Amelia & Devin | A Front Yard Wedding in Portland, Oregon
We didn't know until the night before.
Portland's COVID restrictions were shifting week by week in 2020, and right up to the eve of Amelia and Devin's wedding day, nobody could say for certain that it was going to happen. It happened. In their front yard, in the sun, with a white pergola arch draped in blue and green, mason jar bouquets lining the aisle, masks on, hearts open.
Amelia's brother Austin officiated. You might recognize him — I photographed his own wedding too, which you can see here. He stood under that arch with a microphone and married his sister with everything he had, and it was beautiful.
An iPad on a tripod beamed the ceremony out to everyone who couldn't be there in person. Friends and family tuned in from wherever they were, watching a front lawn in Portland become something sacred.
After it was over, the guests who couldn't come because of group size restrictions showed up anyway — in their cars. They drove past the house, honking and cheering and holding up signs. One of them was Amelia's dear friend Allie, whose own wedding I photographed at Gorge Retreat in the Columbia River Gorge — you can see that here. The sign she was holding read: "We're so happy for you both! We ♥ you! #hingelove." Amelia stood in the street in her wedding dress, grinning, the headlights of the car glowing behind her. That image is everything.
When the parade ended, they moved to the backyard for dinner — catered by Screen Door, Portland's beloved Southern brunch institution. Green bean and yellow wax bean salad, roasted broccoli, Sauvie Island farm greens, buttermilk battered fried chicken, mashed potatoes with tasso gravy, cornbread. On a wedding day in a pandemic. They did not cut corners.
As the evening wound down, I walked with Amelia and Devin to a nearby park. The light at that hour was extraordinary — that wide, golden, end-of-summer Pacific Northwest light that stretches across open fields and turns everything warm. Devin held her, and she leaned into him, and they both just were. That's the portrait that will outlast everything else from that day.
I want to say something about Amelia, specifically. She is radiant — fully, completely, unapologetically herself in front of a camera, which is the most wonderful thing to work with as a photographer. Every body is a wedding body, and hers was no exception. The images speak for themselves.
COVID asked a lot of couples that year. Amelia and Devin gave it exactly as much as it deserved — a front yard, a pergola, a Screen Door menu, a car parade, and a sunset that didn't ask anyone's permission. They got married anyway. That's the whole story.
Looking for an inclusive, body-positive wedding photographer in Portland? Someone who will photograph you exactly as you are, with intention and care? Let's connect.
Portland Oregon wedding photographer, COVID wedding Portland, backyard wedding Portland Oregon, intimate wedding Portland, inclusive wedding photographer Portland, plus size bride wedding photos Portland, Black couple wedding photos Oregon, front yard wedding Portland, Screen Door catering wedding Portland, Rare Day Photo intimate wedding, Portland small wedding photographer, body positive wedding photographer Oregon
