When Julia first contacted me she did so while drunk. On wine. In many many paragraphs she told me her life story, their love story, and that once upon a time she ran a paint party company and taught people how to paint while they drank wine. “It was fun, but I’ve moved on in my career.”  So basically, we (meaning she and I, DUH) were meant to be together.  We also both agree on how, when and why to cuss, which is frequently, often and just for the hell of it.

Julia and Vitaliy met in Alaska when she was having a brief love affair with becoming a pilot.  Vitaliy was her flight instructor. As she tells it, they “fell in love the minute we crawled into the two seat sea-plane and that was that.” Julia no longer felt the need to become a pilot since she had one now.

When their dream backyard wedding got cancelled because of issues surrounding … surprise, surprise … Covid, they decided like MANY of my couples that they just wanted to be married. I flew up to Camas, WA, their new home, where I got to kick it with my friend Elizabeth, stay in an adorable 107 year old hotel on main street in this charming af little PNW town, run on some gorgeous trails, and celebrate with Julia and Vitaliy.  The couple had just moved from California to Camus, relocating to this quaint town the week before they got married.  I’m looking forward to the party next year, but until then, here’s some photos of Julia and Vitaliy’s Orchard Park elopement which was, in all of our opinions, perfect in every way.

The best part of their tiny ceremony was the fake (read: inappropriate and absolutely hysterical) vows they wrote to read to each other AFTER the officiant left.  This is a tradition that i can 100% get behind.