The beauty found in the great northern states astounds me EVERYDAY. Even when it’s just a quick 5 minute jaunt off the beaten path! Remember to stop and find joy in these magical places, just like Mary and Blake did during their session. They laughed they ENTIRE time and let me tell you…there’s nothing better than laughing with the one you love the most.
Sarah and Chad drove all the way from western Washington to celebrate their special moment with me and I was so happy to see them! Being able to show off how truly beautiful the northern Idaho area was SO much fun. The muted sage tones that cover this riverside during the fall season and the gentle rolling waters, it was like walking through a fairy tale! Perfect setting to describe their love for each other. Dreams really do come true <3
One of my most FAVORITE time of year is…CHRISTMAS!
I usually announce my Christmas mini’s in late October…this year I was expecting to be a lot different with COVID affecting so many families income. So I was honestly thinking it was going to take a lot of work to book a few sessions and wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to even invest in booking the venue!
BOOOOYYYYY was I wrong! I had every session booked within 24 hours…so fast that I had to add an extra day!! I was so overwhelmed with joy knowing my wonderful clients were just as excited as I was to celebrate the holiday season this year.
I think we all needed to get together and remind ourselves to count our blessings, even in the darkest of times.
Now that Christmas is over it’s time to focus on the great things coming in the new year! Don’t forget to manifest your own destiny and allow your self to do great things :)
A BIG shout out to Ravenwood Acres for being such great hosts, your property is beautiful and I cant wait to have more sessions there!!
Ahhhh, the Nunez wedding gets ALLLLL of the heart eye emojis 😍
Kevin and Alejandra included family in almost every detail of their big. So many meaningful memories were created this day, what a wonderfully supportive way to start your future!
The love emanating from these two is so beautiful, I’m so happy they decided to traipse through after their ceremony and capture all of the stunning quirky that makes Tacoma!
I have said this before and I’ll say it another million times!
I ADORE engagement sessions!! The cuddles, snuggles and giggling just bring out the best in people…like when Jenna whispered to me that she had a few glasses of wine before the session. a girl after my own heart *swoon*.
With all of the fear and changes going on in the world now, how incredible it is to capture the magic of human life. Let’s all pause and reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for. Have you smelled the lilacs in bloom right now? Or have you sat and listened to cheerful sounds of children laughing and playing in your neighborhood? Or how about just enjoying that silent morning cup of coffee before the rest of the world wakes up.
Remember to breathe, we will all make it through this together. You are loved.
PNW winters can make planning sessions SO tricky, thankfully we lucked out with a beautiful evening after several weeks of rescheduling due to severe stormy weather! Kaitlin and Morgan we’re naturals in front of the camera during this fun Enumclaw engagement session and I am beyond excited for their wedding day :)
One of the best feelings in the world is seeing your own family succeed and find happiness. I’ve seen Chelena and Meg overcome some pretty large obstacles with grace and love which has only made their cond even stronger. Being a part of this beautiful wedding and capturing their love was such a wonderful experience and I’m so thankful for these two.
They chose Black Butte Ranch for their big day because Meg dreamed of a snow filled wintery wedding, unfortunately mother nature had other plans! We still got the chilly temperatures though :D Thankfully this wonderful venue exudes beauty from inside the lodge to the hundred of acres surrounding the property. They kept things small and intimate with close friends and family celebrating this new adventure in life. They included their three boys into the ceremony which of course pulled at the heart strings of the rest of us. The beautiful sunshine beaming down was the icing on top of this cake.
Happiest of wishes to my first wedding of 2020!! Love you Meg and Chelena!
I had the pleasure of working at SO many fabulous wedding venues during the 2019 wedding season. One of my very favorites was The Orchard at Sunshine Hill in Chehalis. The bridal sweet was an absolute dream for any blushing bride. Not the mention the beautiful ceremony and reception area all nestled around stunning apple trees perched upon a hill with a wide sweeping view of the valley. A must see if you’re looking at venues for your up coming wedding!
When Jessica and Austin asked to have their engagement session here I knew right away I was going to fall in love with everything about their wedding day!
And guess what….I DID! Everything from the intricate beading detail on the bridal gown to the delicious pizza from Sirius Woodfired Pizza, you could say it was a day made in heaven. They even had a little bit of rain which we all know means good luck on a wedding day!
If you’re looking for a beautiful garden to say your “I do’s” in….Robinswood Hous- Seattle Bride is the spot for you. HOLY SMOKES this venue is absolutely breathtaking. ALMOST as breathtaking as Brandon and Jess are :)
I have had the pleasure of knowing Jess since she was 12 years old. (Just saying that makes me feel ancient!) I was 18 and coaching volleyball at the time when this spunky little kiddo was chosen for my team. So being able to reconnect with her so many years later and capture this beautiful moment with her was such an amazing opportunity. It’s pretty amazing how connections you make so many years before can make such an amazing impact on your life years later. Can we all just take a moment to acknowledge her AMAZING CAPE btw!? Can we please have capes be a bigger trend in 2020? Ok, cool. I knew you would all agree with me.
This wedding was filled with genuine friends laughing, loving family toasting to the couples future and LOTS of great dancing. Like, so much dancing. My feet were definitely in need of a break after this one!
Oh where do I even begin with these two. Tucker and Crystal are such beautiful souls, you can feel their connection the minute you are around them. This Enumclaw engagement session was absolute magic.
Would you believe me if I said Tucker had recently undergone knee surgery before this photo session?! He handled all of my adventurous requests like such a champ! Even my very athletic pose we decided to call “riding the bull” haha!! We laughed and chatted about our astrological signs and I heard how they met at a hotel bar that Crystal was working at. How they both made sure they kept bumping into each other when she happen to be working. How cute is that?! *Cue T-Pains, Bartender :D (If you’re too young to know this song then I’m sorry for the random reference haha)
One of my favorite parts of my job is capturing amazing people in beautiful places here in the PNW. It doesn’t get any better than this!
In todays day and age it’s very easy to get caught up in the simple act of doing something. We rush through our days to make sure we have time to rush through the other things we need to accomplish all while trying to balance relationships and ourselves. Making sure you and your partner are both on the same page is so important before you actually get married. Make sure you’re wedding day is everything you wanted it to be, make sure its about YOU and your PARTNER. Remember that marriages are not just what you see in Instagram. There is SO much work, but that work is worth it.
These two lovebirds were so incredible to meet. They flew all the way from California to enjoy their special day with friends and family. The way they spoke each other and were able to bring such peace to one another was truly amazing sight to see. They are deeply rooted in their faith and made sure to incorporate it through out their day as well.
I see many years of happiness ahead of Zach and Katlyn!
Kayla and Ben’s proposal started as a good ole fashion family session.
The Cornell family was visiting WA from ID and one of them reached out to me about doing a surprise family session for her mom. It had been awhile since everyone had been together and she thought it would be a nice gift for her.
A few weeks before our scheduled session she messaged me and asked if it would be ok if her brother, Ben, proposed to his girlfriend. Without hesitation I said HELL YES THAT’S 100% OK!! We spent the next couple of days coordinating how we would pull this off…secret codes words, hiding bottles of champagne, who would hold the ring etc..
The day of the session comes and I finally get to meet this wonderful extended family. I didn’t sleep well building up to this day because I was excited….so I can’t imagine how everyone else felt! I CANNOT WAIT TO CAPTURE THIS MOMENT.
We go through a few generic family poses, tell a few stories about each other…I’m watching the sun go down waiting for the perfect light. Also, for a few stragglers to kindly walk away from my pre planned proposal location :D
Finally the moment comes, the sun dips just low enough to cast that soft golden glow and I begin to shift my focus on Ben and Kayla’s “couple” part of the session. I take a few shots of them and them ask them to go back to back…..ya know, for that real hipster-IG-worthy-artsy shot. Bens sister, also named Kayla, walks up to Ben and calmly picks a piece of fuzz off his shirt while simultaneously handing off the ring box. I ask Ben and Kayla to turn around on the count of three and start walking towards each other annnnnnnd PERFECTION.
She turns around and sees him kneeling, confused at first but quickly realizing what is happening. The ring box was amazing, special made to have photos of them pull out as you opened the box. “WILL YOU MARRY ME?” written across the bottom. The ring, beautiful and brilliant. Kayla was shocked to say the least!
We then popped bottles of champagne and celebrated the future Mr. and Mrs. Cornell before wrapping up the rest of our session! All in all a perfect night spent in the mountains!
The Cornell Family, THANK YOU for letting me share in that moment and thank you for being so kind and fun to work with.
THIS was a good freakin day.
Taylor and I had been trying for months to make this session happen. Everything from bad weather to illnesses kept tripping us up and putting a damper on our plans. But this day everything fell right into place and I couldn’t be happier with how it all turned out!
I met Taylor and Jesse outside of the Washington State History Museum and noticed they were chill, go with the flow type of people who also had amazingly bad ass tattoos. Yep, my kind of people! We started wandering around the Glass museum and up towards the UW campus talking about life and just having a blast. (Can we all just appreciate the amazing architecture in down town Tacoma for a minute? BEAUTIIIFULLLLL.) Jesse and Taylor were so easy to work with too. You can’t fake those kinds of smiles. Those are genuine laughs people. REAL LIFE love captured on camera. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Watching my friends grow up and be boss mom babes is one of my ultimate joys. Being able to capture them on their wedding days IS THE ABSOLUTE BEST.
Cheers to Justin and Nikita!
Location: The Hansen Place, Sumner, WA
Boy oh boy…I’m going to lead off by saying my husband and I have little to NO horse experience. You will understand why that’s such an important detail later on in this story.
Samantha and I had been discussing a styled shoot for awhile and I absolutely love working with my friend so I look forward to these opportunities. I really wanted to be creative with this session while also making it special and meaningful to her. To make a long story short, Samantha has been through a lot over the last few years and I wanted her to feel like the strong, beautiful, capable woman she truly is. Horses have always held a special place in her heart as she grew up barrel racing as a little girl and I know she has been missing that part of her life lately. SO enter Black….the beautiful quarter horse/thoroughbred horse graciously lent to us by a friend of my husband, Kevin Lusk. Kevin is a pro circuit bronco rider so dealing with horses is second nature to him. Remember, we have ZERO horse experience. Kevin allowed us to drive over to Eastern WA to pick Black up while he was in Texas for rodeo…by ourselves. We had to get him out of his pen and into his horse trailer. Seems easy right? It wasn’t easy. Obstacle one, putting his halter on and leading him to the trailer. OY VEY. That took awhile. We were sweating at this point, lucky for us Black was calm and easy to work with. But he definitely knew we had no idea what we were doing and seemed to get a kick out of it. We finally get him loaded up and back over the mountains to a family members property closer to the session location. My husband will have to pick him up on his own the next day while I’m at The Hair Lounge with Samantha getting her hair ready for the session.
The next day I’m busy finalizing details, picking up the beautiful bouquet from Budding Romance Floral Co. and heading towards the salon to meet my make up artist and hair dresser. While Samantha is being worked on I get a phone call from my husband. Apparently Black realized he had the upper hand and decided to test his limits by running out of the trailer while Adam was trying to load him. After a brief jaunt through the woods and some blackberry bushes, my husband got him to come back to the trailer and loaded up. To say the least he was a little stressed and a little exhausted and a little scraped up from running through the woods. His adventure gave all of us ladies a good chuckle at the salon.
The best part of the entire weekend was seeing my vision finally come together. Sam’s excitement about getting on a horse again, the look of joy on her children’s faces, the pure MAGIC that happened on camera. It was all worth the traveling and stress. The amount of stunned faces from people leaving the dog park was great too. Sam was truly in her element while working with Black. Being able to capture her doing something she loved while her kids watched was amazing. I hope her son and daughter see the fire that’s in their mothers soul. I hope they know she is fierce and strong. I hope they forever remember that their mom is a dream chaser. Sam, I hope you never forget that you are a warrior.
Thank you for being such a wonderful human, Sam. I’m lucky to have such inspirational people in my life.
HUGE shout out to my husband for being such a huge support during this process and becoming an official cowboy ;)
Location. Fort Steilacoom Park
Hair: Sarah Girello at The Hair Lounge
MAU: Breanna Hallenbeck
Florals: BUdding Romance Floral Co.
Where do I even begin with this wedding?!
I guess I can take you all the way back to my high school years where I met Ryann for the first time. Volleyball brought us together and let me tell you…we had some good times running our high school team! Some of my favorite memories are with this girl…all the way from fall out boy concerts in my truck to state championships.
When Ryann reached out to me about doing an engagement session with them I was over the moon excited! I had been following her and Jesse’s journey via facebook for awhile now and was SO happy she had found the love of her life. I could just tell he was the one for her. After meeting Jesse at the engagement session and after catching up with Ryann…I KNEW they were meant to be. There was instant chemistry between the two of them. Ya know, the kind of energy that just infects everyone else around you? THOSE kinda vibes.
After their session we discussed their wedding that was supposed to take place in Hawaii early the next year at the Ohana Retreat Plantation. They wanted to keep it small and intimate so they could really experience the joy that truly comes with your wedding day. To say I was happy when they decided to choose me as their photographer would be an understatement!!
Erika at The Greatest Adventure Wed is a complete mastermind, with the help of Carlee at Rusted Vase Floral CO., brought all of Jesse and Ryann’s visions together to create one of the most beautiful weddings I’ve ever had the pleasure of being apart of. I’m still blown away by how breathtaking and easy this wedding day really was. Subtle hints of Harry Potter and Disney were sprinkled everywhere to the point that When You Wish Upon A Star was played for the father daughter dance (I definitely teared up!). Jesse proposed to Ryann while at Disney land because it’s one of her favorite places, so the playful details were absolutely perfect.
I will forever be grateful for their friendship and for being able to capture their amazing true love.
Cheers Jesse and Ryann!!
Event Location: Ohana Retreat at the Kona Plantation
Wedding and Event Planner: The Greatest Adventure Wed
Florals: Rusted Vase Floral Co.
Videographer: Jack Murrey Creative
