kara & austin are buckets of fun. not just one bucket. buckets of fun. i have fond memories of these two, even when it comes to booking their wedding. kara emailed me the week she got engaged just so stoked about my work, knowing i needed to be her photographer. always such an honour when a bride emails me so sold on what i do and my vision! i remember the first time we talked on the phone about finalizing the booking for her portland wedding i was actually strolling through central park in new york. romantic, right?! :)

kara and i have been emailing regularly for almost the past year and i’ve loved getting to know both her and austin through our emails. their engagement session was full of laughter and great style: knew their wedding would be no different. i cherished the opportunity to shoot in a new city and there was no venue more fitting for these two than the governer hotel in downtown portland. i was so welcomed by their family and it was such a treat to be there. felt so blessed. kara’s sister and i were chatting at the reception and i really felt the incredible LOVE their family has for one another. the entire bridal party was family: that’s what they are all about. family. their day was a celebration of all the people in kara + austin’s life that have supported these two and encouraged their love and now their marriage.

a few other details i loved about the day: kara’s shoes. kara is ridiculous! look at those heels–she wore them all day. standing for an hour in the ceremony, walking around the city for portraits, dancing during the reception. she didn’t kick them off once. i also loved that kara had four dresses: three of which i photographed (one was for the tea ceremony in the morning.) ohhh and kara+austin had the best surprise for their guests. after a slow, typical first dance to jason mraz’s “lucky” they busted out a move. multiple moves, in fact. they created a remix of songs (probably 15 in total?) and did the most hilarious choreographed dance together. loved it. personality galore. the evening finished off with a bunch of their friends + all the kids at the wedding dancing to black eyed peas, a la oprah. smiles all around. so much love to you both, kara and austin! enjoy the photos.

to see more of kara+austin’s the governor hotel wedding in portland, oregon CLICK HERE for a slideshow!

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it’s the thirty-first day of the month of august. it’s pouring rain outside. the first good pour we’ve had in a while. the kind of rain that has already started by the time i wake and the kind of rain that will continue tonight as i sleep. this weather makes me happy. in a unexplainable, inspired way. the summer is coming to a close and although many are lamenting that fact, i’m thrilled. the end of summer means looking back on the past few months with satisfied accomplishment: so much work, so much to show for it. great feeling. the end of summer means autumn approaches. autumn means days upon days upon days of drizzling vancouver rain and a slower schedule for me. i adore the rain.

this weekend i road-tripped to portland with three of my greatest friends: bethany, kelsey & shauneille. we had “soooooo many funs!” — way too many jokes and stories and anecdotes to tell. there are few things i love more than open highways and we had hours of that very thing. beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. i love the northwest. give me bellingham, give me seattle, give me portland: i’d be happy for life. i came home last night in a hyper mess and i think i’m gonna need a week to recover from all this fun. i’m exhausted but this rain is exactly what i needed. today has been all about mumford & sons on repeat, spending too much money on americanos, plaid shirts from buffalo exchange, my favourite pair of blue toms and favourite gray berets. perf.

yet again another post that i’ve been wanting to write for weeks! truly, months? i think i shot these near the beginning of june. if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you would have known that i’ve been a youth leader at my church ever since i graduated high school. in grade twelve, i was a student leader and then the years before that i was happily attending youth group every friday night. ;) i have cherished my time as a youth leader. part of our responsibilities were being there every friday night and setting up for the worship service. afterwards we’d talk and hang out with a bunch of wonderful kids. during the week there were lifegroups that went on all over for different age groups.

a lifegroup is a small community group for girls and guys (separately) of a similar age to get together weekly with a leader and talk about life. i remember loving my lifegroup when i was a youth. when i became a youth leader two years ago, i was handed a group of beautiful grade ten and eleven girls. the second year of leading, it was just grade eleven girls. we’d meet every tuesday in my co-leader amanda’s basement suite and talk about boysssss and love and life and jesus and what he’s showing us through the bible. some weeks we’d have a massive dance party and call it good. i loved it. so much. in february of this year, i felt the Lord really strongly calling me to move churches. i knew in my heart where i needed to be, the church i needed to get involved with. the hardest thing was saying goodbye to all of my pastors, fellow youth leaders and most importantly, these girls. i officially “stepped down” from being a youth leader in june and… i miss these girls! i made it out to one evening of their youth camp this august and got to see them all and hug them all and i quite enjoyed that.

here’s to your futures, girls. i know you are all going to have a beautiful grade 12 year: so much fun stuff lies ahead! i can’t wait to read about it on facebook. ;) you know i love you to the moon and back. love, JDP. (p.s. we pulled off a few self-timer shots, so i make a couple appearances. a couple of these girls took a photography class in high school and had fun trying out my camera. they did well!)