As you may have heard, Seattle is getting a lot of snow this week.  I decided to spend some time working on photos from the last wedding I second-shot in Washington (back in the fall)!  I’m going to miss working with Chris, but I hear he’s a big fan of the Upper Peninsula – so perhaps he’ll get a gig there sometime

Elliot and Serena were married at Tracy Castle in Buckley, WA.  The venue is nice because it’s tucked away from the busy city life, and had everything they needed for their big day:  dressing rooms upstairs, a great room (with awesomely tall windows) for the ceremony, scenic outdoor spots for formals, downstairs space with kitchen for the dinner reception, and even a gymnasium for the dance-floor & slideshow.  Some of my favorite details were the tabletop trees with ornaments (which served as a guestbook), luggage cake (they both travel around the world on missions trips) & the bridesmaids dresses.  The girls’ dresses stood out to me because they were each unique in style & color, but all coordinated together so well.  As the second shooter I tend to follow the girls around during the morning:  I thought it was amazing how much work they put into the floral arrangements, especially the cross!

As a current Seattle resident, I have to start out with the Starbucks shot.  Enjoy!

The bride and groom, Elise and Nick, got ready at Hotel Deca in Seattle’s University District.  I’ve driven by this historic building many times and loved getting a peek at the rooms inside.  Next we went to Woodland Park for formals (and candids) of the wedding party.  More formals and family portraits were shot over at the gorgeous rose garden – which is also where their outdoor ceremony took place!  The coolest venue, however, was the reception.  It was held at the Rainforest Pavilion inside of the zoo!!  Can’t say I’ve ever walked past a penguin exhibit in order to get to a wedding reception

I don’t think I’ll ever figure out how photographers post just a couple of their favorite images from an entire day of shooting two people on their big day!

They decided to have the ceremony and reception in their own backyard, because they purchased this house together just a year ago.  When I visited their home back in the winter, I really underestimated what one couple could do in such a short amount of time to transform their backyard into a beautiful, lush, event-worthy garden.  I kept forgetting that I was still in the heart of Seattle!

I couldn’t help but include so many detail shots because there was just so much to look at!  Their personalities really came through in the decorations.  Another unique thing they did that I’ve never seen is have a piñata wedding cake!  They brought the cake up front and center to cut like you would see at any normal ceremony… but then they surprised the audience by bringing out a giant sword, and chopping the piñata to pieces!  The kids, of course, loved getting to clean up the candy

But enough words about the wedding, the photos say it all.  And yes, I was pretty obsessed with the globe string lights.

They literally tied the knot!

I love hearing hand-written vows

The backyard was transformed into a beautiful reception area while guests enjoyed cocktails in the front yard.

Hope all of my readers had an excellent holiday.  I was fortunate enough to get to return to Michigan to see both my family and Joel’s family, and several friends for New Years in Grand Rapids.  We also got a lot of our own wedding planning done while we were there!  Joel’s brother Bret came back with us for a visit – I love having guests because it’s a good excuse to visit all of our favorite places in Seattle.  Incase you ever wonder, Ray’s is the greatest restaurant in town.  That’s right folks… after a year and a half of living here, I officially like seafood.

It’s back to the daily life now, working at the lab and playing with the Holga.  We also got a Kinect which is crazy fun.

So today I got a little package in the mail from Mr. Gendron:  Partly business (tax season… boo), mostly fun — the images I shot the last time I assisted for him.

This wedding was particularly memorable for me:  it was in my favorite neighborhood (Capitol Hill) at a beautiful, historic venue, and the bride went to the same college as me!  It was kind of shocking because we didn’t know this until I asked about someone’s Detroit Tigers shirt )

Kyle and Jackie were a lot of fun to spend the day with & photograph.  I had a very hard time narrowing down these images.  The thing about wedding photos is that they should tell a story, and the day was so eventful!  Enjoy:

It never fails that I have a hard time narrowing down wedding images when I go to blog.  There are so many different aspects of the day to highlight.  For me, the ceremony is what made this particular wedding so unique.  Soft acoustic guitar, no microphones, no pews… just a lot of love, hand-written vows, and even wading in the water.