Sara Gray Photography Portland, Oregon

Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the longest blog post ever to appear on this blog (I think.) Here it comes — my little sister’s wedding. This is my sister, Emily (below, getting beautiful for her wedding). Ever since she got engaged, we talked about her wedding plans and my brain went to the part where it’s working on a wedding, it’s not missing a detail and it’s being sure to be at the right place at the right time.

We went to Maui, I helped set up, I took photos of her getting her hair and makeup ready and of her gorgeous engagement ring paired up with she and Jeff’s wedding bands. I was ready — or at least I thought I was ready.

Truth is, I’m not sure anyone is ready for their own sister’s wedding. Emily and I have been through this before, when our older sister Amanda got married, but we were just teenagers. Back then, it was more of a pretty party. Now, I know what a marriage is. I go to weddings all the time and I have come to appreciate what a wedding really means, behind the flowers and the beautiful gowns and the food.

Below, my nephews Forrest & Kailan and my niece Draven. They’re absolutely the best.

Below here, again — the bouquet pin by Amy Wing. I just love how thoughtful it is (there’s a baby XO and Emily’s new monogram).

So there I was, poised and ready to photograph a wedding, when suddenly there is this soft, beautiful ukelele music and my sister Emily, who should still have an obnoxious perm and chapped lips from her chin to her nose (a la 1991), is a woman. Her dress was blowing softly, she had poise to spare and my dad was walking his youngest daughter down the aisle.

It is definitely different than any other wedding. When you know the bride better than anyone on the planet, when the 14 people in the audience are the people closest to you in the world and when the woman weeping in the front row is your own mother, it’s a totally different experience. It hit me like a truck. Thank goodness for autofocus, because my eyes went blurry behind the camera.

Below are my parents, who raised three girls and managed to survive it all (and can now say that, with the third wedding out of the way). I love how proud they are in this photo.

Thank you, Jeff, for being one of the few grooms I’ve worked with who held that kiss nice and long (I got nine complete kiss shots before he let go) and for not dipping the bride out of my sight. This is the technique, fellas! Take careful notes.

Our families then headed down to Gannon’s Restaurant where we had a lovely lunch and spent some time together celebrating the beginning of Jeff and Emily’s new life together.

This is my family, above. That’s Eric and I on the left, then my nephew Forrest and niece Draven, my dad, Emily and Jeff, my mom, my sister Amanda and brother-in-law Kail and my nephew Kailan. It was so cool to be there all together.

Teresa Sena is the floral mastermind behind all this. I loved her use of color and local blooms.

After we finished up with that delicious cake and the lunch part of the party, Jeff and Emily and I headed south toward Makena, where we stopped for an Italian Ice at Kya’s (in wedding colors, of course!)

What I love most about Jeff and Emily together is their sense of humor. They have a knack for cracking each other up, and bring out the smiles in each other.

This was one of the most special weddings I’ve ever been part of. Even if I hadn’t photographed it or been a part of the planning, it would have been. I can’t believe my little sister is married!

Since many of Emily’s friends (and a lot of our extended family) weren’t there for the wedding and want to see loads of photos, I’ll direct you to the online galleries in the clients section of my site. The Maui galleries are not password-protected, so feel free to check them out.

Also, Emily and Jeff had a reception here in Portland this past week and I’ll be sharing photos from that very soon (including a fun photo booth!)

Congrats to you guys, Em and Jeff! It’s an amazing privilege to be your sister and to get to watch you form your lives together. I LOVE YOU GUYS!

Jaclyn & Toshio’s wedding was a really special one. It was quiet, private and intimate. They had their ceremony among a small group of friends and family at the beautiful Vista House in the Columbia River Gorge, and then gathered with a larger group later in the day. It was sweet and a total pleasure to be part of.

Jaclyn’s beautiful bouquet came from Sarah of Solabee Flowers. I think it was so beautiful — love the soft green of that big succulent in the middle!

Congrats to Jaclyn & Toshio! Thank you so much for letting me be there to capture this great day in your lives together. Here’s to many happy years!

Aloha, blog readers!

I just got home from a week in Maui, which was part work and part vacation. I got to spend lots of time with my family, which was amazing, and I also photographed my little sister’s wedding in the middle of the week. I will be sharing lots more photos from Maui in the coming weeks, but for now, here’s a sneak peek to tide you over!

Huge props to Amy Wing, who sent over one of her sweet bouquet pins for Emily on her wedding day.

Emily and Jeff’s wedding was held at the Wailea Golf Club and Gannon’s Restaurant. We loved the view of Molokini Crater and the gorgeous setting.

Congrats to Emily and Jeff (who are still in paradise on their honeymoon) and please forgive me as I way overpost from this wedding, since it’s a bit personal to me. Happy Tuesday!

This wedding was less of a wedding, and more of an after-party. A Happily Ever After-Party, to be more specific. Brooke and Galen got married on a covered bridge in Lane County back in February, and on their six-month anniversary, gathered their friends and family together to celebrate at a farm with great food and drinks, live music and a gorgeous summer evening.

I love Brooke’s boots — they’re the same ones she wore to her wedding in February.

Brooke’s sister made the cupcakes, which were vegan (and quite delicious, if I do say so myself). She also sang a song for the couple to dance to, and then showed off some of her sweet dance moves later in the night.

Congratulations Brooke and Galen! It was a blast to be a part of your party and to be there for both your big days. Here’s to many years of after-parties!

At night sometimes, I lay awake and think about my dream clients (oh, you didn’t know? I’m a total workaholic), and in my wildest dreams I never imagined clients as cool as Didi & Kevin. They’re creative, they’re laid-back and they worked really hard to make their wedding unique and totally them. It was a blast to work on it with them. Didi and Kevin got married July 29 at Zenith Vineyard outside Salem — it’s one of my favorite venues!

Isn’t Didi beautiful? She did an impeccable job choosing her dress, jewelry, shoes and hair accessory. Everything was so classic!

These gorgeous flowers came from Page Winograd, the floral genius at Vibrant Table. I always love her work — check out that little green succulent with the pink edges in that bouquet!

Kevin and Didi were so excited to finally be Mr. and Mrs., and they headed inside to their party, which included, among other fun surprises, a surprise Mariachi band! The crowd loved it and Didi even led a conga line during dinner.

One of the things I love about these two is that they’re always just themselves. They laugh and tease each other, and they always seem so genuinely happy. That has made them a total pleasure to spend time with throughout this whole process.

Congratulations, Kevin and Didi! Your wedding was beautiful and I’m lucky to have been a part of it. Here’s to many happy years!

Ahhh. Lesley and Trevor. I love these guys because they’re such a classy couple and their wedding was nothing short of a great party celebrating a great relationship. They got married on July 23 at Mt. Hood Winery on a beautiful summer day in the shadow of the mountain.

I love all the thought that these two put into their party, from her green shoes and his matching green striped socks to the artful way she laid out the boutonnieres before the party for those special parents, grandparents and groomsmen.

I loved how calm Trevor was on his wedding day, but still clearly excited about the big day ahead of him. Such a zen groom!

Here’s another example of a little detail Lesley incorporated: this little tag on her bouquet, which she found online. It’s such a symbol of their day.

Congratulations, Lesley and Trevor! It was so fun for me to be a part of your wedding, and it was so beautiful!

I’m so excited to share this shoot today — it’s one I worked on awhile back with a great team at one of my favorite places: Pacific City, Ore. I imagined a simple beach celebration with s’mores and laid-back style. Here’s what we came up with!

I love working with fun vendors, and this group was so amazing. First, I brought on local florist Annie Chen from Floral Sunshine, who did the fabulous centerpiece and bouquet, plus this cute little chair-back heart piece (above left). Above right, gorgeous “seagulls” letterpress invitations from Hello, Lucky!

This lovely model is Courtney Jade — she’s a local photographer, too, and was our bride for the day. I love her hair and makeup, which was done by the genius DeAnn at Face Body Beauty.

The gals at Hello, Lucky! also created table numbers and placecards that match the invitations. Love those guys!

Courtney’s headband and dress are from Nordstrom, and we found a lot of the little details at IKEA (those blue glass bottles, plus the little anemone-looking pink ceramic dealie on the table and the lantern). Love budget shopping!

Courtney’s earrings and dainty gold necklace are from Elephantine. They are gorgeous and I love how soft and simple they both are.

I really loved working on this shoot — I hope you enjoyed looking at it! Thanks to the great vendors who worked on it with me, can’t wait to do it again!

I go to a lot of weddings where people have worked really hard to make things beautiful and unique. But this one might take the cake for the most handmade details that the bride and groom worked really hard on. It all came together beautifully in the end, and I think Morgan & Robert’s handmade wedding was the perfect celebration of their love and their story. This wedding was on a perfect summer Sunday at Bridal Veil Lakes, near Corbett, Ore.

Morgan and Robert really saw to the details — from the adorable birds above that topped their wood “wedding cake” to the table numbers below next to peonies lovingly arranged by the bride and bridesmaids in mismatched vases on each table for a touch of uniqueness.

These two were radiating happiness. It’s so fun to work with couples who are really in love and so genuinely happy to be sharing their special day with the people who love them.

These are my friend Annie’s kids, Etta and Finn (above). They served as flower girl and ringbearer and did a very good job.

After their ceremony, Robert and Morgan led their guests and attendants around the lake in a post-ceremony parade that ended with cocktails and appetizers with a spectacular view of the Gorge.

What followed was perfectly lovely — lawn games, delicious food, friends and family chatting and spending time together. Simpatica brought the truly amazing food and I can’t say enough about them.

Best dessert idea ever: Morgan and Robert said no thanks to wedding cake and instead rented a soft serve ice cream machine! Pair with candy toppings, and it was a total hit for all the guests.

Congratulations, Morgan and Robert! It was an honor to be part of your wedding celebration and I wish you all the happiness in the world.

I had so much fun working with Sarah and Trevor and their friends and family at their wedding in June. They got married at King Estate Winery, where they were surrounded by people who loved them and beautiful food, wine and flowers.

I love how Sarah chose to have pops of cheery yellow throughout her decor, which really made the vineyard setting fresh and energetic.

Check out those shoes! I was totally in love. I think I might need a pair myself.

I love the sweetness between these two. They’ve been together for years, and you can see that comfortable familiarity between them. They’re also both soft-spoken and sweet to everyone around them.

This last photo was a long exposure at night. You can see people moving around almost like ghosts on the patio as the party wound down on this warm June night.

Congratulations, Sarah and Trevor! You guys have been a blast to work with so far and I can’t wait for our next session!

It’s finally time for me to share Stephanie and Peter’s wedding! It was a huge blast for me (and for Eric, who tagged along as my second shooter). Stephanie and Peter are some of my favorite clients (ahem, not that I play favorites). From the beginning they’ve been more like friends than clients, and I have loved working with them all the way through their wedding-planning process.

Stephanie and Peter mixed a little of the old and the new throughout their wedding day, first celebrating with their families in a Vietnamese ceremony and later with a wider group at their Catholic ceremony. They also chose modern decor that made an amazing statement and helped everyone to be able to celebrate in high style.

As part of the Vietnamese ceremony, Peter’s family and friends came together and brought gifts to Stephanie’s family. The procession was really cool to watch. I especially loved everyone’s brightly-colored clothes and the process of introducing each family to each other before the ceremony began.

After their Vietnamese ceremony ended, Stephanie and Peter headed downtown to The Nines to get ready for ceremony number two. I love the dress that Stephanie picked — it worked so well on her and she looked just beautiful the whole day. The flowers on the right (below) are the first peek you get in this post of Punch‘s work (they’re some of my favorite floral designers and stylists) but they did loads of work on this wedding to make sure it came out beautiful.

Stephanie’s cousin is in fashion in LA, and she handmade the groom and groomsmen’s bowties and pocket squares. They were a seriously well-dressed wedding party.

As a group, we ventured out into the city for a few photos and spent some time in the hotel. Then we were off again, headed to St. Patrick’s Catholic Church for their second ceremony.

There were some seriously sweet moments during their ceremony, like when Stephanie’s dad threw his arms around Peter (below) when they got down the aisle. I love how great these two fit, and it’s so evident in how their families are so happy for them.

After some photos at the church, Stephanie and Peter’s celebration continued at Venue Pearl with a modern chic reception adorned with mod yellow and white throughout. Some of my favorite details: The 1,000 paper cranes that Stephanie folded (with the help of friends!) in the weeks leading up to the wedding day, the mason jars with yellow and gray-striped straws in them, the wedding bingo game and the catering by Typhoon!

Stephanie and Peter are magic people and they managed to score the wedding party a free pass to the roof of the building. We had lots of fun, and the groomsmen revealed exactly what was hiding beneath their suits…

Steph and Pete, you guys are amazing! Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your wedding day. I wish you guys all the happiness in the world, which I know you’ll have because you’re such a terrific match.