JONNY + MEILANI

I absolutely love meeting new people, hearing their story, and enjoying life alongside of them. It truly is a small world and I love finding those small connections from all over the world, which lead me to this lovely couple, Jonny + Meilani! Let me back track for a moment. For the past 15 years my family has vacationed in Pennsylvania along with 20+ other families. Among those families were the Runkles – 5 boys and 2 girls!! They grew up in Oregon, but would all pile into their 15 passenger green van and road trip to PA for vacation.  The Runkle family, specifically Zech, was close to their neighbor Jonny.

Jonny is also a photographer & I began seeing his work when he photographed Isaiah Runkle’s wedding. Once I officially decided to travel to Oregon, I thought I would reach out to him since we have mutual friends. He was kind enough to reply and we decided we would try to get together while we were there. Jonny’s expertise in photography looks a little different than mine. A lot of his work is from the aerial perspective using a drone. He is able to travel a lot as well capturing major projects. I was so fascinated learning more about his job. You can view his work HERE. During our time with him, he taught me some new tricks that I have been experimenting with since I have been home. We worked with long exposures and discussed different camera settings too! He understands so much of the technical side to photography that I did and could benefit from his teaching anytime!

Back to Jonny & his lady, MeilAni!! It just so happened that I was going to be in Oregon during the 3rd Wedding Anniversary !! I was determined we would get them out to photograph them in celebration of their anniversary! Not only was it their 3rd wedding anniversary, it was always a DECADE together!! How AWESOME is that?! These two are simply wonderful. My nephew, Arin, and I had such a fun day with them. We actually spent their anniversary day with them. They were so kind & SELFLESS to take us around Portland and show us the ropes.

First, we met them at the Waffle Window, which was AWESOME! You just walk up to a window on the side of a brick building & order your waffle, sit down, and bon appetite! They have a handful of waffles you can try from sweet to savory. Of course, I got the peanut butter & DARK chocolate one. So good!! Next, we walked on down to BlueStar Donuts. This girl does not even eat donuts and I bought one and LIKED It? Who did I become on this trip? In my defense, it was a coffee doughnut with coconut so it was right down my alley. This place smelled amazing too. From there, we headed to Sister’s Coffee, where I bought my cute little mug. I LOVED this coffee shop – so good & the atmosphere was great. After we were on a sugar buzz, we continued on to take pictures of the lovely couple. After pictures, they took us to eat at the food carts, which is basically a way of life here. There are food carts EVERY where. Jonny convinced me to try the curry for the first time & I LOVED it!!!! We had a full day of good company and amazing food!

Enjoy their anniversary photos & a big thank you to Jonny + Meilani for welcoming us with opened arms!!! We can’t wait to meet again.

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