So Many Moments Blog

You’re engaged! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Having been a bride recently myself, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite tips for keeping yourself inspired (& sane) while you design, plan, and create your wedding day celebration.

• Stay organized. Start a ‘wedding binder’ with separate sections for your guest lists, creative ideas, financial breakdown, and important vendor contracts.

• To give your party a color theme and direction,  collect images and things that you like to create an inspiration board. In the digital realm, pintrest is a great tool for this.

• Share your ideas and get feedback; bridal party members and family love this as it makes them feel included.

• Do not do things just because it’s how it’s “supposed” to be. Let your celebration be a reflection of who you are as a couple and what makes sense to you and your fiancé personally. Creating your own traditions can be very romantic.

• Don’t ever forget to have FUN with it all. If you’re feeling stressed out, let yourself take a break for a few days.

• Get really comfortable with your personal style and expressing it by experimenting and being open to new things.

• Talk to your parents or married friends about their weddings; ask them what was really important and memorable after all was said and done.

• Take risks! You only get to throw this party once, be unique!

• Make sure you hire professional vendors you like, as they’ll be around all day.

• Check online reviews on WeddingWire and contact previous clients to ask about their experiences with your vendors. For photographers, (if you haven’t already hired me at SoManyMoments.com!) the WPJA is a wonderful resource for finding the best of the best.

• Take your fiancé on a date before the wedding with the only rule being NOT to talk at all about the wedding.

• Enjoy every moment of being engaged. It’s such a gift you’ve found someone so perfect for you, and you’re planning a party where all of the people you love most will gather aroundto wish you nothing but the best. Try to remember that this is what this is all about. <3

Matt and I couldn’t have dreamed up a better way to kick off the 2012 wedding photography season then on a cruise to the Bahamas!

Carol and Jonathan were are such an incredible couple to spend a long weekend with and all of their friends and family were just as awesome. The festivities began with the legal ceremony over dinner in Miami the night before we set sail and commenced with a more traditional ceremony and reception on board in the Bahamas. Three full days of sunshine, teal blue water, and excessive eating and you have yourself a recipe for lots of laughter and two very happy photographers!

I don’t think the smiles left our faces all weekend, and with our cameras in tow much of the time, we caught a lot of the action! With so many photos from the weekend, it’s difficult to chose which to share so this is just as assortment of favorites and then I’ll post up loads more photos on the So Many Moments Facebook page soon! Please, check it out and, if you were there, be sure to tag yourself and your buddies too!

Photography: So Many Moments, Samantha & Matthew Moore

Coordinator: Pam Jarvis

Miami Venue: Tony Chan’s

Bahamas Cruise: Norweign Sky

I learned a lot in 2011. And many of those things were discovered while renovating the old location of Little Things into the new So Many Moments photography office! From refinishing the walls with joint compound, to laying my floor, and the giant stencil I did on the back wall, it was all a labor of love. Matt was happy to help me with sanding down the walls, which was a terrific help! And the back wall was inspired by stylish and HELPFUL designer Courtney Out Loud.  I’m so happy in my new little nest, and love working from here. You can hardly tell it’s just a garage anymore!

I can’t wait to see all of the photos I’ll edit here in 2012. Oh, and I adore distractions, so random visitors please, swing on by to see it for yourself next time you’re in NW Portland!

‘Tis the season to be celebrate our families! Our friend Jesse had his brother and his brother’s wife in town from Arizona, so his parents thought it the perfect opportunity to get a few photos of them all together. It was a beautiful crisp morning in St.John’s and the Adams family was a joy to spend it with. When we came upon a row of trees with some of the bright yellow leaves yet to fall, the “kids” were happy to dive in and play to break up the traditional portrait pairings.

I think it’s so important we document our time together with loved ones, at every age. I’m inspired by the Adams family to take the time on our next trip to Florida in January to wrangle our parents together for family portraits as well.

This first time we met, Michelle told me this fantastic story about her first trip to Greece. She went alone after college, and fell in love immediately. She told me it was the most romantic place she’d ever been, and how she had vowed to herself not to return until she was getting married there. Cue in lucky Mr.Sam and her dreams became reality.

While I’ll likely regret not going with them to take their wedding photos for… FOREVER, I was very happy to take the photos of their reception dinner once they got back. They choose the library at the Portland Art Museum to wine and dine a few of their favorite friends and family. They also had some incredible photos to share from their big trip!

Michelle was a dream bride to work with. She was super excitable, always smiling, and supremely organized. Certainly my first bride to ever bring a power point presentations to a meeting! But, even with all of her type-A tendencies, she was more then capable of just relaxing and have a great time. She and Sam were such a joy to work with, and Matt and I wish them all the best!

Photography by Samantha and Matthew Moore of So Many Moments

Lacey had a brilliant idea for her grandmother’s Christmas present this year. A photograph with her brother Eric and cousin Belinda holding a photograph of their late grandfather. We chose what used to be her grandmother’s backyard for the location, and to add even more significance to the session used their grandfather’s old tractor for the shot with the photograph. It was a lovely, chilly afternoon and I had a great time photographing them as they goofed off together. They’re such a lovely family! I think it’s so important that we take the time to photograph our loved ones. And what a thoughtful gift. Fingers crossed for Grandma’s approval!

It was such a treat to have the opportunity to take both Chris & Dan’s engagement photos and wedding photos! This couple is just so super cool. They’re laid back, in love, and know how to have a good time: what more do you need for a fantastic wedding?

I knew when the day began with the bride rocking out pop dance music with her girlfriends getting ready, it was going to be a really fun day. I don’t think the smiles ever left their faces. It’s so awesome to see a couple really just ENJOY their big day. It can be so stressful, I know it was for me personally, so I really admired their ROLL WITH IT attitude. The venue was beautiful, the details thoughtfully planned, and the party went late into the night. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Photography: So Many Moments (Samantha and Matthew Moore)

Venue: Abernethy Center

Flowers: Floral Designs by Alicia

Garters & Flower Pillow: Moonspun Designs (Dan’s mom!)

Matt and I were on the road again for our next wedding celebration, this time to Walla Walla, WA: a place so nice they named it twice! We met Kelsey skiing with some friends last year and when it came time to hunt down a photographer for his beautiful wedding, we were so happy he thought of us!

Kelsey and Sheri really love black and white photographs, so originally I planned for their post to be entirely in black and white. But, apparently I’m just too addicted to color to convert them all! What is really neat about shooting digitally is that we will be able to give them all of our favorites in both color AND in black and white, so they can choose how they like them best.

Kelsey and Sheri are so sweet and welcoming; we had such a blast at this wedding. We stayed late into the night after we were through shooting to celebrate, and I’m so glad we did because we caught a few shots of friends having a really good time! We even got invited to join them for a beer the night before at a local pub, and Matt took a quick group shot of Kelsey with his friends and family from places near and far. Over all, it was a very memorable weekend and a wonderful wedding!

Photography by Samantha and Matthew Moore