Ali and I initially connected thanks to my blog and some mutual friends. She happened to read a post I wrote last year where I mentioned I didn’t love our wedding photos, and that compelled her to reach out to me (which was so sweet). Don’t get me wrong, our wedding photos are fine, but seeing as we got married when I was 22 and before I started blogging/joined Pinterest, I really didn’t have too much of an idea of what to look for in a photographer. Our wedding was beautiful and we do have some nice photos from the day, but if I had it to do over again, I would have definitely picked a photographer with a more personal approach and a more refined style…so someone like Ali!
Our wedding photos represent who we were when we got married, which is nice… but a lot has happened in the past five years! In that time, we’ve changed and grown, both as a couple and as individuals. This anniversary seemed like the perfect opportunity to do something to pay tribute to where we’re at in our lives today, especially seeing as we’re about to embark on a new adventure of becoming parents. Taking photos with Ali was such a wonderful way to mark the end of this chapter as a family of two before we become a family three later this year! Plus, I was really glad that we were able to take them early on in my pregnancy while I still look like my “normal” self vs. having it be a maternity shoot…but don’t worry, we’ve still got plenty of time for that later 😉
Ali did a fantastic job of capturing Cam and I as a couple, but what I really love is that she was able to incorporate the city of Portland into the images as well. Moving here is the culmination of how far we’ve come, both literally and figuratively, over the past five years and so having Portland is the backdrop for these photos is especially meaningful. Another thing that is really cool is that Ali actually shot the majority of these images in film and I think the results are incredibly timeless.
So after much further adieu, let’s get to the photos! I had the hardest time trying to narrow down which ones to include in today’s post…and so I decided just to share a bunch 🙂
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PS: I also have to give a very special thanks to Jessica Belknap for doing my hair and makeup for these photos! She is such a sweetheart and super talented! She actually came to my house the day of the shoot, and did a fabulous job of making me look my best for these photos. I’d highly recommend her if you’re looking for an amazing makeup artist here in Portland!
