Heather and Jamie Schneider’s recipe for success: mixing up a concoction of courage, saying “yes” first (and learning later, of course), and finally, their greatest strength and what they have in common: a “go-getter” attitude.

Heather and Jamie Schneider had never attended a wedding before starting their own photography business, Dark Roux Studio, based in New Orleans. The recipe of their success over the years, they say, has been their courage: saying “yes” first and then learning how to do it later, plus their “go-getter” attitudes, ambition and adaptability. 

The pair had grown up in New Orleans and had known each other since childhood. They got engaged after moving to Florida, but the thought of organizing a big wedding and arranging everyone to come to one physical location was daunting for both of them. After living together in multiple cities across different states, they had a community of friends who were spread out across the country and their family lived in Louisiana.

It had been two years since they’d gotten engaged and they were now living in Washington, D.C. Jamie woke up one morning and asked Heather if she wanted to get married that day. Heather said yes, but there was a five-day waiting period to process all of the necessary paperwork so, the couple drove across the bridge to a courthouse in Virginia, where they were directed to a lawyer’s office located in the basement of a pawn shop, where they got married on the spot. They celebrated afterwards with a lunch at a nearby restaurant. 

There was no one present to document their elopement, but it took Jamie and Heather some time before they started to regret this decision. “Our first daughter was about three years old when we had our first wedding client,” Heather explains. “She started asking us questions about our wedding and why we didn’t have any photos from the day.” It was their daughter’s questions that made the Schneiders rethink their decision for the first time.

Jamie had discovered photography in high school. He wasn’t a very good student and the photography class was the first time he got good grades, which made him decide to keep pursuing the subject. He got his first digital camera after moving in with Heather. Eventually, Heather started using his camera to take photos of random things that grabbed her attention and uploading them on an image and video hosting website. 

Heather was managing a restaurant in D.C. at this time. She knew many of the regulars, including an interior designer couple who were remodeling the interior of a coffee shop. They had seen her work online and asked if she wanted to put her photos up on the walls. Heather printed out, framed, and displayed her work in the coffee shop; she eventually received inquiries about purchasing them.

“That’s when I thought, maybe I’m really good at this!’” Heather explains. Jamie, on the other hand, had been working as a roadie and taking photographs of the bands he toured with for fun.

At this point, even though they both had full-time jobs, Heather and Jamie were not making enough money to support themselves. One day, Heather said that either Jamie, who could be considered a regular at their local tattoo shop, needed to learn how to tattoo and get a job at the shop, or they had to really learn how to use a camera and build a business from it. They had been approached by a few people who knew they were hobbyist photographers to photograph their small weddings, but had never taken anyone up on the offer. That all changed when a friend of Jamie’s who was eloping on Mardi Gras asked if they would photograph the occasion.

“We didn’t know what to expect,” Jamie recalls. “We just showed up and we thought we’d go to the French Quarter, have fun and take some pictures,” Heather says.  The last wedding Jamie had attended was his aunt’s, when he was eight years old. However, their friends’ elopement struck a chord with Heather and Jamie because it was what they had done just a few years prior. The couple recall having a great time and falling in love with the process of taking photos. The real challenge for them was their lack of knowledge about professionally editing photographs. Jamie ended up using free editing software online but it didn’t allow him much control. In hindsight, they know that the photos were technically not good but they are happy knowing that their friends have photos to look back on from their elopement. 

Wanting to photograph another wedding quickly after that, they put up ads on classified sites. They got their second client, but didn’t know they were supposed to get paid before the wedding. When the wedding was over, they asked for payment and received a check for $700. “We walked around the corner and jumped up and down out of sheer joy,” Jamie recalls.

In that moment, they decided this was what they were going to do for the rest of their lives. Since they were both unfamiliar with what a wedding ceremony entailed, they returned home and started searching online for terms like “processional” and “first look” in order to educate themselves about the different aspects of their new profession. In addition to learning about weddings, they began photographing their everyday lives in order to improve their skills as quickly as possible.

They continued working with clients who found them through their online advertisements for a year and a half, at which point something changed. Photographer Cedric Angeles, a regular contributor for some of the world’s leading fashion, travel, and lifestyle publications, reached out to them asking if they would photograph his wedding. He said, “I know good talent when I see it.”

Both Heather and Jamie were nervous, but they knew this was an opportunity of a lifetime. Jamie got a personal loan from the bank to purchase higher quality cameras and lenses to shoot Angeles’ wedding, which turned out to be a great decision; the wedding was filled with high-profile figures, including the editor of Food & Wine magazine. 

Not only did that wedding expose their work to a broader audience, it also allowed the Schneiders to become more confident. They stopped advertising on classified sites and moved their business listing to the famous wedding planning website, The Knot.

In the period following Hurricane Katrina, a lot of money was being invested into New Orleans, which caused a spike in out-of town weddings. Heather and Jamie felt the competition among wedding photographers, so they started seeking out the work of their competition online in order to compare their work with the goal of becoming the best wedding photographers in New Orleans. 

Both Jamie and Heather believe it was their agility and adaptability that helped them get to where they are now. “In New Orleans, you should expect anything at anytime,” Heather says. “A street can be closed, it can start raining, or a building can even be torn down, so you have to go in and roll with what you’re given because that’s when you get the best results,” she adds. 

Even though the city of New Orleans presents certain challenges, it has also been a huge contributor to the Schneiders’ success. Because the city is so colorful and vibrant, it has a mood like no other. Most of the weddings they photograph take place at night, which means that the photographs are taken in the dark. This has allowed Jamie and Heather to develop a characteristically underexposed style, which was not popular when they began their business, and has also given their company its name. 

Since then, Dark Roux has come a long way. What started out with Jamie searching online “how to build a business” late at night has led to a studio with five photographers. Dark Roux also found its voice early on by being one of the first photography studios in New Orleans to openly support same-sex weddings.

Heather and Jamie believe they have a responsibility to be honest, which means that they don’t interfere with the wedding day at all and don’t ask the bride and groom to do anything twice. “The last thing I want my clients to remember about their wedding days is us,” says Heather.

“Most people don’t care about their wedding photos immediately after the wedding because they are excited for the planning phase to be over and for their life to return to normalcy. It’s not until later, perhaps when they’ve had a child or lose a parent that they look back at those photos. These photographs are like wine. They get better with age.” 

Heather and Jamie now live in Houston and have started a family portrait studio called Folk Portraits, specializing in black and white imagery. Regardless of where they may be and what they might be shooting, the Schneiders continue to take photographs that provoke heartfelt emotions and create work that feels right in their hearts. 

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