Photoshoot in your wedding dress, YES! -Sedona Seattle Couple’s Photographer

These two are such amazing people. I love a story when true love finds it’s way to your heart.

I met Katherine at Pasado’s animal sanctuary where she was working at the time. I love to visit animal sanctuaries and donate photos for them to use for auctions, social media, calendars- ect. Katherine was showing me around and I liked her right away. We talked about animals and animal rights for hours. At my car- as I was leaving we talked another 45 minutes. Basically, fast friends! She said she was about to get married and she wished we would have met sooner so that I could be her photographer.(how sweet) Turns out, after the wedding was over she still felt the same way and was pretty sad about her wedding photos. She asked me if I would do a little session in their wedding attire- and I was elated! I have her tell the story in her own words below.

This love story-and the reason this wedding dress was so special it needed to be captured. Take it away Katherine!

“Peter and I met right at the beginning of the world closing in 2020. 

We were each in our own safety bubble and felt comfortable to starting going on hikes. Our first date ended up being a 6 hour walk where we saw owls, a bald eagle, geese, and beavers. We hiked all over Shenandoah National Park and Washington/Jefferson National Forest. The greatest text ever was "do you want to do a 20 mile loop around Shenandoah?" We quickly became best friends, there was an instant connection and we both felt a comfort that we had never felt before in another person.

We got engaged on a trip to the Oregon coast while plotting our move to the PNW. It was on a rainy hike surrounded by mushrooms, moss and elk. We stayed at a cabin on Olympic National Park and celebrated with a dinner cooked over the fire. 

We had talked about eloping and getting married somewhere in the woods or on a mountain top. Our relationship had been full of hiking and camping, outside in the trees was home. We also wanted to celebrate with our family and see people we had not been able to connect with and see since the shutdown.  We ended up going with a more traditional wedding. The venue was beautiful and it was lovely to see family and friends but the day felt so stressful and I was overwhelmed. A lot of different things went wrong all along the way.

I was SO excited to get photos. I had altered my mothers wedding dress from 37 years prior! I was so excited to get some pictures with my mom and thought it would be fun to recreate a few of the photos my parents took from their wedding. My photographers were a mother/daughter team and they were arguing the whole time and taking it out on me and my family and bridesmaids as well. It made the experience uncomfortable and when I saw my photos I was disappointed in how they looked, but I also felt like I could see the stress and discomfort on my face. I didn't feel like myself and I didn't feel beautiful in the photos.

I really wanted pictures that captured how beautiful and proud I was to be wearing my mothers wedding dress while marrying my best friend.” 

Katherine ended her email to me with "I can only imagine how amazing the day would have been if you were my photographer. We had so much fun and you (and Ezme) made us so comfortable in front of the camera. I loved the pictures you captured of me with my favorite residents from Pasado's and was soooooo happy to get the pictures you took!!!”

They were really happy for me to bring my pug Ezme along for the shoot, and she ALWAYS needs to get in a photo!

Thank you SO much K+P for choosing me and for being so much fun. Our love for animals brought us together and I am forever grateful!