Woodburn Tulip Festival Engagement Portraits

Oh man, this day was wild! I had this fantastic and "super original" idea to take these two amazing people to the tulip festival for portraits. Long story short, apparently everyone in Portland and the surrounding areas had the exact same idea as we did. 
As we sat in ridiculous traffic, texting each other status updates and trying to figure out if we were even going to get to park before the place closed, I was pretty sure this whole thing was going to be a disaster (and I was feeling like such an idiot for suggesting tulips as a location idea).
I was power walking at my fastest pace,in what turned out to be a tractor lane, trying to find my clients, when this gorgeous couple yelled "Emily" out of their car window. Somehow in this craziness, we found each other by  happy accident.
Being the super suave and well-put together person that I am, I declined their offer to ride with them the rest of the way with them while they parked, and opted to sprint to the port a potty line. Spoiler alert. It wasn't a short line.  
Finally we were all three in the same place at the same time. We took a deep breath, started chatting, and after a few minutes, I stopped internally freaking out about the zillion people everywhere, the lateness, and the chaos. We found our own little quiet corner of the tulip fields, and these two told me about how they fell in love.
And you know what - the tulip place totally didn't close at 6 PM like it said it did (which is good, because I think we started pictures at about 5:45). And lighting was much better due to us running late. And the crowds started to thin out after "closing time." And it ended up being such a fun evening. 
Life. It has a funny way of not happening how you plan it. But when you find the right match, it has a pretty great way of working out. 
Congratulations, Clarissa & Danny. 
 

Willamette Valley Vineyards Proposal

Few email inquiries make me as excited as the "Hi, I'm planning to propose to my girlfriend..." ones. It's exciting stuff! This trip to Oregon was a special one for Paolo & Cara, and I love that he picked a beautiful winery at sunset to pop the question. The staff at Willamette Valley Vineyards were extremely helpful and accommodating. The weather was (mostly) cooperative too! This was by far my most awkwardly sneaky proposal. I snuck down to a private terrace and was lurking in a hallway, peeking around a corner, totally freaking out that Cara was going to see me (she didn't!) or that I would miss the actual proposal because I wasn't peeking often enough (also didn't!).
It was super windy, and in order for Paolo to propose (without wine glass in hand), he had to set down his wine glass. Well, I mentioned wind, so, you know where this is going, right? It was that perfectly imperfect moment that makes a story timeless. The glass shattered. He went for the proposal. She said yes. We all went inside to warm up. It was awesome.
Oh, and stay tuned! We did engagement portraits the following day!