Jenny DeMarco Photography
Jenny DeMarco of Jenny DeMarco Photography, an Austin-based wedding photographer with 17 years behind the camera, joins Kevin Cochran on the Texas Wedding Podcast to talk career reinventions, hard-won lessons, and one of the wildest wedding stories the show has heard yet.
Before photography, Jenny was a UK-chartered landscape architect in Belfast, Northern Ireland, working on the redevelopment of the old Titanic shipyards. She shifted into wedding photography in 2009 and has spent the years since shooting across Texas and well beyond it, from Puerto Rico to Scotland. Jenny also serves as president of WIPA Austin, a chapter she helped found as part of the original steering committee. She and Kevin get into decision fatigue on a wedding day, why audio matters as much as video at a rehearsal dinner, and the early-career wedding where a fork ended up as a weapon.
Follow Jenny DeMarco Photography on Instagram, and hear more from the people shaping the Texas wedding market on the Texas Wedding Podcast.
Since Jenny's WIPA Austin work comes up throughout, pair this one with Jordan Fatheree's episode on WIPA leadership and WIPACon 2026 coming to Texas.
The Texas Wedding Podcast is hosted by Kevin Cochran of 718 Creative, a Texas wedding videographer.
Full Transcript (condensed)
Meet Jenny DeMarco
Kevin: Do you want to introduce yourself?
Jenny DeMarco: I'm Jenny DeMarco. I'm a wedding photographer in Austin, Texas, and I mostly shoot documentary style. I've been doing it for 17 years. I really like showing off the relationship people have with each other and their family and loved ones. I'm a sucker for those warm, fuzzy moments.
Kevin: Do you exclusively work in Austin?
Jenny DeMarco: No, mostly Austin, especially the last few years with little kids, but I work in Houston, Dallas, and all over Texas. Once or twice a year I'm going outside of it too. I've been to New Mexico, Baltimore, North Carolina, Napa, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Scotland, and Spain.
From Landscape Architecture to Wedding Photography
Jenny DeMarco: Before this I was a UK-chartered landscape architect. I lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and one of my big projects was the redevelopment of the old Titanic shipyards. Belfast got a lot of funding from the EU to revitalize the area after it had been bombed heavily in the 70s and 80s, so we were adding buildings and open space where they used to build ships. I got flown to a small town in the south of England to pick out trees for the project, tie ribbons on the ones we wanted, and we built custom outdoor furniture too. I also worked on a project in a small town in the middle of Ireland called Birr, walking around with a little castle nearby, figuring out what would make the town more charming.
I started wedding photography around 2009. I remember telling myself I was going to book 10 weddings in 2010. My very first website wasn't even photography-focused, it described me as venturing into "her second love of photography and design."
WIPA Austin: From Steering Committee to President
Jenny DeMarco: I'm currently the president of WIPA Austin. I was part of the original steering committee that brought it here, and honestly I did it selfishly, I wanted to go to something like it myself. Stepping from the committee into president brought a lot of growth I wasn't expecting. You get to know people you didn't know before, and it opens up your bubble. If you don't serve your community, it's not going to happen, people have to be asked to help.
Networking Tips: Pregame and Postgame
Jenny DeMarco: My tip for networking events is to plan a pregame, meet up with a friend beforehand for coffee or dinner so you walk in already warmed up, and then have a postgame plan too, drinks or the hotel pool afterward. If you don't have anyone to go with, still have a plan, and be the one who invites people. Nobody wants to organize that part, but everyone wants to be invited.
The Fork Incident
Jenny DeMarco: There was a fork stabbing at one of my weddings, really early on, my second year. One brother disrespected another brother's girlfriend, and it turned into a whole thing near the bar, police got called. I was on the dance floor the whole time with my second shooter and two guests who hadn't noticed a thing, so I ended up with 400 photos of those two people while everything else happened off to the side. Years later, a different wedding at the same venue ended with two guests getting caught in a closet. I didn't catch them, the planner did, but when she described it, I knew exactly who it was.
Reading a Room Through the Lens
Jenny DeMarco: One of my superpowers is finding something to love about anybody. At one wedding, the dad was so stiff and buttoned-up I knew I wasn't going to get an emotional, crying-dad moment out of him. I rode in the front seat of the car taking them to the ceremony, camera ready, and right as they were about to get out, he gave his daughter two quiet pats on the leg. That's all it was, but I knew it was coming, and I got it.
I also used to do in-person gallery reveals. One bride came in so nervous, because all she could remember from her wedding day was the handful of things that went wrong. I told her not to worry, and by the end of the reveal she was so happy, she realized how much good had actually happened that day. It's good to have a little selective memory sometimes.
Decision Fatigue
Jenny DeMarco: We're making a hundred decisions over and over, all day. Where to stand, what to shoot, what not to shoot, how to read a couple's personality and anticipate what's going to matter to them. Early on, none of that is muscle memory yet, so it's exhausting. My first wedding gallery has a full photo of a bread basket in it, because it was dinner, nothing was happening, and I felt like I had to shoot something.
Hot Take: Rehearsal Dinners Need Audio
Kevin: My hot take is that if a couple can only afford one, they should think about video instead of photo for their rehearsal dinner, especially if there are toasts.
Jenny DeMarco: I agree, if there are toasts, prioritize video, you're going to want that audio. I didn't have a videographer at my own wedding, and what I wish I had was audio of our toasts and our ceremony. Hearing the toasts is also how we get to know our clients in a way we can't from a planning call, it's a completely different perspective from people who actually love them.
A Gymnast's Past Life
Jenny DeMarco: My fun fact is that I trained as a gymnast in Houston in the 80s, alongside Kerri Strug and Kim Zmeskal. I trained until I was 13, which is about when you find out if you're headed to the Olympics or not. I wasn't, so it was time to retire. I still feel it in my feet when I watch beam.
Connect with Jenny Jenny DeMarco Photography: https://www.jennydemarco.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennydemarcoweddings
Connect with Kevin // 718 Creative https://718creative.com | https://www.instagram.com/718.creative
Connect with the Podcast https://www.texasweddingpodcast.com | https://www.instagram.com/texasweddingpodcast
