Rustic Oregon Backyard Wedding

Rustic backyard weddings are one of my favorites, especially ones with lots of sentimental details, and this wedding was full of them!

McKenzie and Nick were married on a warm afternoon at a friend's property that was so perfect for this rustic backyard wedding. The weekend before their wedding was a record breaking heatwave and it had cooled from 120 degrees F to a balmy 91 degrees with a wonderful breeze near Salem, Oregon.

I hope that you're ready to see a lot of photos in this wedding sneak peek, because it was so hard for me to narrow them down to this many!

I loved all the options I had for the detail shots, from the branded archway for the dress shots to the old, weathered horned cow skull for the rings.

One of they special details and moments of this wedding was when a special memorial for his grandparents. I love his reaction to the unveiling and it was a very moving moment.

Nick also a special gift from his wife-to-be, McKenzie.

And then his mother-in-law, gave Nick a very special gift of a personalized hankie. You can really that the entire family was looking forward to this wedding.

McKenzie received a gift from her husband-to-be, which was presented to her by her mother-in-law, and it was a beautiful bracelet.

The mother of the bride not only gave the groom a personalized hankie, her daughter (the bride) also received a personalized embroidered hankie with a heartfelt message.

And if there's the opportunity to capture a first look for a parent, I always say yes!

One of the challenges of getting married in a big field is that the groom can see the bride before the time is right. I loved how that was solved with this wedding by having Nick facing the officiant until McKenzie was at the hay bale aisle with her parents. Just wait until you see the look on his face!

After their first dance, I loved how much Nick and McKenzie took turns dancing with their parents, parent-in-laws, and then all the other people that were important to them.

And one of my favorite parts of a wedding day is the sunset photo time. The perfect location was right next to the ceremony site and I'd have to say that we had perfect timing with sunset. I'm so in love with these photographs! I even did a couple of artistic edits for some of these.

And the final photo I am sharing with you is one of Nick with his childhood dog, Lucy. Originally, they were planning on having her walk down the aisle with the ring bearer, McKenzie's cute little brother, but she was too much of a handful. So here she is!