Introducing Joy Anthology
Joy Anthology provides a modern alternative to event guestbooks, blending the guest capture experience with mobile technology. Our mission is to help people preserve and celebrate their memories from their special life events.
We started pursuing our mission when we launched our photography business, Blind Photography. We were thrilled to capture the moments that matter as families and friends came together, building new families and new friendships. We built our business around those special moments - family portraits, newborn pictures, senior photos, and wedding photography.
We started seeing guests using their time waiting in line to sign the guestbook to take selfies, and also saw moments of joy when our wedding couples received these photos, notifying them someone very special had arrived. We realized there was an opportunity to blend the intent of the guestbook - helping people remember all of the people who were part of their special day in the years to come - with the increasing capabilities guests had with their mobile devices.
“Traditional guestbooks are likely not looked at again once the event has passed. We created Joy Anthology to bring a unique and modern keepsake to the market, customizable to your home’s decor, that will be loved, talked about, and looked at over and over again. It also provides a fun, interactive activity for guests.”
Over the years, we came to realize something was amiss with the loved (and sometimes loathed) traditional guestbook. What happens to the guestbook after the big day, the special event, the wedding, the reunion, the reception? This was the opportunity we set out to design a captivating solution for.
Joy Anthology was born in 2019. After some demographic and market research, investments in technology, and a little help from our family, we introduced our proprietary mobile guest capture platform and keepsake generator. We strove to keep it easy, fun, and personal. Couples customize the design of their keepsake, create their own special text code, and share that code with their guests, family members, and friends. Once all the guest photos are submitted, the archival quality canvas is produced and delivered to the couple’s home, ready for display.
More about Blind Photography
We built a photography business together that literally captures moments that matter. Holleen, who is legally blind (yet known for her unique technical style)—coupled with the bold, breath-taking talent of daughter, Becca—creates photographic art for the clients of Blind Photography.
“At an anniversary reception, for example, I feel the conversations of the guests. When laughter is coming, I anticipate the movements and expressions that it will create. I capture the candid, intimate moments of elation, joy, and connectedness—I don’t need perfect vision for that, it’s a natural, beautiful, fluid evolution of human interaction.”
For over a decade mother daughter team Holleen Lawrence & Becca Hodges (aka Nan & Boo) have mastered their directed journalistic style to ensure your event photography is as candid, relaxed, and fun as you are. Blind Photography is a Des Moines, Iowa-based business specializing in photography that is true to you, and your story.
Holleen Lawrence and Becca Hodges