My heart has been filled to the brim with love and joy and happiness, tired knees, cameras in both hands, and iced coffees. I flew down to Oregon to photograph a wedding, and returned home with so many photos of love--not just from the wedding itself, but from dear friends, assistants, couples, family ... it was truly an amazing experience and I still am trying to process it all.
I arrived in Oregon on the morning of the 18th, Wednesday, and after settling into my friend Megan's home, which she and her housemates graciously opened to me, I roamed around town, found food to eat and coffee to drink (what else in Oregon?), and ended the evening with doing a beautiful friend photoshoot with my bride and two of her bridesmaids who flew in from out of town. I fell in love with them and their friendship, not to mention the photos we created! I'm so excited to post the final products.
Then the 19th was a relaxing day, filled with barbecues and catching up with friends and eating way too many hot dogs and cupcakes. We discussed the future school year, with its events and projects and memories, and I am so excited to be able to be a part of it all. It reminds me of how lucky I am to go to such an amazing college and be a small part of the leadership there.
The 20th held the wedding rehearsal. I fell in love with the venue and Oregon (as usual), ate pizza, met the bridal party, and went home with tired eyes and a full heart. Of course I hardly slept that night, for my thoughts were filled with the wedding in just a few hours--what could go wrong, what could go right, etc. I can only imagine what the bride and groom were feeling.
Then the big day came. My second shooters and I went to grab coffee, then drove to the venue. Thankfully we were the first ones there, so I showed them around, led them through the day's events, and we set up laptops and a workflow to get all the photos backed up (which ended up not working out--we ended up being a bit more disorganized than I intended, but lesson learned for next time!). Then people began arriving and it was time to get down to business. The previous (and first) wedding I shot was in 2012 (almost to the exact day), so I forgot how exhausting shooting one was. We arrived at 9:30 am and didn't leave until 6:30 pm, and all that time was spent on our toes (I was sore for a couple days afterwards--which shows you how athletic I really am, haha!), but every step was absolutely worth it.
I am definitely a hopeless romantic at heart, and the day was so full of love and friendship I nearly burst. I fell in love with Carrie and Brandon just by seeing the love that their friends and family had for them, and more so by seeing how in love with each other they were. It was a huge, huge honor to be able to capture that love, and I only hope I did an adequate job of doing so. I left with a sunburn and a heart that was overflowing.
Then the 22nd I headed into Portland. Went to church, ate yummy food from the natural pantry, and sat in the park amongst beautiful people. There aren't any words to describe the feeling that Portland gives me, but I love it with all my heart. It was sad to leave that evening, but I was also happy to return home for even more adventure.
If my future holds more days like these that I experienced, and the people that I shared them with, then I think I will have done okay in life.
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