The first time I met Dan and Veronica I knew that they were a couple who loved to have fun, laugh and enjoy life. These two are full of life and have a great sense of humor! We met as a result of an online competition for a free engagement session, they were one of the lucky couples who we picked! We didn’t just pick anyone, we picked couples that we knew were adventurous and would appreciate an epic engagement session.

So around April this year, amidst the chaos of COVID-19, we headed to Manzanita to do their engagement session on the cliffs and down on the gorgeous sandy beaches.

When you offer a freebie there are definitely no strings attached so when we finished our shoot and I sent them their photos I wasn’t sure if I would get the chance to work with them for their wedding.

To be completely honest, Dan and Veronica were not even planning to have their wedding in Astoria but were going to have their wedding elsewhere so their friends and families could come together and celebrate with them. The ever changing circumstances of the pandemic and the rules attendant to it left Dan and Veronica in a state of limbo for a while as to whether they could have a large wedding or not. So once it was certain that no large gatherings would be happening in the near future Veronica reached out to me asking if I could photograph their small intimate wedding and it was like music to my ears to get a chance to work with them again.

If anyone could handle the constant changes of the COVID-19 regulations these two could. Why? They are some of the most positive people I have met!! With every change they made adjustments and figured out how to get married no matter what! Most ordinary people would have decided to throw in the towel but not Dan and Veronica, they were destined to get married this year and they did! Not in front of a crowd of 100s of people but in a gorgeous venue in downtown Astoria with some of their closest friends and on Facebook Live so all their family could be there too!

So on the 6th of September I jumped in my Jeep, grabbed my favorite drinks - Townsend Kombucha - for the ride, put on some educational podcasts and hit the road!

It was a perfect summer day in Oregon and meant that the coast would be rain free - good news!

I arrived at the Norblad Hotel in downtown Astoria and welcomed by Veronica with smiles and laughter. I love getting to work right away on the details and Veronica had picked the best hotel room for it! We send out a wedding magazine to all our couples and stress how important natural light is and she took it to heart and picked a room that was all windows - natural light was flooding in from all angles! How perfect!

Immediately after bridal portraits with Veronica - absolutely stunning bride by the way - I headed straight over to The Ruins in Astoria to hang out with guys while they got ready!

Once Dan was ready it was time for the first look. I could tell Dan was excited to see his bride for the first time! Veronica snuck up behind him, gave him a tap on the shoulder and he turned around . . . Dan was beaming and I knew that he was the happiest guy in the world right then! For the next 5 minutes they embraced each other and enjoyed each other! First looks are so special because it is just the two of you in your own world for just that moment!

The Ruins in Astoria is an old historical building which was built in 1921 and recently restored to some degree. I say to some degree because there are portions of the building which seem as if the building was simply under construction or completely abandoned! This is what gives it so much charm and a perfect place for some fun natural light photos! We had fun doing bridal portraits with their pup Vesper! Vesper was the perfect dog to take photos with as he would sit and look at the camera, well, almost all the time except when the camera would reflect light onto the floor and walls. This was too much and we lost Vesper’s attention and he would run off in all directions trying to get the “light that can never be gotten.”

As 5pm was drawing nearer it was time to get to the ceremony space and start the weddings Facebook Live! Within 10 minutes everyone was online and tuned in so the ceremony could start. Even though it was just Dan, Veronica and a few of their close friends you could tell that it didn’t matter to Dan and Veronica as what was most important was that they were together, you can tell by the huge smiles on their faces as they stand together moments before being husband and wife!

One of their good friends was the officiant who was also a helicopter pilot for the Coast Guard. He performed an absolutely beautiful ceremony for the couple and pronounced them husband and wife whereupon they embraced each other for the first time!

Following the ceremony was champagne, cake and pizza from a local spot in Astoria! Nothing crazy but 6 good friends hanging out together enjoying a Saturday afternoon.

One could consider the circumstances in the world to have ruined a potential wedding day but I don’t. It is all a matter of perspective and when you see just how happy these two make each other you will see they would have gotten married no matter what the circumstances because that is the power of real love.