I did the coolest thing this week. I went to the launch party for an organization called Wish Upon a Wedding. It’s a national organization that offers full-production weddings to people with terminal illness.

(All the photos in this post are courtesy of Evrim Icoz, another great Portland wedding photographer. That’s him above with me, Deyla Huss (left) and Melissa Tomeoni (right) of Soul Mates Photo.)

The Portland chapter just launched, and I’m so excited to be able to volunteer my services and talents to help with this. As someone who had a friend get a wish granted from the Make-A-Wish Foundation when she was battling cancer, I can’t imagine what a gift it would be to offer to someone who’s sick and wants to get married.

Because it’s a new organization here in Portland, everyone is organizing and ready to go. Everyone, that is, except the recipients. The word isn’t out yet, so if you know someone who is in this situation, this would be good information to pass on to them. There are so many generous wedding vendors who want to get involved.

(Above is Nadia Ly of Creations by Ly, who is a local wedding coordinator and the Portland chapter president).

Check out their national Web site and their local Facebook page if you know someone who is ill and looking for this kind of service. Thanks!

Awhile back, I made a post on my Facebook page with a teaser to an article about how to save money on a wedding. One response I got totally made me laugh — Joan, who is the mother of my good friend Katy and my former bride Jody, said, “You mean E-L-O-P-E?”

Well, let’s be honest. Money is a little on the tighter side these days for some folks, and it’s true. I think a lot of people are choosing to elope or hold small, intimate weddings. What I love is that I’m seeing people do it with great style. For example, did you see this completely fabulous city hall wedding featured in Martha Stewart Weddings in the latest issue? Here’s a little sneak peek.

(via Green Wedding Shoes)

There are a few of you who are taking a different approach this year — whether that’s tying the knot at city hall in style, taking your family and close friends for an intimate ceremony on the beach or having the ultimate Portland experience and getting married at Voodoo Doughnut.

I get that, and I want to be part of it. So I’m offering a special elopement package, with a smaller price tag for your smaller (but no less stylish) celebration.

Eloping? Ask about it by filling out the contact form.

I mean Jennifer Rand Walker, of course. She’s the face and the talent behind Face Body Beauty, and she’s the most talented makeup and hair artist I know. She’s also generous with her knowledge and savvy in the ways of business and relationships. In short, she is someone you need to know.

Face Body Beauty is just about to start work on its fifth wedding season — Jennifer does makeup and hair for brides, but also does tons of other stuff, from teaching workshops and lessons to makeup for boudoir photography and special events. She really enjoys teaching, she told me: “I teach everyday women how to do their makeup in a way that will enhance their natural beauty. Seeing them stand a little taller or walk more confidently after experiencing the difference makeup can make is extremely rewarding. I love any opportunity to help women feel more beautiful and confident.”

When she does work with brides, Jennifer said she loves working with each unique bride to create a look that works with her and the wedding.

“I love working with a bride from the beginning and talking through her vision for her wedding, her dress, her style and of course her makeup and hair,” Jennifer said. “Talking about all the details helps me put together a style and often, a plan for bringing that style to life. We come up with a plan for skin care and hair care that ensures that she will be glowing and gorgeous on her special day.”

Jennifer’s number one piece of advice to brides? Getting together with a hair and makeup artist early. When Jennifer works with a bride from six months to a year in advance, she’s able to come up with a plan for skin and hair care and make adjustments before the wedding.

I highly recommend Jennifer to brides and anyone looking for a flawless look or hair and makeup advice and lessons — check out her site here and get in touch!

You guys know the conundrum: You want to put your best face forward and make an impression on your Web site, Facebook profile, Twitter account etc. But do you actually have a current, fantastic photo you can use to communicate to the world who you are and what you do? I think very few people actually do.

Enter my new side project: I’m offering contemporary business portraits for think-outside-the-box professionals. That means graduate students, small business owners, people in creative fields and more traditional ones. For all of you who make your first impression on the Internet, it’s time to get a fantastic photo of yourself.

I’m nice, I try to be funny and my camera doesn’t bite. If you make a weird face, I promise to delete the photo forever and not tell a soul. Sessions are easy, very quick (20 minutes) and reasonably priced. You get 10-15 fully edited images in a digital format and all the rights to use them online, in print and on billboards. All for 200 bucks.

Visit my business portraits site to find out more and to get an appointment on the calendar!

Pictured above, from top: Allison McCormick, Erin McGovney, Reece Marshburn & Karen Stott.

Well, I think it’s about the sweetest name for a line of unique bridal dresses I’ve ever heard. But that was before I heard the story.

This is the lovely (newly married!) Sara Temme. She’s the force behind Love, June Bridal. She named it after her grandmother, June, whose classic 1930s style helps to influence all the things Sara creates. June still writes Sara letters on her typewriter and signs them “Love, June” at the bottom. Sara said it’s been fun to create this myth of the woman who inspired it all, and since it’s so personal to her, it’s an effective way to drive her vision for the business.

Sara’s a self-proclaimed “fabric junkie,” who has been sewing since she was a kid (making her own crazy clothes from thrift-store fabric in high school) and after completing OSU’s Apparel Design program, she worked learning how to make unique custom bridal gowns. Over the past several years, she’s moved from totally custom gowns into creating her own lines of wedding gowns, which are thoroughly unique and gorgeous, not to mention Sara’s always thinking about how to move toward zero fabric waste while she’s building them.

Sara is like me (other than just having the same name): she’s a bit of a perfectionist, always making sure everything is built well and that quality is first, otherwise she can’t let a dress go out the door to a client. But it’s the personal touches of working with her throughout the process that her brides rave about.

Sara and I worked together on my most recent inspiration shoot, where her Francoise dress made a fabulous statement, and I’m so glad to have gotten to know her a little better. If you’re looking for a fabulous and original locally-made gown for your big day, she’s your gal. Check out her Web site or her Etsy shop.

I’ll admit: I heart Crave Portland. Whenever I go to their events, there is always fantastic company, inspiring female entrepreneurs and of course, tasty snacks. How could you possibly go wrong?

Yesterday, I attended Crave’s third business chat. These are an informal gathering based around an idea for growing business, and I always find them to be really interesting. Check out the goodies!

This business chat was held at Relish Design in the Alphabet District. It’s a gorgeous shop full of clean design, Marimekko fabrics and midcentury modern treasures. I could have taken up residence there and never left.

This business chat was all about using events as a way to spread the word of your business to potential clients, loyal customers and the larger community. As someone who loves attending events myself, I was so inspired by what the speakers had to share. Below is Tiffanee Bean from Mabel & Zora in the Pearl District. She’s huge on events, as you’ll know if you’re a regular shop in her cute boutique. She even hosts swanky private parties for VIP customers, which sound so amazing.

Also sharing at the chat was Claudia Bowers of Pravia Wines & Events. She organizes huge events, like wine festivals and more, and she’s a seasoned pro. She had a ton to offer in terms of how to pull off some really big impressive events.

Below is Mai Tran, who runs Crave Portland. She’s got event-planning chops herself, and I’ve personally seen her pull off some pretty impressive events.

So all this talk about having events has gotten me thinking about hosting some events of my own, either to draw in and meet potential new clients or just to reward those who have been loyal to and supportive of Sara Gray Photography. So I’m asking you, blog readers: what do you think of that? What kinds of events do you want to see? What sorts of things do you love to attend, and what would be your ideal Sara Gray Photography event? I can’t wait to hear what you all come up with, and to add that to a few ideas I’ve already got up my sleeve!

Happy Monday!

Every once in awhile, I get the opportunity to work on a cool project with a brand or product line. Recently, I paired up with SameUnderneath, a really cool eco-conscious clothing brand based in Portland, to photograph their spring line.

I thought I’d share a few of the photos here — aren’t the clothes awesome? Not to mention we had a beautiful afternoon and some seriously good-looking models to make this shoot really fun.

I just got the above sweater. It’s amazing.

I love all the earth tones throughout the collection — very Portland.

Thanks to the gang at SameUnderneath and my pal Noel for lining the shoot up — I had a ton of fun!

That might have been a bit of a lyric stretch, but I got a kick out of it. I’m so excited to share with you some photos that I recently shot for GemKitty — where you can design your own necklace. It’s such a fun site, and I love being able to watch their business grow.

We had loads of fun doing this shoot, running around in the South Waterfront with two amazing models (Maalaea and Stephanie) and a whole ton of necklaces.

Above, Maalaea is wearing “The Dash” — a GemKitty classic design. You can go make your own with whatever material you want.

I love including the Portland Streetcar in shoots — it’s such a local touch!

The team at GemKitty are so good at pairing multiple necklaces together in a way that looks cool.

Stephanie is a total yogi — so we went for it here. I love how part of her personality shines through.

Thanks to Arwa & Todd from GemKitty and Stephanie and Maalaea for making this such a fun day!

I’m talking about Mandi Downs and Rachelle Bell of Champagne NW. They’re full-service wedding coordinators that I’ve become friends with over the last year and I wanted to share a little info from them, plus some fun pictures.

This is Rachelle. She loves what she does for a living. Both she and Mandi were on separate paths toward becoming teachers when they found the wonderful world of weddings. They’ve both been working as wedding coordinators for several years, but their company (Champagne NW) is a newcomer on the scene.

One myth that Mandi and Rachelle want to dispel is that having a wedding coordinator is only for the rich. “The amount of money you are spending on your wedding, whether it be $5,000 or $500,000, is  a lot of money. You’ve put anywhere from 6 months to 2 years into planning and waiting for your wedding day. When it comes to the day of, do you really want your parents, best friend or family to be taking care of all of the details?”

The women at Champagne offer lots of levels of service, from the total planning and coordination level down to “day-of” coordination, which basically means they come in more or less at the last minute and make sure everything goes smoothly.

One thing Mandi and Rachelle recommend when shopping for a wedding coordinator is (surprise, surprise!) to find someone you click with. “Your coordinator will be at your wedding all day long and if you don’t have a personality match, it will be a long day!” Mandi said. I love that they mention this, since I believe this to be true about most wedding vendors, especially photographers.

One thing I love about the women at Champagne is the personality they bring to their jobs — look at them work it above! They’ve got style and character and they’re willing to buckle down and do the work, because they love weddings, they told me. If any of you reading are interested in checking out what Mandi and Rachelle have to offer, check out their Web site (click here) and give them a call.

Thanks, Rachelle and Mandi, for being so much fun to hang out with and for coming out on a freezing cold day to take some photos with me!

It’s totally natural for Katy Kippen to be making jewelry. Her grandfather was a jeweler and she comes from a family that is always creating. Katy herself remembers making jewelry at the age of 6 or 7. I first saw Katy’s company, Grayling Jewelry, at a Crave Portland event in December and I was really impressed.

Katy and I met up a few weeks ago to chat about jewelry and Grayling’s plans to foray into the wedding market. “With wedding jewelry, I feel like you either end up with really cheap stuff or you spend a fortune,” she said. She’s recently been commissioned to do some bridesmaid jewelry and a jewelry set for a bride, and it makes perfect sense to her that people looking for a custom option would come looking for someone who can craft something totally original.

Grayling’s collections are unique, combining elements from ancient cultures, paleontology and even architecture, which are some of Katy’s interests. Growing up, she lived in Germany and South Korea and both of those experiences opened her mind to a whole range of inspiration that’s a little different than what she usually sees.

Katy is pictured above in her workshop space, which is full of tools and boxes of her grandfather’s old stones, some of which are unique and rare. Her family is proud that she’s giving these stones new life in her jewelry collections.

Grayling takes custom orders and features seasonal collections on Katy’s site (click here). An online shop will be launching sometime in the future.

Thanks, Katy, for being so fun to meet and hang out with. I can’t wait to work with you in the future!