Recent Adventures at alyson levy PHOTOGRAPHY
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Weddings
Ryan and Jordan’s beautiful Langdon Farms wedding was a long time coming, but so worth the wait! It was so lovely to return to shooting big weddings after a looong hiatus, and I definitely wasn’t the only one excited to be back. It was so great to see these two families come together and celebrate after delays and rescheduling.
Man, did I miss spending time with people on their wedding days! Emily and Fred came to Portland to get married a few weeks ago with their closest friends in attendance. After a few false starts (damn you, Portland bridges!), we got together on the waterfront to take some pictures beforehand, and then headed to the Nines for their small ceremony with the lovely Rev. Cathy Hume. . .
Sally and Ben had one of the most intimate wedding ceremonies I’ve ever been a part of - I was not only the photographer, but one of their two witnesses as well. And that was it - two witnesses, the happy couple, and their officiant, my lovely friend Maureen Haley. Like me, Sally and Ben love how simultaneously grand and intimate Oaks Pioneer Church in Sellwood is, so they made plans to have their elopement ceremony there on a lovely Tuesday evening. After a very heartfelt ceremony, we took some portraits in the church and in Sellwood Park, just down the street. It was a really lovely and special event, and I was so happy to be a part of it!
It’s pretty obvious that the global pandemic we’re all currently living through threw a wrench in the plans of a lot of couples this year. Some rescheduled, some downsized, some made different plans entirely. Sarvesh and Natalie were no exception - their big, cross-cultural wedding weekend became a small family affair in her parents’ living room. They already had these beautiful wedding clothes, though, so we decided to take some wedding portraits and make an album to commemorate the occasion. . .
Well, this post is different from my normal wedding photography posts in one very important way: I wasn’t the official wedding photographer! I traveled to Santorini, Greece last year for the wedding of my friends Haley and Dustin, and it was so amazing, I just had to share the photos. The images look really different (at least to me), because they’re taken with my travel camera (the compact and fantastic Fujifilm XT-30) rather than my usual professional gear. And the content is different too, since instead of making the rounds of all the wedding guests, most of these photos are of my lovely friends being goofy or pretending to be fashion models. . .
Elder Hall is probably my favorite Portland venue for an intimate wedding. It’s super cozy and really homey (if your home is adorably and thoughtfully decorated and has a big, beautiful fireplace). So I was really excited to shoot this tiny wedding with Josh and Jessica and their families. Especially with the frequent protests-about-all-the-kissing and the occasional photo-bomb from Jessica’s two adorable daughters. . .
Perhaps the highest compliment you could possibly pay me is contacting me to photograph your wedding before you even have a date for your wedding. That’s what John and Paulina did - I got an email from them back in 2018 when they were in the very early stages of their wedding planning and we’ve been in touch ever since. We had a beautiful engagement session last summer at Cape Kiwanda (one of my favorite spots on the Oregon Coast), but plans for the big day remained in flux. And then, as if by providence, the plan for this lovely intimate elopement came flying together at the end of February - they wanted to get married on Leap Day. . .
Always so great to be back photographing a wedding at Zenith Vineyard! No matter the season this stunning venue always provides an abundance of gorgeous spots for taking classically beautiful photos with the bride and groom. Rebecca and Tyler were lucky to have perfect weather for their September wedding, and we took full advantage of it for their wedding portraits. Everyone got to enjoy the lovely fall colors of the vineyard behind their heartfelt ceremony, and then we all went inside to party as the sun went down and the air got chillier. We really couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day. . .
