Sara Gray Photography Portland, Oregon

As far as I’m concerned, personal touches are key to a beautiful and meaningful wedding, and Stefanie and Marc hit it out of the park on theirs.

Stefanie and Marc’s cake had two layers – one was a lemon coconut (that Stefanie picked) and the other was raspberry (Marc’s choice).

Since Marc’s in the Army, he offered a “Hoo-ah!” to kick off the reception, and kick it off he did. It was a non-stop party that went late into the night.

The mason jars and hydrangeas in the Octagonal Barn were so gorgeous – Maalaea and I took about 50 photos of them throughout the night!

Congratulations, Stefanie and Marc! It has been such an honor working with the two of you, and I wish you every happiness as husband and wife!

Tomorrow I’ll be posting Stefanie and Marc’s wedding slideshow – a special Saturday post to enjoy while I’m out photographing another wedding – check back for it!

The wedding was held on an unseasonably hot day in the Portland area, but Stefanie and Marc and their guests handled it gracefully. Their ceremony was very short and sweet.

Stefanie’s parents were gracious hosts and proud parents – it’s always so sweet to watch those moms when their daughters are being given away!

Annie Chen did a fabulous job on the flowers – aren’t they gorgeous? I loved the clean green-and-white palette (actually, those were my wedding colors too, so I’m partial!)

Stefanie and Marc had a glow about them all day – Marc was smiling a big, goofy grin all day and Stefanie was just about the same. There’s nothing quite like the glow of your wedding day to make you feel amazing.

I love shooting at McMenamins locations – there’s always such variety and such beautiful light, not to mention their staff is so wonderful to work with.

Come back tomorrow for some fun reception pictures and more from this beautiful wedding!

July 4, 2009

Venue: McMenamin’s Cornelius Pass Roadhouse

Flowers: Annie Chen, Floral Sunshine

Officiant: Johanna Respini

Stefanie’s hair: Sarah Bryant at A-List

DJ: Drew Jenkins at Essential Entertainment

Stefanie’s shoe label kicked it all off in the right direction for the day (I had a little obsession with her blue shoes). For she and Marc, fairy tales do come true.

Stefanie was primped by Sarah Bryant at A-List, who has the coolest location in the Pearl District. Maybe I’ll have to start getting my hair done there…

I have to give a huge shout-out to my dear friends Maalaea Gustafson (who was the second photographer for this beautiful soiree and took some of these photos I’m sharing) and Michael Ward, who came with me to do some video work. They endured the 95-degree heat of the day to hang with me and I so appreciate it!

There’s some prep shots to whet your appetite – stop by tomorrow to see selections from their beautiful ceremony!

When we left off, I was examining the utter cuteness that is Ryan and Alyssa. They are getting married in September and then shipping off to somewhere with the Coast Guard when Ryan goes active duty, so they’ve got adventure ahead!

OK, cute story: when I was taking the above photo, Ryan looked up, saw the reflection of Alyssa in the glass of the camera lens and said, “Oh, I can see your reflection Alyssa! You are so cute!” Those, ladies and gentlemen, are the words of a man in love.

I’m also super excited because Alyssa and Ryan ordered a photo guest book from this session to use at their wedding and it came back sooooo cute!

I am so excited to see what’s in store for these two. With their happy faces and great relationship, it should be smooth sailing (pun fully intended, Ryan!)

Thanks, Alyssa and Ryan! You guys are loads of fun and I wish you all the best!

I hope for your sake that you’ve met a couple like this. They bring happiness into a room with them. This is Alyssa and Ryan, and they are one of the sweetest couples I’ve met recently.

I met up with Alyssa and Ryan in Cannon Beach to do their engagement photos a few weeks ago and we had so much fun! They ran and played and danced. These are the days I love my job!

Alyssa has a cousin who will be doing her wedding photos, which makes me sad because I so loved photographing these two! I’d love to be the one there on their wedding day – but that’s alright, at least I got to hang out with them this day.

Seriously, how cute are they? I love when you spend time with a couple and you can just tell they’re truly best friends.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more of Alyssa and Ryan’s fun engagement photos!

This week you’ve seen some samples of engagement sessions I did in Seattle. I love going to Seattle because usually it means I get to see my dear friends Angie and Sam. Angie was the only babysitter we would tolerate as kids, and my sister Emily and I pretty much idolized her. It’s so wonderful to have people in your life who watched you grow up and really know who you are.

This is Angie and Sam’s son, Manny. He is the sweetest kid – a definite product of his laid-back parents and the fact that he has twin sisters who just turned one this week. While I was staying at Sam and Angie’s house, they each took a twin upstairs to put them down for a nap, and I snuck the camera out and played with Manny for a little while.

It was such a refreshing break from what I do a lot with kids – both mom and I are usually directing them, they get overwhelmed and the whole situation is crazy. But Manny and I didn’t talk, I just kept my distance and he charmed me on his own terms. I adore these photos becuase of his whole vibe and how he came up with 100% of this stuff on his own.

Manny does this cute thing where instead of sucking his thumb, he sucks on his two middle fingers. It’s adorable. I photographed Manny in the front room of Angie and Sam’s cool Queen Anne house – one whole wall is basically a transluscent reflector wall, which basically means it’s the kind of space that photographers dream about.

This is Manny with his dad, Sam. They are so sweet together – Sam is a really great dad to all three of their kids.

Thanks, Sam and Angie, for being such great friends and for making kids that are so fun to photograph! I can’t wait to photograph your whole clan one of these days!

Paul and Andrea are so sweet together – and I actually adore their height difference. It makes them unique as a couple, and I love how they’re not self-conscious about it!

Obviously we all went to the better university in Washington, but I have to say, the UW campus is pretty freakin’ unbelievable to photograph around!

Aren’t they sweet together? For their wedding, Andrea had a set of felt bird cake toppers custom-made, and Paul’s little bird has his own set of glasses! I can’t wait to get my hands on those little guys.

This last set is one of my favorites from the whole shoot – I love the vibe on University Avenue and how vibrant everything is there.

Thanks, Andrea and Paul, for being so fun to work with! I loved our engagement session and I can’t wait for the wedding!

Alright, I’ll admit it: the campus at the University of Washington is pretty! It pains my heart to say that as a graduate of WSU, but I’m getting over it. So are Paul and Andrea, who are both Cougs too, but they both work for the UW now and live in Seattle. We met up there for their engagement session a couple of weeks ago and had so much fun!

This is the UW library, which is one of the more stunning buildings I know of. I can’t wait to photograph there again sometime – we might have ventured inside if it had been open!

We go back a little ways – my freshman year in college, I went out with Paul’s roommate for a little while and when I worked on my college newspaper, I interviewed and photographed Andrea once for a story about a fundraiser she was doing. It’s been so fun to reconnect with them after all these years!

Paul cracked me up during this shoot. Andrea picked some great clothes for him, and he kept saying “I don’t wear V-necks! I’m not Adam Lambert!”

Paul and Andrea are getting married in October, and it’s going to be so cute! They have such lovely touches picked out for it that I can’t wait to photograph! Check back tomorrow for more photos of Paul and Andrea!

When we left off, TJ and Shannon were being all cute all over the Seattle area. They showed me this great area on the beach in Edmonds, which was so beautiful as the sun was going down.

We also did some shooting at the UW Bothell campus, which shares a campus with Cascadia Community College (where Shannon and TJ went for awhile).

Check out those pretty wedding invites below! They’re using purple a lot in the wedding, and I’m so excited. It’s such a fun color!

Congratulations, Shannon and TJ! I am counting down the days until I get to watch you two tie the knot!

I really like that song by the Earth, Wind and Fire – I also like it when people play the song at their weddings in September. I always dance like a madwoman. (Hint, hint.)

TJ and Shannon are my September wedding couple (I only have one right now – get on the train before it leaves the station!) and they are so fun. We spent an evening together a couple of weeks ago around the Seattle area and I had so much fun getting to know them.

I love the obvious affection that TJ and Shannon have for each other, and before this shoot, I got the opportunity to meet some of Shannon’s family, who are such warm and wonderful people. I can’t wait for the wedding, which will be in Shannon’s parents backyard near Seattle.

I love what Shannon chose to wear – her grey shoes were somewhat of an obsession for me (as you’ll see next).

I suppose I can forgive them for being Huskies, because they’re so cool! Check back tomorrow for a few more photos from their engagement session!