Destination Wedding: Timberline Lodge

Our first wedding as new parents was a real doozy — a 4-hour drive to Timberline Lodge on Oregon's Mt. Hood. Fortunately, it was the wedding of our close college friend Erin — an event we would have hated to miss! Our history with Erin revolves around the college's student newspaper, where Erin was Scott's second-in-command for two years as he ran the paper, and then Laura was Erin's number-two the following year when she took over for Scott. Erin now lives in the D.C. area so we don't get to see her near as often as we'd like.

Our wedding weekend adventure began with a drive down to the Portland area on Friday night accompanied by Laura's mom (and babysitter extraordinaire) Elizabeth. On Saturday morning we headed up the mountain, got our room, made sure grandma and baby were comfortable, and set to work with getting ready photos!

Elizabeth brought Caleb down for a few minutes so Erin could meet the little dude (who at the time was a day shy of five weeks old).

Laura rocked these quick bridal portraits framed by one of the hallway doors:

The Timberline Lodge makes for a rustic yet elegant wedding venue. Built of stone and wood during the Great Depression, it's best known for serving as the exterior of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining, one of Scott's all-time favorite movies. We had a great time making the most of what Timberline had to offer inside and out on a little portrait tour with the wedding party.

The ceremony was in a corner of the lodge called the Raven's Nest, which features these fabulous floor-to-ceiling windows.



The reception was in a lovely dining room with windows looking out on Mt. Hood, which played peek-a-boo with us all day. It showed its face once during the first dance, and then again a little while later. Moving quickly, it gave us just long enough to grab Erin and Dave and run out the doors to take the quick portrait at the top of this post before the clouds rolled back again!

The after-party continued in the Blue Ox Bar, dominated by a big Paul Bunyan mural.

We're so happy for you, Erin and Dave! Congrats again and we look forward to seeing you next time!

Another WPJA Award for Laura!

The Wedding Photojournalist Association (WPJA) is a pretty exclusive organization made up of photographers who have the same kind of photography style as we do. Members from all over the world participate in the WPJA's quarterly photo contests, and the level of competition is quite high.

That's why we're always proud when one of our images places in the top 10. In the latest contest, 2008 Q4, Laura placed seventh in the Ring Details category with this cool shot of Kelly and Michael! We like how it highlights one of the smaller but more significant details of the day, while still including the emotion, energy, and natural excitement of the happy couple. It's a still life that's a little less still! The judge had this to say:

This was one of the few ring images that actually showed the bride and groom. And a moment to boot. Very nicely shot.

Another of Laura's images, which you can see below, placed in the Silhouettes and Shadows category of the 2008 Q3 contest — and we forgot to blog about it at the time. This is from Angela and Jeff's wedding last September at the Heritage Room in Olympia. It was taken at the end of the portrait session, with the newlyweds walking to the front doors to be announced into their reception.