Investment
Current investment options for 2024-2025
Engagements, post-wedding, and couples sessions
Engagement sessions can be held at scenic locations such as Pacific Northwest waterfalls and coastal seascapes or in local dive bars or parks. These sessions typically last an hour or two, but have no official time constraint.
25 image minimum / no maximum
Weddings and elopements
Wedding and elopement pricing depends only upon timing and travel. Elopements and weekday weddings include discounts.
200 image minimum / no maximum
Instant Film
Guests photographing fellow guests offers angles and opportunities no photographer can capture. We can supply instant cameras and film to set on a guest table. This is a great option for guest books.
Boudoir
An intimate session done separately from the day of for either partner and often captured as a gift for the other.
Live sneak peeks
This assures more than your photographer, but a partner in attendance to assist as well as select highlighted images throughout the day to edit and post online so family and friends can view your big day as it unfolds.
Photo booth will be available soon (pending assurance testing)
Video, additional shooters, planners, make-up artists, unique vendors...
We know the best ones. Allow us to put you in contact!
Image by Tonya
About the Wedding Photographer Guy and our little team.
Short, short summary.
Wedding Photographer Guy is an Alternative, all-inclusive, professional wedding and elopement photography service dedicated to providing a laid-back experience while capturing authentic and timeless imagery.
Us.
Our team, as you may assess quickly, is our family. We work out of our home, coffee shops, and our professional photo studio, Cobalt Studios PDX. Our lives revolve around photography and creativity around the camera. The extended family we've built in Portland is very camera-centric. Everyone we pull into our lives are from creative shoots, networking events, our workshops, and, of course, clients.
We do photography of all kinds, Wedding Photographer Guy is specific to couples, but that's just a fraction of our passions. We are also educators and community builders, hosting events and pulling people, especially creatives, together as often as we can.
We strive to stay adventurous, always seeking new locations like incredible hike-worthy waterfalls or abandoned spots to sneak into and do creative photoshoots. Attending weddings also opens us up to a whole new array of amazing places to explore and photograph.
Us, the individuals.
Michael,
a PNW and destination photographer
The eye behind the lens. A dad, weirdo, wanderlust, and passionate photographer, dedicated to art and authenticity. Fascinated by natural sciences, abandoned buildings, and the unknown. If it wasn't for family, would be wandering with little more than a backpack and a camera. Deeply, madly in love with Salem, Nilas, and twin flame, Rose.
@xnilasx / @weddingphotographerguy
Rose
Communications, booking, and image selection
Passionate model, avid concert and music lover, vinyl collector, obsessive waterfall chaser, and an absolute badass. Keeping things organized when all is unhinged. Fiercely dedicated to anything she supports or involves herself with and is the perfect counterpart for a photographer.
@rosegerberpnw
Nilas
Assistant photographer and occasional lens caddy
A budding artist who has given two tattoos by age 9 and attended (even photographed) various weddings. Patient and kind. Passionate about reading, games, playing pranks, and his little brother. Loves to learn and be involved. A very mature and charismatic young charmer at events, and extremely helpful as a volunteer photographer's assistant.
Salem
Photographer in training and loveable wildcard
A roaring ball of energy that contains well when composure is necessary. Passionate about building, animals and ancient beings, the outdoors, and spending time with his family. Sweet and loving. His time in our work is currently spent learning the basics and child communications. He loves to pose for the camera and encourages others to laugh or set a pose for a shot when attending certain sessions.
Our work together, with backstory
The Process
What we offer
Your wedding is a time to kick back and celebrate your love, and your loved ones while partying your ass off. We want to be right there celebrating with you and experiencing all the laughter, adventure, tears, nervous sweats, brews chugged, cake smashed, that one friend who really likes to shake it on the dance floor... all of it, right through the viewfinder.
With every click of the shutter, a memory is immortalized.
I'm down for anything. If you want to bushwack 10 miles to your elopement waterfall, let's go. If you're having a pirate-themed wedding, I'm bringing an outfit and possibly a cutlass. Pop the champagne in my direction, that shot will be wicked. Whether you're dancing with fire or wandering waist-deep in the ocean, I'm ready to be right there alongside you capturing every moment of your adventure.
Check availability
First things first, let's check availability.
Send us a message or give us a call to begin.
Consultation and recommendations
Let's make sure we're a perfect fit.
We love to meet in person, but also do a lot of video and phone chats.
Choose the option that works best for you.
A photographer can make or break a wedding.
We want to know about you. We would like it if you knew about us.
A wedding is a time to share in the celebration with your closest family and community.
While we stand no chance of being quite like them,
we absolutely never want to feel like strangers.
We also know incredible planners, videographers, additional photographers, venues, make-up artists... you name it. We would be beyond happy to help you find amazing people who are talented and comfortable to work with. Our resources are your resources, whether you book us or not.
We're extremely relaxed and hope to communicate as friends.
Deposit
When you're ready to book, we'll set a 25% deposit on the option of your choosing.
Forms
When a deposit is completed and the date is set, we'll send out a model release, client service agreement, and most importantly, a wedding questionnaire.
We also have until the wedding to do optional shot lists, and share itineraries, and vendor information.
Continued contact
From the time of booking onward, we can keep in contact. Share some images you love, follow us on social media, or ask us for advice in your planning process. Let's connect.
Engagement session
An optional engagement gives an opportunity to work together, connect, and adventure.
It is recommended that you bring all of your true character, and if you're camera shy, fret not.
These sessions are comfortable and fun. Unless we're hiking in the snow, then it might only be fun.
We can get creative. We can do dramatic coastal shots, dress for a funeral and roam your favorite cemetery, howl in the ferns with your dogs, cheers some beers in a dive bar, stand under waterfalls, play D&D in your folk's dungeon, or anything you feel like.
We can assist with location and styling.
The day of
On the big day, there is no need to stress. I've shot countless weddings of all kinds and know exactly what to do. All you need to worry about is having the time of your life. I'll be right there to capture every precious moment ( and maybe slurp down a piece of the cake).
While most images are intended to be caught as candids, there will be certain moments that will be "posed". Certain group shots, portraits, and details will be controlled, but it's all very quick and easy.
As for group shots, it all depends on the cooperation of the group, but I've definitely managed it all. We'll be serious and also get a little wild. Everyone is encouraged to be 100% unapologetically themselves. Names and a shot list make this part fast and stress-free. Well, about as stress-free as possible. We try to complete images with elderly and young children first.
We will also have a portion to shoot couple's shots.
These are the most common portfolio shots, where we break away and focus solely on pictures. This can be as quick or as long as you prefer. We can wander far or stay near. And if you don't feel right posing, well, the point here isn't to control a scene. Just to set one. I'll do my part to make this seamless, natural, comfortable, and simple.
For the most part, photography will be unobtrusive, allowing the day to unfold organically while yielding authentic and timeless candids. Those specific details and sentiments, those big personalities, the tears, laughs, gasps, and smiles.
From beginning to end, I've got you covered.
After the wedding
After the wedding, we cull and edit ASAP. I'll put some sneak peeks on my website within a week and aim to send out the remainder of the images within two weeks via an online gallery.
The online gallery provides both full and web-sized downloads. Images can be shared with anyone you give access to with the use of a link and a four-digit code.
We offer print packages, albums, and more, but you are not obligated to print through us. Once you have your digital images, you can print and/or post them anywhere you'd like.
Post-delivery, we hope to stay in touch. We can chat online, watch each other's families grow and perhaps even share a few additional adventures together.
A selection of humbling words
"Michael was truly the greatest photographer we could have asked for! The photos were amazing and he felt like such an important part of our wedding. Months later and we are still talking about how happy we are we picked him as our photographer. He did a great job making us, and everyone around him, feel comfortable throughout the day!
His artistic vision and creativity are truly unmatched. For me, our photographer choice was one of our most important decisions because they are what we will keep for a lifetime! Michael goes above and beyond, he loves love, and is clearly so passionate about what he does."
-SJ
"Michael was FANTASTIC! He was very down to earth which is what we wanted when we started looking at photographers. He was flexible and really wanted to understand what we were looking for. He didn't have his own agenda or thoughts on what our wedding photos should be - he worked to learn what we wanted and then gave us that! He was great the day of the wedding itself and was relaxed - which I really appreciated. Most of the pictures we got were off-the-cuff and not posed - exactly what we wanted. He also took a few formal photos for the parents ;). My fiancé loved him and multiple times said he would just hang out with him as a friend - that's how comfortable we were with him. And while we got pictures of everything we wanted - I never felt he was intrusive - he captured some great close-ups during the ceremony and I honestly don't remember him being there! It did take a while to get our photos back after the wedding - but it was worth the wait - I LOVE them! I would 100% recommend Michael!!"
-Stephanie
"Not only was Michael an incredible photographer, but he is an incredible guy. He made me and my husband feel like our best selves on our wedding day. It shouldn't be hard to be happy on your wedding day, but he always was keeping the mood up and light to make sure we had our biggest smiles on. We showed him some examples of pictures we wanted and he executed it all so well. My husband is the kind of guy who doesn't love getting his picture taken, and he even said during the shoot that he was having fun. That right there should be all the review you need."
-Spencer
"Michael is such an amazing photographer! My husband and I had our engagement and wedding photos done with him, and couldn’t be happier with how the images turned out. It was also a blast to shoot with him! He is so laid back that it’s very easy to get comfortable in front of a camera, and it felt like we were catching up with an old friend. He is easy to communicate with, open to feedback and questions if you have any, and all around a great guy to work with. We will be working with him in the future!"
-Jasmine