Like many couples planning to get married in 2020 Samantha & Jonathon made some drastic changes to their wedding, due to the pandemic. Instead of a large affair at Willamette Mission Park, they opted for an intimate elopement at home. Well, at the home of Samantha’s parents. Although this is technically a backyard wedding, it was an unusually stunning backyard…and by backyard, I mean the river, as their back patio sat right over it and provided the most beautiful backdrop for the ceremony.

We completely lucked out with weather on this September wedding day. We had MASSIVE wildfires here last year and it was smoky for MONTHS, including every single day leading up to their wedding. Then, low and behold, we woke up to clear skies the morning of! WHAT?!

In attendance were the bride and groom’s parents, siblings, and grandparents. The bride’s sister served as the flower girl, while the groom’s sister was the officiant. Both women did an excellent job in their roles.

Details included touches of blue throughout, including the bouquet, Samantha’s ring, and even their socks! Because the date 3/14 is significant to the couple, they had pie for their wedding dessert, pi decorations, and they were pronounced married at exactly 3:14pm.

After their first look, the couple said “I do” in a short, but sweet ceremony. In addition to some portraits at and around the residence, we also took a quick drive over to Willamette Mission Park. There is a specific park bench that is very meaningful to the couple, so we made sure to get some photos on that bench. They also had their first dance in their special spot (sans music, but also sans audience!), which was incredibly sweet.

We didn’t have very much fall color here in the Salem-Keizer area (too early, plus all the smoke), but I managed to find a teensy little bit and I milked it for all it was worth because I looooove fall!