Blue eyes is what pretty much anyone will say they remember when they meet Theresa. She has bright, bright blue eyes that everyone notices immediately. They were the focus of this photo… well, actually Theresa made her goofy expressions the main part of this image. But when I heard that she was engaged, among the first things I thought was “Perfect, I know exactly what bridal portrait I was to create with her”.
Cuz that’s what all creative photographers do, right? We use our gorgeous friends for creating beautiful photos, hahaha.

Theresa is a friend of mine from when I was a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer in Florida, at Disneyworld. We are part of a core group of friends, mostly lifeguards, that all spent a good portion of 2003 living and working together. Her wedding was a small reunion for some of us who hadn’t seen each other in years.

This posting will include a number of personal shots since these are my old friends. Typically I keep personal things off this blog, but this is different and I’m even in some of the group shots, too. Overall we had a great time hanging out in Downtown Portland and catching up on life. It was a crazy and hectic week – did I mention I flew to Portland for this wedding less than 24 hours after landing back in California from spending the week shooting in Michigan at the D’Orazio wedding? Yeah, didn’t sleep much at all.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. I’ll put more info in the captions!

Here’s the ex lifeguard crew (minus Lori who was somewhere else during this shot). It was great to have a chance to just hang out and catch up with everyone at a coffee shop like it was just a normal Tuesday morning.
This was the day before the wedding. We all spent it hanging out and wandering Portland.

I arrived early the day of the wedding to take a few prep shots of Theresa getting ready.

It’s always funny to watch the girls struggle with corset-backed dresses.

Still working… two bridesmaids and one mother now… with a flower girl supervising everything. Excellent.

This turned out to be a very busy photo, I actually removed a lot of distractions from the image too (stuff on the door, walls, etc.) and it’s still cluttered. It’s ok, cuz I loved these little girls.

Finally gettin that dress all set…
And do you see what I mean about Theresa’s eyes? Stand out, don’t they?

Lori, helpin Theresa walk to the elevator to go downstairs.

Elevator photo!
Lori was amazing, she’s an event planner based in Denver (and one of our Florida-friends) but basically planned everything for the wedding that week in Portland.

Loaded up and almost ready to go.

Here’s me and Chris, also loaded and ready to go. Chris got recruited to shoot a bit of video during the wedding day, so we both went early to get some shots/footage.
We were definitely curious how the girls planned to get this entire car full of stuff to the venue if we weren’t there to drive it though. hahaha!

Reception hall.

Me and Beau… busy being awesome – and incredibly good looking – before the wedding. Beau is my best friend from when I lived in Florida, so naturally we needed an awesome shot together in this old house…

This is the original idea for the portrait I wanted to do of Theresa. Honestly, I think it came out perfectly. This shot using only window light with an 85 f/1.2 lens.

Me and Theresa before the ceremony begins. I’m special so I got a photo with her. Haha to everyone else!

There’s rumor that we were sitting in a “Family” row… well, we consider each other family, so it’s ok.
Me, Beau, Jasmine, Brian, Deanna, Josiah, Lori, and Chris.

Again… totally loved these girls.

Passed out… poor little guy didn’t even make it to the ceremony.. slept through the whole thing.

I was watching the girls the majority of the time. Since they’re twins their mannerisms were similar but still unique. I was trying to catch a shot to show that..

Oh well, I tried… still got some cute shots though.

Exchanging of rings and vows.

Woo hoo! We did it! Haha.

Whoops! Got the photographer in my shot!
I’m at the back of the aisle shooting with my telephoto to stay out of the hired photographer’s way.

Zoom in a bit moreeee, perfect shot.

The lifeguard crew, plus Brittany (also was a guard with us) and her fiance Ryan on the right.

Andddd, goofing off.

The guys. Brian, Chris, Josiah, me, and Beau.

First dance

Just happened to be on the other side shooting when Scott dipped Theresa as the end of the song. I don’t think me nor the photographer were in a good spot for this really.

Theresa is definitely concentrating. The cake topper already fell off once at this point..

Daddy-daughter dance..

The little baby was staring right at me. Had to get a photo.

Theresa and Beau.
Both of them worked at the same water park, the rest of us at the other water park. These two liked to always act like they were better than us, hahaha.

Oh, wait, can’t forget Chris… he was one of those Typhoon Lagoon lifeguard-snobs, too. LOL!

Lori and Brian.

I really liked this moment with these boys watching everyone dance. They saw me trying to get this shot since I took about five. They just kept ignoring me, it was great. I showed them after and they seemed to think it was cool. Jasmine and Brian are dancing in the background.

About 20 minutes later this little girl was sitting all alone watching everyone.. Just sitting there, holding her bag of candy.

Step to the right!

Now step to the left!

Guard crew! Had to get plenty of photos, don’t know when we’ll see everyone again.

And everyone started singing along with Bon Jovi at this point I think.

This little dude was nice enough to share his candy with the girls. That table in the back on the left is a candy-bar that Theresa and Scott had set up.

But share once, and the vultures swarm..
I LOVE his expression… like “YOU want some now… whatever dude..”

Waitin for the flower toss I believe.

End of the night, here’s that poor kid again, having to give more candy to the bride..

Although he DID get a kiss… so it’s cool.

DON’T STOP… BELIEVVVVIIIIIIIINNN!

End of the night… are we tired after a full day of work, laughter and good friends?

I think that’s Chris’ way of saying “Indeed.”

It was definitely a crazy weekend in Oregon and Washington with everyone. After the wedding I went and spent the rest of the week in Portland with the Matthews family (you may remember the Matthews-Niles wedding I shot in April).
It was fun to have time to catch up with them and hang out for a couple days before flying home to SoCal.

Currently I’m prepping for a trip to San Diego tomorrow. My little sister is getting married – Yes, I’m serious. My kid sister is getting married in just over a month. Her bridal shower is this weekend, and since I rarely see her since she lives out in Denver, I’m going to spend the weekend in SD with her and the rest of our family.

I’m not sure when my next update will be, probably in a week or so. I have a few things I’m working on, and I’m still trying to lock down a couple models for some shoots in the near future.

Thanks for reading everyone.
Leave your thoughts below.