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Jesse and Emily Wedding

Jesse is a friend, yeah, I know he’s been a good friend of mine.  Jesse is a good friend from college, and I was so (SO) excited to attend his wedding.  (I may have mentioned it a zillion times to him)   I met Emily in May 2010, after Jesse, insisted (demanded) that I meet his future wife.  A few months later, I bugged him about getting engaged so he could invite me to his wedding, and he laughed it off.  That weekend, he proposed.  Yeah, I have that effect on people.  Just kidding, it was a proposal long in the making.  A year later, I got to watch them promise to love each other and cheer each other on  (Emily is a cheerleader) for the rest of their lives.  And yeah, I was super excited.  The wedding was a blast filed with old friends, silly photo booths, and dancing (thanks to the open bar).  Oh, and we definitely rocked out to Jesse’s Girl.

These are my favorite memories from the wedding. First up: after their vows, they lit their family unity candle.  In the left photo, they had to relight the candle because it had blown out when they blew out their family candles (this the laughing).  In the right photo, first family prayer!

Hugging the parents.

The party favors/seat assignments were lollipops!  Sadly, my lollipop was cleared off with the dinner plates.

For the cocktail hour, Jesse and Emily had his and her drinks.  Jesse, for his cuban background, had mojitos, and Emily, for her Chinese background, had lychee martinis.  I fueled up on the lychee martinis, gotta represent Asians, right?

And the appetizers!  My (obvious) favorites were the french fries with his & her dipping sauces (again, one Cuban spiced and another Asian spiced) and Emily’s request… oysters!!

They had a fun entrance where they danced in and walked through an “archway” made by the wedding party.

Late into the night, after dessert, they brought out Klondike bars!  There were so many options, I wanted them all.

We bid farewell (sorta, we hung around long enough to see the couple return from their getaway) with a sparkler exit.

Lastly, before all the sparklers were used up, we tried our hand at spelling out Jesse and Emily’s name.

Kent Dragon Boat Race

The Kent Cornucopia Dragon Boat Festival was our last race before our August racing hiatus.  Alcan, Salem, and Kent were all two weeks apart, so by the time Kent came around, we were in great racing shape (and a bit exhausted).  As it so happened, the Anniemaniacs did great!  We raced strong, felt strong, and had our best race of the season.  We walked away with first place medals and a trophy which was super exciting for the team.

Possibly our best team photo yet.  The park had a new playground area, along with this fantastic jungle gym structure, so we all climbed in for a photo.

Tracey and Kevin Engagement Session

I met up with Tracey and Kevin to shoot an engagement session, and they asked me if they could bring their puppy.  Um, I believe my response was, “Yes, please!”  So, please meet Rogue.  She’s adorable, hyper, and can’t be kept away from her parents unless you like the sound of barking and yelping.  She also gives lots of kisses .

Adam and Erin Wedding at Horning’s Hideout.

Adam and Erin were married at Horning’s Hideout in North Plains, OR.  It was a hot day, but the ceremony was shaded by tall trees and cooled by a creek running along the side.  The wedding was decorated with forest details and the food was delicious.  I was thinking about the rib roast every day for, no exaggeration, over a month.  In fact my mouth is watering thinking about it now.

Erin and Adam opted to do a First Look!

 

The details they put into everything was impressive.   The theme was “wild bird nests” so there was moss, log rings, and bark.

They also had printed photos of themselves to hang around.

The ceremony took place surrounded by tall trees, and you could hear the creek’s water running alongside the site.

The reception tables were decorated with birdhouses and herbs.

The food was deelish!

Rib roast… drooling.  It was the best I’ve ever had.  I want more.

Shot with Eric from BriteFoto Wedding Photography!

Happy Anniversary, Ben & Dana!

Dana and Ben, at the Resort on the Mountain for their 10-10-10 weekend wedding.

Journey Gym

Two years ago, I did a product shoot for Journey Gym.  Now, with an updated product, they asked for me to take promotional and product shots with the newer portable gym.  We went around Portland taking promotional photos for the website, and also into a studio for white backdrop photos.  It was great to work with Glen Baggerly again, who (believe it or not) is looking even more fit and strong (guess that Journey Gym really works!).

The following photo was our favorite photo.  Glen looks awesome.

The journeys of the Journey Gym.

Salem Dragon Boat Festival

Salem… what an interesting race.  It was the Anniemaniacs’ first time at the Salem World Beat Dragon Boat Festival, so we weren’t sure what to expect.  The World Beat area was huge, biggest we’ve ever seen, with plenty of food vendors from all over the world.  In terms of racing, we were surprised that the races were all two boat races.  It resulted in little competition until the final, so it was hard to gauge how all the teams were doing.  Spectator viewing was very limited due to the water bank being over grown.  You could watch the middle of the race, almost the finish, or just the finish.  From a tiller’s point of view, the water behaved very strangely.  Around the beginning of the race course, after going under a bridge and right by a pylon, the water swirls, changing the force of water on the boat, and causing near collisions for many races.  This was more of an issue for boats in lane 2 (and the occasional lane 3).

In our final against Paddles of Fury (lane 1) and Bridge City (lane 3), the Anniemaniacs came up in a close behind Paddles of Fury.  It was a close race, very intense, and just a 0.02 second difference!  Bridge City didn’t come in as close, but the previously mentioned pylon caused them to move into our lane, and the changing water currents caused them to briefly over correct and head off course.

Sidenote: we attempted to drive from Portland to Salem in the Nissan Leaf.  The car made it there, but without enough battery to make it back or charge at a 110 volt outlet.  So, we had to drop it off at the Nissan dealership to fully recharge the battery.

Catherine and JC Engagement Session

I went with Eric to shoot Catherine and JC’s engagement session at the Portland Waterfront. Years ago, when Catherine and JC first visited Portland together, they watched the Fourth of July fireworks from Thirst Wine Bar & Bistro by the marina. It was this trip that convinced them to move to Portland, so they had the great idea to use the waterfront for their engagement session.

Nicole and Curtis’ Wedding at McMenamin’s Kennedy School.

Nicole and Curtis’ wedding was, for lack of a better word, awesome.  A large wedding, all the tables in McMenamins’ gymnasium were filled, and it was easy to see how happy and excited *everyone* was to see the the two married.  Maya, their daughter a.k.a. adorable flower girl, sorta stole the show with her, for lack of a better word, adorableness.  Everyone was in good spirits, and never have I seen foam swords and dart guns (for the adults!) shooting across the dance floor.  Awesome wedding.

Since Curtis and Nicole weren’t very traditional, and to make the wedding day flow better, Nicole and Curtis opted to do a first look.

I think we were all surprised by how emotional the first look was for them.

So, because they opted to do the first look, we were able to spend a good amount of time taking portraits and group photos before the ceremony, without any rush.  Everyone gave Curtis a hard time for never smiling with his teeth, but I think he has a really cool (teethless) smile.

Behind me, the bridal party is heckling Curtis to “smile with your teeth!”

 

Maya, their adorable daughter did not want to pose for pictures… until she realized how FUN mommy’s dress was to play with.

 

Did I mention she sorta stole the show?

Surely you’ve picked up on this by now, but this wedding was all smiles.

It’s official!

Hanging out in the hallways of McMenamin’s Kennedy School.

The Kennedy School’s gymnasium is a pretty cool venue for a wedding reception.

 

Everyone has something that makes them unique, and one of the many things at this wedding, was the engraving on Curtis’ ring!   Initially, the tennis fan in me got really excited with the notion that they were tennis fans.  But their story is WAY better.  Inside his ring, it said”tennis”, which was Nicole’s early way of saying “I love you” to Curtis.  For those who don’t know tennis scoring, “love” is how you say zero.  So, there’s “love” in tennis.

Oh, and the cake toppers!  Bobble head bride and groom that looks eerily like them.  Curtis’ bobble head is even smiling without showing his teeth!

 

While Curtis and his Mom had their Mother & Son dance, Maya walked onto the dance floor asking to join.  Like I said, she’s adorable.

One guess as to what dance these boys are doing.

If you guessed “Jump On It as done on Fresh Prince of Bel Air” you’d be correct!

 

Fun fact, the groomsman who caught the garter is actually getting married next May!

And as I mentioned, dart guns for the grown ups!

And for Maya too