Downtown Seattle elopement: Haley + Ben

I had the honor of shooting my friend Haley's elopement to her fiancee Ben earlier this month, with several hours and locations scheduled for us to visit before the courthouse proper. It was an absolutely perfect afternoon -- we started out with a first look at the garage adjacent to the Alexa (I set them up so that they'd have a few moments to themselves before the chaos of the day kicked in), went down to the Market for flowers, took a stroll to Le Pichet for a quick toast, and then Ubered over to City Hall for the ceremony before wrapping up with dinner at Cuoco. It was one of those days early in September when the haze was not only holding the temperature down, but also creating this weird filtered light that really lent itself to some great setups.

If I had to get some language around it, I guess I would call this a loosely curated, elopement slash day-of documentarian-esque shoot? and after having had the day that we did, I seriously want to do this like, every week for the rest of the foreseeable future. Weddings are always incredible and an absolute privilege to capture for clients, but when the client is also a buddy you've known for close to a decade who's got a killer sense of humor + the willingness to spend time trying out ideas -- well, it just works. Not only did we get amazing footage out of it, we had an absolute blast from start to finish -- with some help from cranky Uber drivers, the guy getting released from the courthouse (who lit up a cigarette and barked out a sarcastic 'good luck' as we walked up the steps), and like, five other hilarious strangers we met over the course of our travels. Layer in excited family members and adorable kids who created a vibe that was just so positive and so fun from the instant we arrived.

I wound up delivering a solid 200+ images -- here's a quick tour of how it all looked and felt: 

Haley's father's speech left me in tears and I floated home on a cloud at the end of the night, exhausted and thrilled, knowing that I'd done good work and so, so excited to get to the edits. Infinity hugs and congratulations to these two. And ps, Dear Universe: please send me more experiences like this!

Away game: Mark + Killorn get married!

Two of my nearest + dearest got hitched over Memorial Day weekend in Pennsylvania, at The Barn at Fallingwater. We spent a few days in the rural (well, rural for us city kids) rolling hills, getting in some quality hangs, building that backdrop you see in the last photo, and adjusting to the culture shock of life fifteen minutes from the West Virginia border.

As my wedding gift to Mark + Killorn, I did a bit of shooting to cover the start of the reception, while they were having portraits taken post-ceremony. Between the wedding-proper tears and the toast tears, I managed to grab a handful of images of their friends and family starting the celebration -- can't wait to see the actual day covered by the one + only Jenny Jiminez. I'll update the link here when her shots are online!

Cle Elum wedding: Alex and Ambryn

Cozy cabins, salutations to the four directions, hand-tied bouquets, and a whole lot of love came together out in eastern Washington just shy of ten days ago, as we traveled many a dusty, bumpy road to celebrate the marriage of Alex and Ambryn:

And, after an incredible dinner and countless toasts, we set up a makeshift photobooth in one of the cabins for the guests to play in. It was a last-minute move since the wind was picking up at our original location outdoors, and while imperfect (you can see a bit of the back wall of the cabin peeking through the tinsel), we all had a total blast in it!

It was an absolute honor to spend the day with these two amazing women, their families, and the communities that support them. Huge thanks to Laura Duffy for bringing me on as second shooter for this incredible event!

Photobooth: NYE wedding!

Best New Year's Eve ever? Possibly. I spent the night down on Lake Union surrounded by friends, witnessing the wedding of my boss and her partner, and running a sparkly, prop-filled photobooth (my wedding gift to them). To top it all off, we ran down to the water just as the clock struck midnight, all fireworks and KEXP blasting from the houseboats and kisses in the middle of the street.

I didn't have a camera for that last part, but here's a fraction of the photos from the booth I mentioned:

Maui wedding: Adam and Elaine

The first, and best, away-game wedding I've ever head the pleasure to witness. The celebration took place about two-thirds through a week-long vacation on Maui, amidst a slew of family dinners, outings for shaved ice, trips to the beach, and all-around Jurassic Park vibes. 

Here are just a few of the shots from the big day(s)!