courtney jade’s blog

Sometimes you meet people, and you just click. It’s as if you were long lost best friends, or kindred spirits.

I have been lucky enough to meet a two of such people in the past 9 months, and one of them is Deena. Read the rest of this entry …

I know it’s been quite a while since I have posted, I hope you can forgive me! I’ve been shooting non-stop since August, and it’s been near impossible to even think about blogging.
Anyways, I thought it would be fun to show you a little of what I’ve been up to!

Here are some adorable photos of Luketan + Matt!
They were recently engaged, and wanted some photos to remember the moment!
They are such a sweet couple, and I had a blast at our session. I can tell that they are a perfect match!

I had a really great shoot today, with a really awesome couple- Anna Kate + Jared.

Here are a couple cute ones I quickly pulled from their session, enjoy!
More to come soon!

Let me just first start off by saying that this is one AWESOME couple you are about to see.

Kayla is beautiful, smart, optimistic and SO fun to be around.
When we first met, I complimented her on her adorable boots, and she took it off and let me try it on! Basically, she is totally RAD.

John is a ton of fun, sweet, and someone who could cheer anyone up on their worst day. He is so in love with Kayla, and it’s evident, even just in the way that he looks at her.

They met at summer camp years ago, and their summer romance just never ended.
They are fabulous, and they are even more fabulous together.
I can’t wait to shoot their wedding this summer! Kayla + John, enjoy your pics!

Their wood cookies So cute!

Major props to John for squeezing on this bench! I just adore this shot

Did I mention they are hardcore U of O fanatics?

Such a fun couple!!!

<3

brian (awesome) + lea (beautiful) = beautifully awesome couple.

Over a year ago the beautiful Lea asked me to be a part of her and Brian’s most special day- in Costa Rica. This was my first destination wedding ever, and I am so glad that I was able to have such a wonderful bride and groom (and their friends) to experience it with!

Brian and Lea make such a beautiful couple, but they are also genuinely wonderful people. It’s not every day that you feel like your clients are friends that you’ve known forever, yet this is how they made me feel. Thank you to both of you for making me feel like such a part of your group, not just on your wedding day, but my entire stay in Costa Rica. Brian and Lea were married at the beautiful Tamarindo Diria Hotel in Tamarindo, Costa Rica.

You are both lovely, I hope your photos will forever be a reminder of how extremely beautiful your day was.

view your slideshow here

the beginning.

<3

One of my MANY favorites from the wedding last week in Tamarindo, Costa Rica!
Congratulations Lea and Brian, you make a beautiful couple <3

I have SO many photos to go through and edit… I can’t wait to share them all with you!!!

<3

Have you ever read the book “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman? Well, if you haven’t you should, it’s a very interesting book!

“Of the countless ways we can show love to one another, five key categories, or five love languages, proved to be universal and comprehensive—everyone has a love language, and we all identify primarily with one of the five love languages: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service, and Physical Touch.”

At the end there is a quiz that you take to determine which of your love languages are the strongest. My top results were “Receiving Gifts” and a tie between “Words of Affirmation” and “Quality Time”. Everyone speaks all 5 languages to some degree, but it’s natural for most people to have a dominant one or two.

This was no surprise to me by any means. I value gifts, little and big, immensely. Whether it’s a quote written down on a napkin, or a beautiful sparkly something, it has the power to take my breath away. I also love giving gifts! I feel like it’s a great way to show that I’ve been thinking of someone, and I always put great time and effort into selecting and preparing special presents for people.

I believe that this is why I love photography so much. When you take someone’s photo, and then give it to them, it’s a very special gift. No one can ever relive the moments that have passed, and memories fade with time, but a photograph lasts forever. Those little moments frozen in time to remember and hold on to forever. There’s just something so special about that.

So it was to my complete surprise when I opened my mailbox this evening and there was a “You Have a Package in the Manager’s Office” slip sitting atop my mail! I racked my brain trying to think of what it could possibly be… did I order something? Did Mark order something? A print order? A large envelope from the insurance company (you know, one of those horribly ridiculous packs of paper that they are required by law to send out once a year or something.. waste of trees!) None of those. I raced up to the office since it was about to close, and eagerly handed her my slip.

“Ah!” she said as she turned around and picked up a medium sized brown box.

She handed me the box, and it was sealed with SAINT CUPCAKE PACKING TAPE!!!! Saint Cupcake?? But, who? How? Why??? What was in there?! My mind went racing, thinking who would be so nice as to send me something so amazinly sweet and awesome… and what was in it?! I thanked the manager and raced back to my apartment. Once I got in the door, I cut the tape and opened the package.

The glory of it all. I LOVE this place. It is the first cupcakerie I ever stepped into years ago, and I’ve been in love ever since. My good friend is friends with the owners of the place (one who is a graphic designer superstar– in case you couldn’t tell..) How gorgeous is this presentation!?! I flipped the card over…

Of course!!! My lovely bride (and friend of MANY years) Jesse from last Saturday’s wedding! She had asked me for my address and I thought nothing of it. WHAT. A. DOLL!!! At this point I have serious little pink hearts floating all around me, I’m so happy. Pink + cupcakes + amazingly gorgeous packaging/design= DROOL!

I realize that it’s not just cupcakes, but an entire “Saint Cupcake cupcake kit”!!! What the heck!? Completely amazing.

Six un-frosted cakes, 6 containers of different flavored frostings, six spreading sticks, and six little baggies of sprinkles! No sparing on the presentation, this is completely adorable and to die for! Not to mention tasty!1

Naturally, I had to take some fun photos of my kit before indulging

Hot fudge!? That’s my fave!!!!

pink, pink, and more pink!!!

a pile of frosting cups!

YUMMY!!!

Thank you SO much Mr. & Mrs. Thiel & the Davis’s!!! You totally made my day SO much sweeter (literally & figuratively!) You rock, and I was honored to be a part of your special day!!!

Now, something sweet for you… a sneak peek pic from your wedding day!!! Enjoy!

Now if you’ll excuse me, IT’S CUPCAKE TIME!!!!

<3 <3 <3

Meet Jenn + CT!

Jenn + CT (Chris) are friends of mine from Michigan. This is their second autumn/winter in Portland, and they wanted some “Portland-y” photos, so we decided to shoot along the Portland waterfront. Shooting outside in Portland is always an iffy thing, however the weather held out for us, and we pulled off some great photos!

I am out of words tonight, so I’ll let their photos speak for themselves

To a beautiful couple, Jenn and CT, enjoy!!

This next photo was all CT’s idea! I absolutely adore it, and I love when clients come up with fun poses!!!

meet the lovely Juliann, and her man, Adam.

We had the pleasure of shooting on one of the most beautiful autumn days this year. We went up to Bridal Veil, which is along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The leaves on the trees were absolutely stunning, the sun broke through just a little bit, and it was chilly, but gorgeous.

Adam really knows how to make a photo shoot fun! It seems like more often than not, the guys are not so into the photo thing, and the girls are more than into it. Adam, however, was just having fun and being himself, it was refreshing I love when people can just let loose and be themselves. I’ve been lucky with that this year I think, my clients just keep getting better and better!

Without further a due (sp?), here is the beautiful couple!

Meet MaryAnne and Karl.
If Karl were a pancake, MaryAnne would be the syrup. They are both so sweet, and a perfect match!

MaryAnne and Karl met while attending college at Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR. They are two of the sweetest people I have met! I am so thrilled to be a part of their special day next year!

Due to horrible weather, we had to reschedule their engagement shoot, however it worked out for the best. The rain held out for us, and the trees and leaves were picture perfect. We couldn’t have asked for better conditions! What a more fitting place to shoot them, than the OSU campus!? There were so many amazingly beautiful spots to shoot, it was almost unbearable. If it were closer, I’d definitely shoot there a lot more often!

When Karl proposed to MaryAnne, he took her to Avery Park, just off campus. We hopped over there to get a few shots as well. I don’t know if any of you are Twilight fans out there, but the area we shot in is exactly what I imagined the “meadow” to be like. Insanely beautiful, and perfect in every way.

This has got to be in the top 5 of my all time favorite shoots.
The photos just turned out SO beautiful! Their session looks like a fairytale to me

Congratulations MaryAnne + Karl! Enjoy your photos