Intimate Oregon Destination Wedding | Eugene, OR | Jed and Josh
The last thing I wrote about these two was "now these two just need to tie the knot so I can get back out there to capture their wedding" which you can read about and see in this awesome Oregonian adventure engagement session. Well, if you read the title to this post, then you already know that these two decided to tie the knot and I got to fly back across the country and to capture this weekend for Jed and Josh.
This wedding happened rather quickly, and I don't mean the day, though like any wedding day they tend to pass by faster than you can imagine. Nor do I mean the time they spent together, as they have been with one another for the past eight years roughly. But Jed and Josh organized everything about three months prior to their wedding date. For those of you who have planned a wedding or have been a part of a wedding, you know this is no small feat. But I have known Jed for longer than any other friend and I knew that he and Josh would make this something not only for them to deservedly remember but also for their closest friends and family to look back on as well. And they absolutely made it the intimate Oregon destination wedding (at least for me and a few guests it was a destination, though it was held in their home) we had known it would be.
For me this wedding was different than most of my other weddings. Jed has been my closest friend for what we recently realized was just over 20 years now. He is in no small way, like the brother I never had. He was the best man in my wedding and we have stories that will remain between our closest friends, a few just to ourselves to reminisce over with a bottle of the best whiskey, and then a few that I am sure even we don't remember. I have talked at length on my Instagram account before about the inner circles of my couples that I am welcomingly let into on wedding days and how much that means to me, but this was the first time that I was already a part of that circle and it was amazing to be there in those moments, truly no place I would have rather been.
From the gathering the night before at Hope Valley Brewing Company, to the beautiful and intimate ceremony at their home and their classy reception at The Oregon Electric Station (still one of the coolest venues I have ever been to with a mish mash of rad design and the use of train cars as private dining rooms, plus pappy 23yr on the shelf - yup...you read that right!) - while I know this was not the wedding they had envisioned when they first thought about getting married, it was the wedding I think we all foresaw: perfect, intimate and unabashedly and quintessentially them.
I shared this in my speech, which as I was the only photographer, was thankfully left uncaptured as I blubbered and fumbled my way through my words. Jed and I spoke several months ago about love, more specifically what love truly is for him. And he shared a small but immensely meaningful explanation with me. He said that love to him was knowing Josh's faults and loving him regardless of those. But what really resonated with me was that he said that one of the things he loved most was that listening to Josh's signature laugh over the rooftops of their neighborhood as he would walk their dog, Loki. There was just something in those moments that filled him with happiness, and I absolutely love that.
I am beyond ecstatic to finally share this day with you all.
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