Cape Horn Estate Wedding

As a wedding photographer there are always wedding venues that live on my bucket list. Venues that I’ve seen on social media or wedding blogs that I hope to work at one day. Cape Horn Estate in the Columbia River Gorge was one of those spots. Finally this past winter a couple reached out and I was so excited to hear about their wedding at Cape Horn Estate and I looked forward to it all summer. It was a perfect day with moody PNW skies that cleared to bright sunshine just in time for the ceremony.

Ceremony setup at Cape Horn Estate

About Cape Horn Estate

Cape Horn Estate is located in Stevenson, WA on the other side of the Columbia River. It’s not far from big city accommodations like Portland’s hotels and restaurants. In fact it’s a 35 minute drive from Portland International Airport and the perfect venue to wow your out of town guests with the natural beauty we’ve all come to love in the Pacific Northwest.

The venue has a private, all-inclusive feel with indoor and outdoor options for wedding ceremonies and receptions. When weather permits, ceremonies take place on the beautiful lawn with a stone pathway leading to a stone arch that frames the dramatic cliffs of the gorge. The grounds are well maintained and lush throughout summer and feature beautiful hydrangea flowers, evergreen shrubs, and romantic string lighting. The lawn is large enough to fit an outdoor reception of up to 350 guests and is anchored by their Skamania bar which works great for a cocktail hour setting or cake cutting interlude. The Skamania is also available as an indoor venue for up to 70 guests. Across the parking lot their largest indoor facility, The Grange, has a getting ready suite upstairs, kitchen, and can fit 150 for a ceremony or reception. It’s great knowing that your venue has a backup plan for weather with Oregon and Washington weather being what it is.

Cape Horn Wedding Cost

The venue rental fee for weekends varies and ranges from $5,900 - $7,700. The venue rental includes tables and chairs, existing furniture, installed patio string lights, existing bar setup, and cake table. The venue is owned by Hoda and Hani who also run a great Lebanese restaurant in SE Portland. Weddings at Cape Horn Estate can either be catered by Hoda’s or an outside caterer. They offer their own catering packages that include a full course dinner menu for $225.00 per person (minimum 100 guests) plus 22% gratuity is added to the food and drinks cost only.

Skamania Bar with reception tables on lawn

Reception table detail with sweetheart table in background

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Cape Horn Estate Wedding Photos

I had a great experience working at Cape Horn Estate and truly can’t wait to go back. It quickly became one of my favorite outdoor wedding venues in Portland. There are so many wedding venues in the Portland area but great, beautiful venues that provide a great day-of experience for guests always stick out as the few that I can’t wait to work at again and again. Below are some more photos from this event.

First dance on Skamania patio

Hoyt Arboretum Senior Photos

Whenever I consider a location for a portrait session I always think about the variety of the space and whether or not I can create images for my client that utilize a wide array of backgrounds. I never stay in the same place or keep my subjects in the same place for their whole session. My sessions, whether they are senior portraits, families, or couples, are very active and always involve some level of exploring our surroundings to find different nooks and new ways to use light. Hoyt Arborteum, in Portland’s Washington Park, is a location that never disappoints and always provides that great mix of landscape diversity which lets me deliver photos to my clients that are unique throughout their session. I love using Hoyt Arboretum for senior photos for this reason.

Whether we shoot near the Redwood Deck surrounded by towering trees or up off the overlook trail with more open vistas there are plenty of places to stop along the way for photos. The other great thing I love about Hoyt Arboretum is it can work for morning or evening sessions and we can build a loop throughout the park relative to the time of day we’re shooting.

Below are some photos from some recent senior sessions I’ve photographed at Hoyt Arboretum.

Mt Tabor Senior Photos

One of my favorite parks in Portland will always be Mt Tabor. It’s also one of my favorite senior photo locations in Portland. It’s easy to get to, popular but still large enough to find some private spots, and it’s beautiful.

I’ve been walking around Mt Tabor since before moving to Portland. My parents lived in Portland prior to me and it’s always been a spot we would walk the dog or visit on the weekends. Once I moved to Portland I lived down the street for several years and I quickly found favorite nooks to visit and learned how the light hit certain areas throughout the day. It’s this knowledge of the park that I now use whenever I’m photographing there whether it’s a senior session, wedding, or family photos.

Mt Tabor can be a standalone location for senior photos, especially if you’re just needing a few yearbook shots, or it can be paired with another location if you’ve booked a larger session and you’re wanting a mix of different settings in your senior photos. 

Below are some Mt Tabor senior photos that I’ve shot recently that I think show what the park has to offer and how it might work for your senior pictures in Portland.

Sauvie Island Senior Photos

As a photographer I often find myself looking at Google Maps to find new areas that are interesting to me that would serve as a new location for a portrait session that I’ve never worked at before. I have my favorite locations in Portland for senior portraits but I love when folks are open to try a place they’ve never been and trust my intuition and experience that it will work as a great setting. This senior photo session was one of those moments.

While Sauvie Island is not particularly new to me, I’ve had an area of the island on my radar for a while that I knew held a lot of potential. When this senior reached out I asked, as I always do, if she had any particular locations or settings in mind for her session. She was excited to shoot in a place that had flowers and was open to ideas. A lot of areas around Portland with dense amounts of flowers are usually farms and depending on the season may or may not be in bloom. They can also be a little tricky with photography permits. Thankfully in early September the sunflower maze at Topaz Farm on Sauvie Island was still in bloom and they have an easy system for photographers to use the maze for a session. 

Since this senior had booked my package with 2 locations I wanted to make sure that our second location was relatively nearby to save time but different enough that it could give us some variety from our time at the sunflower field. Since our first location was already on Sauvie Island, I knew exactly the spot I wanted to try out.

We started our session off in the early evening at Topaz Farm and we navigated, sometimes awkwardly lol, through the sunflower maze. Since we weren’t really focused on finishing the maze and instead finding areas with vibrant blooms and nice light we got a bit turned around but we managed to get some great photos and make our way back to our cars. We met back up at a trail head, did a quick outfit change, and walked throughout some really nice woodland areas and meadows. The golden evening light came in perfectly and I was really happy to finally shoot in an area I’d been thinking about for a while. 

This was one of my favorite senior sessions to date. I loved getting the chance to fit in a location that my client wanted and share with them a new location that they ended up loving. We got a lot of variety of images and we had a great time shooting together.

Senior Portraits at Powell Butte

School is back in session and for many that means scheduling senior photos before those yearbook deadlines hit. One of my favorite shoots recently were these senior portraits at Powell Butte.

He was looking for a location that was full of plants and nature and I suggested a couple of my favorite spots. We ended up picking Powell Butte Nature Park in SE Portland for it’s convenient, and beautiful, combination of forest and meadow settings.

We started our session in a more wooded spot which allowed for the early evening sun to sparkle through the trees in the background. We stopped along the way for different scenes and slowly climbed up to the top of the park where the open field meadow is. By the time we reached the top the evening sun was casting a perfect summer glow.

As a musician, it was important to him to include his instruments and I was excited to capture that meaningful part of his life. I’ve never seen anyone hike with a double bass before but the payoff was definitely worth it and I’m so glad we were able to work together to document this exciting part of his life.