Mandy was a delight to watch as she married her Marty in the low golden light at the temple… incense in the air.
From there to their lovely house full of friends… the kind of intimate, relaxed party everyone likes… a little prosecco, a little pie on a sweet and simple June day.

A grateful nod to Francoise Weeks for her always glorious floral work ~
Great food and fine, friendly service by Sassafras Catering ~
Top notch cupcakes by Sugarcube ~
Mandy’s delicious dress by Elizabeth Dye ~

Where to start? Tricia and Dave came to Portland from sunny Palm Desert to get married in our beautiful Lan Su Gardens. Tricia came into the day like a house afire… she wanted to go to as many Portland spots for pictures as possible. Given the window of time we had, she scaled it back to some interesting spaces that we could walk to on the way from The Nines to the Garden. We stumbled across The 24 Hour Church of Elvis… for 50¢ you can get married there… you just have to push all of the right bright buttons and answer the many questions on the screen. It was a lot of fun to watch! From there to the Chinatown Gate and on to Voodoo Donuts and The Paris Theatre… honestly, it was a marvelous carnival mix… we all came away smiling. As we walked, a pedicab driver offered us a free ride for the remaining two blocks… all of this was just the beginning of a great celebration.
Luckily, the rain held mostly until the end of the ceremony and the rabbi didn’t seem to mind that they were already married in the eyes of Elvis.

A lot of credit for this day goes to the vendors… they made it work even when the skies opened…
Dave made an interesting contribution… he designed four Saketinis for the party… the reviews were good!
Vibrant Table ran the show and fed everyone a lot of really great food.
Page Winograd also of Vibrant Table, did her floral magic, even incorporating some of the family’s antique fans.
Finales made a series of delicious cakes… inspired by henna tattoos.
Takohachi Taiko entertained the diners with a fascinating drum ensemble.
Swingline Cubs got everyone up and dancing.

April 24th was a fine day to get married… a little cool and breezy… just the kind of Portland day you hope for in the Spring. These two are new to our city and have completely embraced it… I think they will be a good addition. In their first meeting, Betsy made it clear that she wasn’t looking for the typical details shots… no shoes or lingerie fluff for her. When I got to the hotel, she very carefully arranged her watch on the lilacs in the room… then she put it in the pocket of her marvelous dress.

Betsy and Alex made the old fashioned choice to not see each other before the ceremony… it required a little fancy dancing to keep them from running into each other at the Art Museum but we had the ever talented Molli of Bon Soiree keeping tabs on them. These two hired a veritable dream team of vendors and it made for a great run… Vibrant Table staged the room and catered a great meal. Page, also of Vibrant Table, designed the lovely floating tulips. Eric Wright, Portland’s consummate music man, had the dance floor jammed and jumping all night!

It always seems to go by so fast… even with all those watches. ;0)

On a glorious late September day, Morgan and Dave gathered their people on the summit of Mt. Tabor… one of Portland’s prettiest parks. Theirs was one of those deliciously personal weddings… chock full of bits of their personalities and reflected in the ease of the crowd. No stuffy wedding rules, no one worried about scuffed shoes or shifting hair… just a great shining sense of happiness all day.  Keep your eye out for Sasha, the ring bearer and note the cowbells that guests rang with total abandon as they kissed and left the crowd. I love this job!

Eight pedicabs bombed down the slope through neighborhood streets, across the Hawthorne Bridge and into the Pearl to a cozy reception at the Bridgeport Brew Pub. It was great to see the people on the sidewalks and porches laughing and cheering this passing parade. The LOL moment was when the Portland Police car sitting at an intersection across from us said a very serious “Congratulations” over the loudspeaker. Sweeet.

Great day, great couple!

Condon is a tiny town snugged into the golden hills east of Bend, north of Fossil and south of Biggs. They farm wheat and wind in those hills and the Milky Way runs rampant in the night sky.
Condon is a place where everyone says hello… a rare treat for most of us.
Shannon grew up there and decided to share her wedding to Randy with her people. The ceremony was short and very sweet… the whole day had that lovely level of ease that is so hard to come by.

Melinda and Jason came to Portland from Chicago to get married in our elegant Chinese Garden. They had a marvelous day… I could tell because Melinda’s megawatt smile was visible for miles.
We started at the Benson Hotel for a quick portrait with Addison and then we took pedicabs on a round about tour to the Garden.
It was a truly beautiful and Portland sort of day.

Melissa and Drew put so many fine personal touches to their wedding day… it was a visual treat and a day that all of their guests will remember with a smile. From the Ace Hotel to the pedicab parade… top that with fabulous Indian food, home brewed beer and many home made pies! I wouldn’t have missed this one for the world.

Dana and Claudiu had one of those endless days… really beautiful weather and several locations to play in. We started in Portland’s Rose Garden for family and wedding party pictures. From there almost everyone piled into the gigantic Hummer Limo for the trip to the church. After a brief stop on the East Bank Esplanade, we had a lovely cruise on the Portland Spirit. I don’t get to do the river cruise very often and it’s always a great way to spend a warm summer evening.

Heidi and Kartr had a very intimate wedding at The Black Walnut Inn… a stunning B&B in the hills above Dundee. We started with portraits and guests arriving… very relaxed. The rehearsal dinner was under way when we left… by the looks of it, the meal was fabulous! On Saturday, we returned to have a wedding. All of the guests were family and laughed and cried as only family can.

We got to shoot their laid back reception two weeks later… I will add more vendors and some of that soon. For now, come see two people in love at a beautiful place.

Just for the record, I hate having to string my name across my images. I find it distracting beyond measure.

I wanted to take a moment here to talk about the why of copyright because I know many of you are annoyed by the whole thing. The watermarks are embedded to keep people from taking any posted image and distributing it as they please. Between you and me, the wedding images are kind of personal to the bride and groom… yes, I hold the intellectual property rights but, in the end, these are private photos. In this definition, I am not worried about someone posting a couple of my images for their friends and I hope they don’t mind having my name on them. The real rub is the Craig’s List sort of guy who decides to farm legitimate sites for good work that he can use to build an online portfolio. The work isn’t his and he brings all of the legitimate shooters down in the process. There isn’t really any way to warn potential clients about this but they need to know, going in, that fraud runs rampant in our lives these days… you truly have to do your homework to avoid it.

Portland has a very large and wonderful community of true and professional photographers… don’t get sucked into the dark side. Just saying…