I got a nice surprise earlier this year when a friend of mine asked if she could hire me to shoot her friends’ wedding.  It would be her wedding gift to them.  Now, normally I don’t shoot weddings outside my circle of friends, but with someone like my friend Jen vouching for them, I thought I’d give it a shot.  After meeting the couple I knew I made the right decision.  Jhanna and Steve seemed to be  very fun, artistic, positive, and relaxed people.  I got a great sense that we were going to work well together.

They were not concerned at all with the superstition around waiting until the ceremony to see each other, so that immediately took some pressure off of the timing to get some photos.  I understand how difficult it can be for couples to take as much time as they feel they need to get good photos once the day’s celebrations have begun.  We were able to all meet up well before the ceremony even started began to get lots of fun photos of the wedding party, the bride and groom, and even some with the family.

They picked great locations too (see how easy they made my job?).  First, we met at Washington Park in Portland, further focusing our location to be the “stairway to heaven”, a huge moss-covered stone stairway that leads from West Burnside all the way up the ridge to the park.  I loved the seemingly infinite pattern the stairs provided, as well as the forest surroundings.   Next we headed to The Pearl District to Tanner Springs Park.  It’s a remarkable urban block park, including a small pond complete with water lilies, and a crazy wall made of rusty I-beams fanning out in different lengths.  I had never been there before, but I was blown away at the many, many photographic opportunities it provided.

The ceremony was on a rooftop venue in downtown Portland.  The evening was beautiful, the bride and groom looked spectacular, and the entire celebration was relaxed, fun, and playful.. just like them!  There were a few hiccups throughout the day, as there always are with wedding days.  I was amazed seeing Jhanna be so cool, calm, and relaxed as she rolled with the changes and adjustments that needed to be made.  Not once did she waiver or cease to have that beautiful smile on her face.  What a dream wedding!

Congratulations to Steve and Jhanna Knauff!  Below is a simple slideshow of some of the photo highlights.  For more, please visit the entire gallery.