If you’re like me, you LOVE the idea of getting married outside and find yourself drawn to beautiful adventurous elopement images…but you also have a large group of family and friends you can’t wait to celebrate with. You might not be all about traditional weddings and customs BUT that does not mean you don’t want to celebrate with your loved ones. Larger weddings can be absolutely incredible, especially when the focus is still on the overall experience. Your wedding day doesn’t have to mean you’re performing like zoo animals, but instead getting to be present with family and friends who may never be together in the same space again. That’s incredible, and SHOULD be celebrated and documented.

I love photographing larger weddings that are full experiences with time built into the schedule for the couple to enjoy their time with guests throughout a weekend experience. My couples love to craft an entire reunion get-away that spreads the activities out. If people are traveling and coming together for this celebration, why not make a weekend out of it?
The overall goal is still to create an atmosphere that isn’t built around stress, performing for people, or checking items off the list. The goal of your wedding celebration is to be able to be present to create a lifetime of memories celebrating the beauty of the important relationships in your life that contribute to the depth of your relationship with your partner.
I find myself working with a lot of couples that don’t neccessarily feel attached to the idea that their wedding is the “most important day of their relationship” but instead feel connected to the idea of celebrating their community AND the beauty of the relationship they already have. I love that. Years down the line, it’s not going to matter if you had a garter toss or how the napkins were folded- but the memories of tears in your partner’s eyes as you see one another dressed to the nines for the first time, getting ready with your friends, dancing and singing lyrics to your favorite songs, laughing so hard you cry during speeches, photos with family members that have since passed…those are going to stick with you both and be the memories you want to revisit over and over.

One of my favorite areas to photograph these types of celebrations is the San Juan Islands in Washington State. This is where I grew up, and somewhere that is immensely incredible to me. Weddings in the San Juan Islands hold their own kind of magic. Maybe it’s the journey to get there- being only accessible via boat, ferry, or plane means that those coming to celebrate with you also experience the slow down. As you travel there, you switch to “island time.”
The venues on the islands are surrounded by incredible natural beauty and local resources. It’s not hard to have a wedding that is locally sourced, naturally beautiful, and relaxed as it is elegant.
The San Juan Islands also are an amazing place to be a visitor. Your guests and yourselves have endless options of ways to explore the area- whether that is a kayaking trip at sunset, a whale watching cruise through ethically run companies, to hikes overlooking the Salish Sea, to incredible culinary tours, live music, wine and beer tastings…etc. Your guests will have the opportunity to experience the incredible offerings of the Pacific Northwest throughout their journey to celebrate your wedding with you.

My goal as your photographer is to document that process- the beauty of the area, the candid and unanticipated moments of reunion, emotion, and laughter with friends and family, the people who will never be together in the same moments again, the details and moments that make your wedding celebration uniquely yours, and all the key moments that will be part of your personal history.
I am here to get to know you, your partner, your family and friends to document you all having the time of your lives and creating history together. I am there to get to know your grandparents to get a photo of them smiling and laughing together, to know when to take a photo of an emotional moment and when to NOT, to notice those candid, intimate looks you and your partner exchange, to see the way the light catches the details of your reception.
When you look back through your wedding photos, you’ll find new memories and remember how it felt. You’ll find photos of loved ones that will have more and more value in the years to come. You aren’t just investing in photography for one day or a weekend- it is an investment into the memories you’ll have for the rest of your lives together.

As a final note, I know that sometimes there are difficult moments that exist within weddings and tensions that can feel very challenging to navigate. Families can be messy, and I’m okay with that. I want you to feel comfortable talking with me about what YOU need and want on your wedding day, and I can help navigate some of those tensions. As someone who’s background is in social services and conflict resolution, I can deal. My priority aside from documenting your celebration, is to make sure you have the least amount of stress and most enjoyment as possible.
Sometimes, that means taking a break. Sometimes it means me stepping out of the room and allowing you room to be an introvert that is a little overwhelmed. Sometimes that means finding someone for you.
It also means guidance around creating a timeline that gives you both time and space to be together to process the emotions.

Whatever that needs to look like, I’m here for you. Now, let’s get started with celebrating the incredible relationships in your life!