Hallie & Lee Roy were married in a beautiful ceremony at the state of the art Kroc Center facility in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho & I’m so happy to be able to share some of the beautiful photos of their day.

It’s always a great day when the couple is surrounded by so many loved ones who wish to experience the day & offer their support to the couple. This day was no exception. Both the beautiful Hallie & Lee Roy are blessed with friends & family who love them & wish them all the best. You can include me in that group. These two are so sweet & absolutely meant for each other.

Not only that, but the day was  an absolute blast, start to finish. Thank you Hallie & Lee Roy for trusting me with recording your special day.

Thanks to Sara Matthews (one of my former brides) who helped me shoot the day. The wedding was coordinated (quite nicely, I must add) by Tiege Arman & the gorgeous flowers were done by Angela Austin of Floral Design & Home Decor.

Disclosure: In the photography industry there’s been some recent controversy about photographers hiring models & staging weddings then posting them as actual weddings. So I feel like I have to explicitly say: These are real people, not models. I know you’ll look at them & think otherwise, but I assure you Tiana & Matt are an actual couple who are absolutely in love & hired me to shoot their wedding.

I’m thrilled to finally be able to post photos from this wedding that took place a mile down the road from my house in the backyard of Tiana’s mom’s Spokane Valley home. I spent an entire day being surrounded by some of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. The day went off without a hitch &  everything about the day was amazing. Thank you Tiana & Matt for the opportunity to photograph your wedding.

In addition to being one of the most beautiful brides ever & a total sweetie, Tiana’s an amazing hairstylist. She just gave new back-to-school haircuts to all the female members of the family & they all LOVE them. You should call her if you need something new.

I’m thrilled to post photos from Andrea & Brice’s wedding that took place on Brice’s parents property in Spokane Valley, Washington. It was a beautiful day & there were only a few threats of unfriendly weather (which delayed the ceremony a few minutes). It was so much fun to photograph every part of the day. I’m still convinced Brice’s dad met with photographers while designing the house because it had so many interesting angles & features that were a blast for me to play with.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt the bride & I both share appreciation for the world’s greatest band, Radiohead.

Everyone was so pleasant. Not that I was surprised about that since we’ve known Brice’s family for a while now. Even still, it always amazes me when everybody involved with a wedding is so gracious even when their stress levels may be peaking, & they have every reason not to. Yet another reason why I love being a wedding photographer.

Thanks Andrea & Brice for letting me hang out with you guys on your wedding day & letting me take some great—hopefully—photos.

This one was special because I’ve known the groom since he was just a little guy playing at my house with my youngest brother. So I was excited when he asked me to photograph his wedding because I hadn’t seen him for so long. It’s always great to see when someone grows up to be such a great person who’s loved by so many people—especially when one of those people is his sweet, sweet wife-to-be.

They were married at Heather’s uncle’s property in Kirkland, Washington overlooking a vast valley of green in a special ceremony that included Heather’s son. After which, the party started & went until it couldn’t go any more. I had a blast the whole day.

Thanks Heather & Michael for trusting me to capture your special day—I’m honored.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

The weather was beautiful. The bride was beautiful. The groom was beautiful handsome. The venue was perfect. What else could I ask for?

Not only was the bride gorgeous & terribly sweet, she basically designed most of the wedding. She has a future in wedding planning/designing. The table tops, hand made chandelier, candy, blue-dyed slip—all her doing. Also, what better place would there be to celebrate grandma’s birthday than a wedding with everybody in attendance.

I had an absolute blast (of which there’s evidence in these photos) & everybody else did too!

Big thanks to Ana Hopkins for lending me her photography skills for the day.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

Heather & Steven were married at the beautiful Bozarth Mansion in Spokane & I was lucky enough to get to come along and capture their day. I had a blast & could have stayed in each room for hours & not exhausted things to photograph (Although I would have just been exhausted since there’s no AC). It was a beautiful wedding and the bride & groom were as awesome as can be. They never stopped smiling & laughing the whole day, which makes my job pretty easy.

Congrats guys!

Thanks to Eric Strate for helping out for the day.

I’m going to make a confession.

Naomi & Sean are the first & only couple I’ve been intimidated by. Several reasons. We met at the January bridal show where Naomi booked me on the spot. I tried suggesting maybe we schedule a time for later. No go. She didn’t want me to forget about her & book her date (I was & still am incredibly flattered). Sean was the first/only person to read my contract with serious intent. I inquired. The answer, “He’s an attorney.” “Of course,” I thought. They’re both successful people & carry themselves as such. She let me know she had 2 boys that needed to be a huge part of their day & the photos would have to reflect that. Then when I asked Sean, on a scale of 1–10, what the odds were of Naomi turning in to a bridezilla, his answer was really close to 10 (he later contacted me to let me know the # was much, much lower after Naomi told him how bad a bridezilla could be).

I’m an idiot sometimes.

This is a reason why I make a huge deal out of engagement sessions. I played it cool for theirs, but inside I was pretty concerned. Instantly at their engagement session, I could tell Sean & Naomi were 2 of the sweetest people in the world and my trepidations were without merit. Like I said, I’m an idiot sometimes. I had an absolute blast at their engagement session & knew their wedding day would be no different. I was right. Sean is always looking to get a laugh. Naomi is always looking for a reason to laugh (Case in point, Sean bribed the DJ to start off the first dance with a certain Guns n Roses song, Naomi’s reaction is in the photos below). Perfect match.

Their wedding day was outstanding. I love being able to tell a story with my photos. It was all to easy with their wedding. I was able to capture so many natural, sweet moments & I think that’s what photographing weddings should be about. That, & getting some creative, butt-kickin’ photos that make it unique to them. The location, The Hayden Lake Country Club, helped with that as well. It was a gorgeous venue.

Thank you Naomi & Sean for trusting me with your day. Thanks also for being such great people.

Shout out to Eric Strate for helping out for the day.

They’ve actually been married a while but this was their big wedding since the one before was right before Jonathan went off to fight for our country. Their wedding took place at beautiful Beacon Hill in Spokane. I had a blast shooting there. So much to be creative with. Of course the water drew me near for photos—a little too near. You’ll notice the shot of my foot (as well as the shot of them laughing at my misfortune). Fortunately it was a hot day & my foot dried fast enough.

Big thanks again to Eric Strate for lending his shooting skills for the day.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

This wedding took place at Cliff Park in Spokane. Unfortunately, the city doesn’t allow events there (which is really odd because the venue is quite stunning. Fortunately, it was during Hoopfest weekend so we didn’t have to worry about city employees wandering around looking for trouble.

Josh treats Emily like a queen & she all but worships him. Let’s just say that as they read their vows to each other, I was fully convinced my cameras had a difficult time focusing (that’s the story I’m sticking to). Or as one of my daughters says, my eyes were sweating.

It also doesn’t hurt that both Emily & Josh love to laugh and have fun. Being a wedding photographer is hard work, but the truth is, with couples like this, it doesn’t really feel like work.

Also, big, big thanks to Eric Strate for lending his shooting skills for the day.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

After their private ceremony in the temple, we headed out to the grounds to take some pictures with everybody, then BriAnna & Chris headed over to a gorgeous field/forest BriAnna picked out for portraits. I could have stayed there forever playing around with the light, shadow, & textures that were there. We of course had lots of fun since these 2 are so playful & love to laugh so much.

We were blessed to get some outstanding weather too, since the weekend was bookended by some not so outstanding weather.

Big, big thanks to the awesome & incredible Kathryn Bradley for helping out & getting some great photos for the couple.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

As soon as the ceremony was over the rains came back around while we took some time taking some portraits in the truck on a country road. Thanks to little Matthew for his help with this part of the day. By then we were all wet & the rain didn’t much matter anymore. The night finished up with a p-a-r-t-y back at the house.

We had such a great time throughout the whole day. I love it when I’m not just the guy with the nice camera, but welcomed just like one of the family. This was one of those special occasions.

Thanks & congratulations Amber & Kris!

Also, big thanks to Eric Strate for his help shooting the day.

No thanks go out to the great horned owl that ran in to my car on the way home. It was huuuuuge. I’m ok with only seeing owls in the zoo from now on.

**For the best viewing experience, open up the first photo & use the left & right arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.**

Weather was the biggest concern since I had to drive through 3 different storms to get there, but fortunately the rains never showed up & we were left with a beautiful (but chilly) day. There’s not much I can say that won’t sound cheesy about how great these two & their families are (unless you know them). So just insert here all of the good things you can think about someone & double it.

I had a great time with them & appreciated Sara & Trevor’s willingness to trust me with their day (after Sara is a photographer herself). I was honored & I think I came out ahead in the deal.

For the best viewing experience, open up the photos & use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.

P.S. Their first kiss as man & wife was actually their first kiss—period. How sweet that it was captured for them to treasure & share.

Special thanks to the neighborhood kids who interrupted their birthday party to walk through my photo (several times) as I laid down in the middle of the road for the shot. Extra special thanks to Allie & Derek for trusting me enough to stand in the middle of the road as cars drove by us.

For the best viewing experience, open up the photos & use the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the photos.

Jess & Mike are an amazing couple, so very sweet & in love with each other. That always makes my job as a photographer so much easier and leads to some great photos. Plus the reception was a party!

As usual seeing dad interact with his daughter was especially touching for me. In this case, it was especially touching since Jess was the oldest of 3 girls, just as I’m the dad of three little girls (who won’t always be so little). Every time it makes me think forward to how it will be for me to have that same interaction with my own babies when they come to that point.

On with the photos…

As usual for the best viewing, open up the photos and use your arrow keys on the keyboard to navigate through the photos.

Remember, this is just a preview. I’ll have more photos coming that include some very special moments between Mike & Jess & their families.

Click the thumbnails to see…

Yup.

Air guitar.

Awesome.

Click the thumbnails to see the photos.

One of the best parts of an engagement session is getting to know the couples whom I ‘ll be photographing on their wedding day & to get those “in front of the camera” jitters out of the way. As you can probably tell, there weren’t too many jitters and we went straight away in to getting great photos. It seemed like we were buds instantly.

I had a blast with these guys. I don’t think we stopped laughing for the entire session. In fact I’d say the only time they weren’t cracking up was when I was forcing them to show their more romantic side (of course, I didn’t have to force them too much).

I can’t wait to shoot their wedding day. I have no doubt it will be an outstanding & beautiful wedding.

Many, many thanks to H + L for trusting me with their special day.

Click the thumbnails to see the photos…

These two photos really need to be seen large to be appreciated.

What a great weekend! It exceeded, not only my expectations, but my dreams as well. The booth was beautiful (more on that coming later) and ended up looking better than the design I had in my head.

Thank you to all of the future brides that I talked to over the last 2 days. Hopefully you’ll take a look around and see that we’re a good fit, if not I hope you find exactly what you’re looking for somewhere else—you deserve exactly what you want on your wedding day. If you look at my work on my websites and aren’t sure or have any questions, please send me an email on the contact page or give me a call—the sooner, the better as the dates are starting to fill up.

A very big thanks to Jamie & Regy, Justin & Nicole, & Naomi & Sean for entrusting me with your special day. I can’t wait to capture your moments.

Another thank you goes to the many vendors I got to meet at the bridal expo—especially to those I was only virtual friends with before finally meeting in person. I look forward to working with all of you.

This was one of my all time favorite sessions I’ve had because of that reason. These guys trusted everything I threw their way. They know it was my job to make them look good. I think trust goes both ways too. I trusted that they would work with what ever I threw their way and they’d just work it. Plus I trusted that they’d look as fantastic in the camera as they do outside of it.

On our way to the first location I told them that the pressure is on me when I have great looking clients, because if something goes wrong and the pictures don’t look fantastic, I don’t have any excuses. I didn’t have any excuses. Danielle mentioned that she didn’t feel terribly comfortable in front of the camera. Never has there been a person who had less reason to be uncomfortable getting photos taken. Danielle has a perfect face for photos. No offense to Cory—he can hold his own (he’s family, what am I supposed to say?), but Danielle is stunning. Fortunately, trust came in to play and 5 minutes in, they forgot about the camera and did what they do best—look good.

One of the reasons for the wedding dress shots was that they made the cardinal mistake of hiring somebody they weren’t in love with as their wedding photographer. To all of you future brides reading this, take heed. The pictures suffered because of it and they ended up with wedding photos that they don’t really enjoy. The only solution was to get the photos after the fact—I’m glad they entrusted me with that. Because of it, I took some of my favorite photos I’ve ever shot.

This also technically counts as a “Trash the Dress” session. Notice they didn’t really ruin the dress, they just made the photos the priority rather than keeping the dress immaculate.

After covering my camera—and feet in ocean water and sand (you can tell my camera is wet in the left side of photo #5. See the softness around her dress—wet lens. Also you can see the fog/rain in the atmosphere behind Cory’s head) we headed back so they could change and take some head shots before heading out to the bridge. We only got to shoot a few minutes since the rain started coming down and my lights kind of frown on that.

I hope you enjoy looking at these as much as I enjoyed making them. Cory & Danielle, You guys freaking rocked it. I’m glad I had the chance to work with you.

Thanks to Gina for her help carrying lights and holding them down so they didn’t blow away on this wet & windy day.