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I’ve been partying like it’s 1999 lately, between the Seattle Bride party and the Oregon Bride party. I wanted to share some photos from the Oregon Bride party because it was a really fun one to attend this year and so many great vendors were there.

It’s not a party without sweets, and my friend Liz from The Candy Buffet teamed up with Cupcake Jones this year to make an amazing spread.

I loved the loungy area the party had this year, outside on the patio on a gorgeous night. I also got to meet Hailey from Zest Floral, who did all these great little floral arrangements for the party.

The cake above is from Allison at AK Cake Design — she’s amazing and this cake was featured on a recent Oregon Bride cover!

Thanks, Oregon Bride, for a fun night out and a great fashion show and chance to connect with other vendors. I had a blast!

Earlier this week I had the extra-fun pleasure of attending the Seattle Bride Magazine Best of Bride party. This is an annual party that is hosted by the Seattle magazine (and Oregon Bride has one too — that’s where I’ll be tonight!) It was a blast mingling with some Seattle-area vendors (since I photograph a handful of Seattle weddings each year) and I really enjoyed the celebration.

The party was held at 415 Westlake, a great venue in South Lake Union. The flowers, cocktails and little appetizers were all fun and pretty.

Below is my date to the party, Erin Brooks (of Serephine fame, on the right) with Kimberly Persons from Style Unveiled.

Thanks, Erin, and all the other Seattle vendors, who made this a fun evening out in Seattle!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. Please allow me to introduce you to my new space! It’s my new home, the most relaxing little room in my life at the moment and the official world headquarters of Sara Gray Photography and MarryThis!

As you can see above, my office is in a building with a few other great businesses. It’s right in the heart of Multnomah Village, which I love because it’s walking distance from my house and such a great little community. So far, I love my neighbors.

Below, you can see my very zen workstation. I love it. It features my new favorite Etsy find, the Cake print from Sweet Dee on Etsy next to a photo of Eric and I taken on our last trip to Copenhagen.

I’d love to have visitors anytime, so if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and check out the new space! And if you’re a client (or a potential client), I’m looking forward to meeting with you here! Have a great weekend, everyone.

I have been dragging my feet to post about my new office because I have a few finishing touches I want to put in there before I really share it with everyone. But in the meantime, I wanted to share this video I made — throughout the process of painting and furnishing the office, I made a time lapse so we could watch the progress. Here’s something to tide you over until next week when I share the official unveiling of my new space.

My new office is located at 7739 SW Capitol Hwy., Suite 240, upstairs from the Starbucks in Multnomah Village. Drop by if you’re in the neighborhood!

Hey blog readers! Today I bring you the first annual 2011 Sara Gray Photography Reader Survey.

I don’t know if you have Google Analytics, but I do. I watch it like a hawk, seeing who visits the site, how long they stay and where in the site they go. I feel like I’m watching an ant farm from that level, but I wish I could get down and ask the ants how they feel.

Maybe that was a weird analogy, but the point is this: I want to know what you think! Some of you read this blog pretty regularly, but I don’t really know who you are or what you want to read about. I would love to know some of that information so that I could improve the blog and make it more enjoyable for everyone.

So click here to take the survey — it’s a quick 6 questions, and will only take you a few minutes. I really appreciate your effort!

And now, for something a little more serious.

I’m a lucky gal. I have somehow managed to harness the power of the Internet to form a business that I’m incredibly passionate about. It’s been amazing, and it’s made me believe along the way even more in people, and in what we can do when we band together. That’s why I wanted to join in the effort of Blog Action Day. It’s one day a year when people with blogs all choose one topic to blog about, in order to start a conversation and try to incite action and make change.

This year’s Blog Action Day topic is clean water, and it’s such an important topic worldwide. In July 2010, the United Nations declared that access to clean, safe water a human right, but there are still more than a billion people throughout the world that don’t have even that. It’s the cause of tons of preventable death and disease (especially among children), and it’s a real issue. Luckily, there are many people out there doing the work to solve this problem, and I want to use whatever influence I have to you, the readers of the blog, to join with me and support those charities.

I’m donating $100 to charity:water, which will give five people access to clean water for 20 years. I have started a fundraising page and I would like to challenge you to join me in taking action to improve someone’s life and meet a basic need for them. I know money is tight, but doesn’t this put things into perspective? If all you can give is one dollar, that’s one dollar closer to giving a person access to clean water. I challenge you to do it. Take action and see how good it feels. I’ve set a goal for us as a community — let’s see if we can raise $5,000, which would build a well that could serve 250 people. We only have until Dec. 31.

If you can’t give at this point but would still like to help, you can sign a petition that supports clean water projects and accessibility.

Thank you so much for helping with a cause that I think is important. Have a happy weekend!