Smith Rock Engagement Session | Oregon Wedding Photographer | Manuelle & Tanya

I’m going to cut straight to the chase, Manuelle and Tanya were on FIRE for their final Smith Rock engagement session. (Back story, we did one for every season so they could have a beautiful canvas gallery of each one!) Originally we had planned for an epic, snowy hike up Mount Hood but the oddly warm winter prevented that. These two are down for anything though and trusted my suggestion of Smith Rock instead. So we packed up the truck and off we went for a mini road trip.

This was all of our first times here and we could see what all the talk was about. Smith Rock is breathtaking. There were joggers and families all around and if you looked hard enough, you could see climbers high up on the rock. We all had a great feeling about it and were so excited to get started after the long drive.

Tanya was inspired by Melanie’s portrait session last winter (Check it out here), and commissioned Melanie for her custom dress. There is a subtle deep red body and full lace overlay, as well as a gorgeous train. It was so fun every time she came over for a fitting, the three of us can just talk for hours. Every stage of planning this session was a blast. They had already went all out for it on their clothing and location, so I decided to add an extra element and went and made a surprise rose bouquet for Tanya to tie it all together.

As beautiful as it all was, the stars of the show are Manuelle and Tanya themselves. Manuelle has been a close friend of mine for several years and they make an amazing couple. These two have hearts of gold and I’m thankful to be there as their photographer and friend. I know I’ll be seeing a lot more of them after the wedding to. I’m so happy for them and I can’t wait for their wedding in May!