Many Nevadans are adjusting to the proliferation of COVID-19 by practicing social distancing, stocking up on supplies and staying at home. The Nevada Independent is sharing their stories each day. 

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In the spring, Las Vegas-based wedding photographer Alycia Moore is usually busy photographing couples exchanging vows and families gathering to celebrate their loved ones.

Now that attempts to reduce the spread of coronavirus have resulted in non-essential business closures and wedding cancellations, however, she is rescheduling wedding dates and updating her contracts to include a clause for pandemics.

"I've been on the phone a lot with clients, either reassuring them or just helping them deal with it," Moore said. "I'm also back at just general website work, blogging, but there's only so much you can blog about cooped up at home."

Moore, who got married in January and came back from her honeymoon excited to capture others’ happy memories, described the date changes as a "grieving process" for couples who now are uncertain when they will get married. 

"I got married before all this went down, but it's really hard. I've had, I think, six push backs to this point, so I've been helping six different, amazing, strong, beautiful women get through this process," she said, noting that wedding planning can be stressful under the best circumstances, let alone during a pandemic.

As she reschedules appointments for dates within the next year or so, she said she is worried about the loss of income, especially now that her husband has been laid off from his tech job.

"I'm good at money management. I think that's an important thing for a photographer; our income is very, very volatile. There'll be months where I don't make anything, but then the month before I made like eight grand, but it's been really tough," she said. "I was going to be the sole breadwinner, which is fine, except now I can't.”

Even though Moore has money from deposits, she does not receive full pay until two weeks before the wedding. The financial uncertainty has led her to question whether she wants to stay in the wedding photography business. 

"Before I went full-time with photography, I worked at nonprofits doing fundraising and grant writing," she said. "It was a pretty solid career ... I'm wondering if I should start going back to those nonprofits or, at the very least, diversify my income."

Moore said she does not want to do any other work because she loves her job and hopes that the pandemic will end sooner rather than later.

"I hope that people start taking it seriously," she said. "I know there are still people that aren't, and the sooner that we all come together and buckle down the sooner, we can all go outside again."