she wants the space toconvey to her clients.“When people come in here, I want itto feel familiar. I think when people comein here, they can see themselves in thesephotographs,” she says. “I love cominghere every day. It’s that childhood pretendplace come to life. It has a nice, warmcreative energy.”In the year that the studio opened, EmilieInc., which now includes several associates,shot more weddings than ever before—a