Aaron & Tiffany at Desert Garden in Balboa Park. San Diego, CA.
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Mark & Tori at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego, CA.
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Cassi & Kris at Mount Laguna in San Diego, CA.
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Kevin + Rachael
Venue: Woodland Meadow Farms / Second shooting by Maddie Takata / Makeup by Shalonda Peguero / Hair by Azalee Gracier / Florals by Flourish Floral Design
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Colten + Caitlin on a rainy day in Tacoma.
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Blogging is hard for me because I am horrible with my words, especially when I'm really excited about something. That's why I moved away from writing (whaddup journalism degree) and into photography. I sat in front of this blog post for what felt like hours (maybe ten minutes) trying to figure out the perfect thing to say about this one. This was one of my favorite weddings of my career so I just want y'all to enjoy the images because this was a fun one.
Allison + Josh's Snohomish wedding at Craven Farms was *so* dreamy. It was late August, which is normally hot and bright, but the stormy clouds created the best mood and perfect lighting throughout the day. Allison put so much work into this wedding - all that stunning hand-lettered signs she did HERSELF. I felt like I was at a photographers playland at this one because Allison has such amazing taste and style and poured herself into planning this day. Also she gave me like 1.5 hours for bride and groom portraits which always allows us to produce some really amazing stuff. Allison should be a wedding planner someday because she *nailed* it.
Second shooting by Sharis Harmon
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Ashley + Andrew /// These high school sweethearts took me to Mt. Adams for their engagement session. And let me tell ya, this kinda thing is what I live for. There's a reason I don't charge my wedding couples extra for "adventure sessions" or anything extra for the distance. I want to take the time and hang out, to shoot in new places, to go to places important to them. In this case, a mountain they've spent quite a bit of time on and the place he proposed to her. I want to leave the session better friends than when we entered it. Spending 12 hours together for a shoot is a reeeeeal good way to do that - even if that means spending the entire day together after a double wedding weekend. :)
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I don't think I've ever blogged so many images from a portrait session, so sorry about that in advance (not). It was so hard to hold back with this one; this is some of my favorite work of my career and there's so much variety within this one location. I had the pleasure of shooting their gorgeous PNW backyard wedding last September, and I was so stoked when she asked me to shoot an anniversary session for them. We've had this session in the works for *months* and it did not disappoint. I am always so excited to go on an adventure with my couples and shoot in a new place. Spend the day together. In this case, catch up and hear all about their first year of marriage!
ok ok ok y'all. More anniversary sessions please (any excuse to get dressed up in your wedding dress again #amiright) and don't be afraid to ask about a location that's on your heart. Because odds are I'll always say yes. ;)
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Ben + Emily. We spent a gloomy day at Hurricane Ridge and it made for a seriously dreamy engagement session. I am so thankful for the adventure day I spent with these two! I can't wait for their wedding!
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Venue: Albee's Garden Parties; first look/portrait location: Tumwater Falls
The Grussings! This wedding was so fun and special to be apart of. Courtney is one of my friends from college and barista days, and her wedding day felt like a reunion. So many wonderful friends and people supporting these two. Rain was on the forecast for the whole day, but instead we got sunny skies and dreamy clouds that rolled in during the ceremony.
This wedding is a really great example of what a difference a good getting-ready space can make. Courtney got ready in our friend Brenna's home near the venue and I was in photographer heaven. Big windows, lots of natural light, neutral colors and tones... this was the perfect space to get ready in and resulted in stunning images from that part of the day. I always try to encourage my couples to find places to get ready with lots of light and a clean space, because it's SO worth it.
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About 4 years ago, a friend from church asked me to shoot her wedding. At that time, wedding photography wasn't even on my radar. I had been doing makeup at weddings for years, but never had any interest in wedding and portrait photography. At the time I was studying photojournalism at Western Washington University, mostly doing live music photography and working for music blogs and small publications. For some reason, I said yes. Now looking back that seems crazy - if I knew how hard wedding photography is and how in-over-my-head I was, I probably would have said no. I had never even second-shot or assisted anyone, I was going in totally blind and completely just following my intuition on how I should do things. Luckily, I had about 9 months to prepare, so I spent that time learning everything I could about portrait photography and working with couples. I shot their wedding, it went great, and people saw those original images from their wedding and I ended up booking more weddings. And all of a sudden I was a wedding photographer.
I feel extremely lucky for that opportunity and for their trust. I know photographers who try for years and years to book their first wedding. Trying to get a couple to trust them with that task. I always kind of joke that wedding photography happened to me rather than me pursuing it. I feel like I owe my whole career to Whitney and Dan. If it wasn't for them, would I have become a wedding photographer? I have no idea. Maybe wedding photography still would have found me one way or the other. But the way I see it, I owe it all to them.
I took them out to their wedding venue on their 3-year anniversary, set them up with a hair and makeup team, created a bouquet for her, and re-created some wedding portraits for them. To celebrate their love and give them the wedding portraits I wish I knew how to create back then. Also as a celebration for me - that day was also my anniversary! The anniversary of my first wedding. And that's a huge day for me. There's no other way I'd rather be celebrating that than shooting with these two: the two who started it all for me.
Thank you, Whitney and Dan, for seeing something in me that I didn't see in myself back then. For giving me my start and trusting me to capture your most intimate moments. I owe my career to you.
Huge thank you to Shannon Mercil Makeup + Jamae Wiederhold hair for coming along and being my dream-team glam squad. Thanks to Jeremy Millar for coming along and assisting! He also got some gorgeous images of the day, check out his work to see what he created.
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I'm just going to come right out and say it: this day did not go as planned...
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