Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending a (surprisingly) sunny weekend in Portland, Oregon for the wedding of Tara Matthews and Michael Niles!
I have indirectly known Tara for a number of years. Seven years ago I lived in Orlando, Florida while doing an internship with Walt Disney World. Tara’s brother Ryan was one of my roommates while I was out there. I actually also shot images at Ryan’s wedding four years ago. So, this is now the second brother-then-sister wedding client family! It’s such a compliment to be able to do photography twice for a family.. especially when those people are in completely different states!

Well, Tara has apparently followed my work for quite a while. And as I heard this weekend, it wasn’t a question in her mind about getting me to shoot her wedding. What an amazing compliment to hear from anyone!
Michael, like many grooms, wasn’t too familiar with my work, but took his fiance’s word about me. Haha! Thanks Michael! Hope I don’t disappoint!

After knowing the Matthew’s for such a long period of time, I’m considered family and was treated as such while in Oregon. I crashed at their home, hung out with everyone, and laughed and joked about old stories and new.
Don’t get me wrong, I had my camera with me pretty much at all times. I won’t be including photos from all the prep, the nails, the hair, and everything else I attended though. I have plenty from the wedding day that I’d like to share.

So, ahead are 70 images or so from the Niles’ wedding. I hope you guys spend the time and check them all out. I really had an amazing time with these families last weekend. I even got to see the Grant family from Ryan and Jenna’s wedding four years ago. I was shocked they remembered me that well!

Enjoy! And please feel free to post or send me a message if you have any thoughts!

I LOVE this shot. How cute is this, seriously?
This is easily one of my new favorite portfolio images. I hope both of these two love it as much as I do(in about 15 years when they can appreciate it).

continue reading below…

Morning. Wedding day. Hair and makeup. Considering everything that was going on, Tara was in amazing spirits and very calm.

Silly yes, but cute. We had to drive back to the house, switch cars, and cram in to get to the venue.
That’s Tara’s dress on everyone’s laps.

Her dress looked 100 times more amazing on her than it did hanging…

The Matthews family worked very hard to decorate all the chairs and venue on their own…

…and they also spent quite a while making these favors for guests.

Michael, lookin’ sharp.

I love this image MUCH more than the posed one.. this was when I was “testing my lighting”
…right. Like I really need to “test” lighting on a sunny day.

Quick! Everyone hold the dress up! It’s a four-person operation.

Jenna (right) is Tara’s sister-in-law. I think she was just as excited as Tara was about the wedding.

A little help from Mom and the bridesmaids.
Tara, you totally have the model shoulders-in pose down if you ever decide to go that route… just sayin, I noticed it right away last weekend in my other photos.

Mrs. Matthews/Mom putting on one of Tara’s four garters – I think she wore four..
Tara had on her grandmother’s, her mother’s, her own, and one to throw for the garter toss!

Tara and Michael opted to do a first-look so we could knock out all the photos before the ceremony and madness began…

I LOVED Tara’s expressions throughout – which is why I’m sharing the series.

…pretty sure that’s the exact reaction you want from your groom, too.

You can’t really tell in the smaller image, but the windows to the building are filled with everyone else watching!

Michael and Tara were always smiling and laughing.

Quick little moments and kisses between the two as they waited for everyone for portraits. Not sure if they knew I was watching the whole time..

The guys, waitin’ for the ladies..

You’d assume they were related if you didn’t know them.. haha.

Tara absolutely adores Jamie and her sister. And they made it too easy to get great photos of them that day.

Tara, Jessica, and Jamie.

Tara and her father, Mr. Matthews, laughing while trying to be serious during photos!

I really like this shot of the girls. I followed them around a bit and watched them run around exploring in their little white dresses. This “What’s in the water!” hands-on-the-head moment was pretty funny I thought.

The guys… sitting and waiting for the cue to start.

First-look or not, the groom ALWAYS has a reaction to seeing his bride walk down the aisle.

Mr. Matthews escorts his little girl down the aisle to give her away…

…but he also was the one that was going to marry Michael and Tara!

Mr. Matthews opened the ceremony with a song.

Haha! Jacob (right) was SO bored up there! Isaac (left) just stood there and chilled the whole time though.

Tara was all smiles… and some tears. Actually there was a lot of both, let’s be honest.

With this ring…

Tara and Michael light their unity candle.

Ryan sings for his sister Tara and soon-to-be brother-in-law.

Jenna, Ryan’s wife, had the hardest time holding it together as she watched Ryan sing. Ryan actually surprised Jenna by singing during their wedding, too.

They cut the music suddenly. Ryan’s reaction, followed by Tara shouting “THE END!” added a bit of humor that seemed very appropriate for the day.

Aweeeeeee!!!

Best. Reaction. Ever.

Mr. Matthews signs the paperwork making everything official.

“Those two words (Love and Laughter) really do summarize their entire relationship..” -Mr. Matthews, talking about Tara and Michael after the ceremony.

Jenna shares a mildly embarrassing story about the first time she met Tara when Ryan brought her over many years before.

Have to try every kind of cake! (There were four!)

The entire place was gorgeous to shoot at. I really wish I had more time to take them around for photos that afternoon..

Mr. Matthews took a few images of me working. I almost never have photos of myself working. Thank you again for shooting these!

Both the above images were from before the ceremony when I was doing the portraits of everyone. I was using my 5DII and left the ol’ 1D in my bag that day.

Me, Tara, and Michael after everyone left.

Jenna, me, and Ryan. We all used to live together in Orlando. Ryan was a great roommate and always there for me when I needed someone to talk to. Both him and Jenna have been amazing friends to me over the years.

I had a really wonderful time in Oregon this past weekend. I was welcomed by everyone, and heard many times that people had heard such wonderful things about me and my work. Both families couldn’t have made my trip any easier.

Tara and Michael, thank you again! I hope you enjoy your honeymoon cruise – hopefully I’ll have more images ready for you shortly after you return!

And for everyone else who read this far, check back later this week for another update and images from other shoots I’m working on!