Portland and Seattle Luxury, High-End Wedding Photography

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Sydney + Kyle

A Gorgeous Wedding at Cedarville Lodge in Gresham, OR


Man, these two! I just love them, there’s no ifs ands or buts about it!

I met Sydney after connecting through The Knot and enjoying a video-chat meet and greet where I just loved the relationship these two have created together. They’ve been through it all together and each time life throws new challenges their way, they come out of it stronger, together.

Kyle and Sydney fell in love with Cedarville Lodge out in Gresham, loving the stunning acreage of all cedars casting cool shadows down on the little stream that flows on the outskirts of the lodge estate.

Kyle, Sydney and I enjoyed a walk-through of this location earlier in the summer and it was a joy on this, their wedding day, to arrive and see all the plans they had back during our walk-through come to life.

While Dom headed straight to the lodge, I made a stop at Sydney’s hotel suite where she and her bridesmaids were putting on the final touches to their wedding day looks. Sydney’s chosen wedding look for her hairstyle was a romantic braid cascading over one shoulder and adorned with flowers.

Sydney’s wedding day jewelry only added to the romance of her overall look, having chosen an antique-style necklace and bracelet and large dangling earrings that were sure to sparkle in the light of the sunny day we had ahead of us.

After hair and makeup were concluded we all drove over to Cedarville Lodge where Dom was just finishing up on the portraits of Kyle and his parents. We got Sydney tucked away into the back bridal suite as the activities in the main lodge were in full swing.

It seemed like every single person at Kyle and Sydney’s wedding helped out whether it was with the actual prepping of food, placing of table cloths, setting up the rung toss and nerf gun shooting gallery station or placing the petals adorning the aisle-way of the ceremony. It was lovely to see so many people work together to bring this beautiful day of celebration to life.

While the girls finished getting ready, Kyle opened a gift from Sydney which included hundreds of hand-written love notes, a nod to a previous time in their relationship where life had brought them several hardships they had to weather together, but at the end Sydney gifted Kyle a jar with 365 love notes, one for every day of that difficult year.

Sydney was helped on with her dress by her bridesmaid and her mom and then spend a few minutes with last-minute touch ups before Dom placed Kyle out by one of the young cedar trees, blindfolded so he wouldn’t be tempted to peek as Sydney walked over and took her place on the opposite side of the tree.

Sharing a “first touch” you could see that just being within hands reach of each other took all the nerves and replaced them with the calming presence of their love.

Laughing as I added a blindfold to Sydney, she and Kyle turned toward each other and exchanged a secret handshake, laughing as they attempted to do so while blindfolded.

After this touching moment, Sydney was tucked back into hiding and guests started arriving and filling up the seats in the ceremony glenn.

The DJ struck up music and everyone took their places as Sydney’s uncle took his place under the refurbished arbor Kyle and Sydney had made for this special occasion.

As one by one the wedding party made their way down the aisle, unexpected emotion came over Kyle and as he and his brother embraced I don’t think there was a dry eye in the whole space!

Sydney came, escorted by her father. an absolute vision to behold. As her hand was passed to Kyle her uncle began with a ceremony which was both touching and provided a little comical relief with a few jokes tossed in, as is his signature style.

Kyle and Sydney exchanged vows and with tear-stained cheeks they shared their first kiss as husband and wife!

After a joyful exit from the ceremony space, we enjoyed a bit of time taking photos with family and then Kyle and Sydney escaped for a little along time while guests enjoyed delicious appetizers and cocktails.

As dinner was readied, guests started heading inside and Kyle and Sydney made their grand entrance, moving straight into an epic First Dance that even had a dip at the end to top it off!

We snuck outside to take advantage of the golden hour rays of sun filtering though the cedars and then returned to enjoy the rest of the reception which included tons of amazing dancing, The Shoe Game and an epic dessert and build-your-own cupcake and sundae bar!

It was such a beautiful wedding day and Dom and I both feel so lucky to have been a part of it!

Take a look at the joyful images below and be sure to leave Kyle and Sydney a comment of congrats in the comments section below!