For this beautiful trash-the-dress post-wedding session, I met up with Megan and Benjamin along the Columbia River, in the rain shadow desert east of the Cascade mountains (don’t worry – her dress wasn’t actually “trashed!”). And while they’ve been married for 4 years now, they decided it was time to celebrate their wedding in truly epic fashion and visit a place that has become special to them – a sort of haven or respite from the dense forests that carpet the western foothills of the Cascades. “We love coming here for the spectacular views and just having that room to breath,” as Megan put it. And after gazing out at the impressive rock formations and massive river on a cool, but dry February day, I couldn’t agree more. Seriously, what’s not to love about the spectacular cliffs and rolling plateaus that surround the Columbia River as it snakes its way down to the Washington/Oregon border and ultimately to the Pacific? It really is breathtaking how far you can see. Looking west on a clear day, you can see the plateau rise all the way to the eastern edge of the Cascades, where the tree-line begins. To the east, the plateau continues through miles and miles of farmland before meeting up with mountains once again near the Idaho border.
I’ve never seen such a dramatic contrast in terms of scenery so quickly anywhere. Leave the dense northern rainforest of western Washington by heading east and in a short time, you can be in an entirely different world. In my case, leaving my studio in Snoqualmie, it only took a little over 90 minutes to get to our meetup spot! And it’s an incredibly scenic drive!
We took a short hike along some trails nearby that took us down into a canyon with a little waterfall and then headed back up to a beautiful lookout over the Columbia River Gorge. I loved Megan’s blue converse! They provided a little touch of color that tied in with the blues in her lovely florals – a beautiful bouquet and floral head crown she picked up from Down to Earth in Snoqualmie. And we had an incredible time! I loved photographing these two together – they make such a lovely couple! Megan’s dress was absolutely beautiful and she braved the chilly breeze in spectacular fashion! I should point out that Benjamin also did a great job of helping to keep her warm. 😉 And it was dry!!! Yep, zero drops, which is really saying something because we would have been absolutely soaked if we had tried to do this close to home!
Congratulations Megan and Benjamin! I’m so glad I got the chance to spend an afternoon with you! Enjoy this sneak peek at a few of the many highlights from your session and wishing you many many more years of happiness together as husband and wife!
