Cardas Photography {PhotoBlog}

Tiffany and Nick are married!!

I couldn't ask for a nicer group of people to spend a Saturday with!  A hot, humid Saturday - but still! :) The wedding was held at the beautiful Riverside Church of God in Cottage Grove.

Tiffany and Nick opted to have a private first meeting.

I LOVE this first look - it totally makes my day :)

Ninety some odd degrees and 80 something percent humidity does not make for a happy groom in a ten pound black tuxedo - sorry Nick!!  But I love the results!

Tiffany and her gorgeous girls:

I LOVE conversation hearts - and these were wedding themed!

First Dance

Thank you so much you two!  I hope the Cayman Islands were fantastic!!

Happy Anniversary!

To my husband - four years ago today we were getting married in my parents front yard in Bandon Oregon! 

Brandon and Tricia are engaged!!

A few weeks back I stayed at the Hilton in Downtown Vancouver.  Everywhere I looked I saw a photograph!  Knowing that Tricia and Brandon lived here, I was SO hoping they would want to shoot their engagement session here!  And they did! 

These two are so awesome - when I said I wanted to get a shot in front of the "Welcome to Vancouver" sign they said "cool!"  I was thinking this one - easy walk - right in town.  Each of them thought something completely different, Brandon was envisioning one right on the freeway and thought we were going to be dodging traffic for the shot!  That is a good sign for me! Thinking the worst and willing to go along with it anyway!  I love that!!!

They were also willing to indulge my love of Willie Nelson for this one:

I am loving the summer light right now - the long shadows and the warm light are awesome - these were taken at nearly 8:00!

As always, I had too many favorites!  You can see more from the session >>>HERE<<<

Thank you so much you guys!  I am SO looking forward to your wedding in less than two weeks!!

Playing Catch up!

OK - its been a long month!  Four weddings (one of them over 600 miles away), a week long workshop that I not only taught at but also compiled and printed the 80 page report for each of the 60 attendees, and started working for the Habitat for Humanity - in my voluminous spare time! LOL

 

So I will have quite a few posts coming up including last weeks adventure in Eugene, Tiffany and Nick's fabulous wedding in Cottage Grove, and an engagement shoot scheduled for tomorrow!  So keep an eye out!

First up - last weekend in Salem!  My brother-in-law Tay Hunt was a professional skateboarder back in the day.  Proving that he can still shred - he competed at The State Games of Oregon skateboard competition and got 1st place in one event and 2nd in another!  The event was held on the Derby Hill in Bush's Pasture Park.

I am playing around with the processing on these - stuff like this doesn't usually work for girls in beautiful white dresses! :)

 

 

Nicole and Spencer are married!

What can I say about these two?  They oooze sweetness and love - seriously!  Nicole (Nikki to her Hawaiian friends and Kaui to her Oregon ones) moved to Oregon from Hawaii to go to Eastern Oregon State University - they met there their freshman year and have been together ever since!

They were married at Grace Bible Fellowship in Albany.  The place was packed!  Family and friends came from all over - their pastor came from Eastern Oregon, and her family and friends came in from Hawaii! It was truly a beautiful day for the first day of Summer!

The girls got ready at the churches beautiful facility - it was a gorgeous room - closer to a hotel room than a churches back room :)

Kaui and Spencer opted for a "First Look" before the ceremony - I love this!!  Its so special and fun for me to direct this - I got a few shots and then hustled out to let them be alone for a few minutes before we started pictures.  I practically knocked over their mothers on my way out as they tried to catch a peek inside :)

Then a few shots outside - seriously - how gorgeous is she?

After the ceremony we went over to Linn Benton Community College for the reception. Their first dance:

And then a few more outside before they were off to their honeymoon and another wedding reception for their families and friends in Hawaii.

I hope you two have an amazing time in Hawaii!! Thank you so much for allowing me to capture your special day!

Nicole and Spencer

I can't wait to see what an amazing bride Nicole is going to be!!

Sonia and Mitch are married!!

Wow - its all I have to say.  I have such an awesome job.  I mean really - how often do you show up somewhere, walk up to a group of people you don't know and have never met, and start getting hugs? I love it!

Sonia and Mitch are two of the nicest people ever - and their families and friends are just as cool!  I started off the day with the girls, getting ready at Spa on the Plaza at the Portola Plaza in downtown Monterey.  It was so beautiful!  I would have loved to have a getting ready spot like this with my bridesmaids!  They got mani's, pedi's, hair and makeup done - while sipping champagne and lounging in a beautiful suite overlooking the plaza.

This is Sonia's stunning sister Alda - can you believe those are her real eyelashes?  Jealous!! She had never curled them before!

Its always a group effort to get into the dress!

Around this time Traci got to hang out with the guys in the limousine - her first ride in one! :)

Then it was off to get married!! The setting was beautiful - Sonia had wanted to get married at Lover's Point Park since she was a little girl!  Such a beautiful spot!

MARRIED!!

Sometimes this is the only way to get the flower girl in the group shots... :)

I usually ask the bride - "How brave are you?"  Sonia gave my favorite answer - "Very!!"  So it was down to rocks we went!

Then it was off to the reception at Gilbert's Seafood Grill at Fisherman's Wharf.

Thank you both so much for trusting me to capture your amazing day.  I hope the trip back to Tuscon was a safe one!

Bridal Prep: Spa on the Plaza Monterey Ca

Makeup: Vanessa Leandro

Location: Lovers Point Park Monterey California

Reception: Gilbert's Seafood Grill Restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf

Sonia and Mitch - Sneaky Peeky

So tired... what an amazing day!!! More on Monday!

Back in California!

After leaving home at 5:30am Thursday - we are in Monterey for Mitch and Sonia's wedding!  I was so excited to meet them both today!  Have I said how much I love the internet?  Sonia and Mitch live in Arizona and today was the first time I got to meet them! Sonia was recommended to me by her friend Lori who I know through a scrapbooking website of all places!  Lori posted that her friend was getting married and needed a photographer - and voila! Here we all are today!

My best friend Traci, (who lives in the Sacramento area now) Josh and I and his cousin Jared spent the early afternoon at the wharf in Monterey hanging out, eating and just being tourists! It was SO fun!!  I posted some pictures from today >>>HERE<<< Just some fun shots - I forget to take pictures for myself most of the time - so I actually remembered to do it today!

I am so looking forward to the wedding tomorrow at Lover's Point Park! More on Monday!

Tim and Jan are married!!

Photo overload warning... As I process weddings I try to grab a few pictures
that grab my eye as I go through them to post here on the blog.
For this wedding - I finally had to make myself stop!!  There were way
too many - you would be here all day looking at Tim and Jan's wedding pictures.

Now - I am the first to admit - I am kind of a hopeless romantic - probably why I LOVE
weddings so much.  I usually tear up once or twice during the ceremony, and then again
during the father daughter dance.  But this wedding was something completely different. 
I was hiding behind my camera several times, and my lip was raw from biting it! Jan is
leaving her family and everything she knows in Alberta Canada to join Tim and his family
in Corvallis - and this was a beautiful send off. Truly a start of a new life for her, but also a
joining of two amazing families.

O & L Gardens was the perfect backdrop for the wedding. The skies threatened
to rain down all morning, but once the ceremony began there wasn't a drop to be
seen for the rest of the day.

I love this first look of "Oh my gosh!  We're really married!" after the ceremony.

 

This picture sums up the whole day for me.  Tear filled eyes, but a huge smile on every face as well.

I hope Hawaii was fantastic!  Thank you for having me be a part of your day!

Venue: O & L Nofziger Gardens Farm

Catering: Spice Islands Catering - Corvallis Oregon

Flowers: Penguin Flowers - Corvallis Oregon