A Quintessential Pacific Northwest Wedding

Guests of Kelly and Michael's late-September wedding experienced a real taste of the Puget Sound region: Stunning water views. Relaxed atmosphere. Salmon on the grill. And, of course, RAIN!

Choosing a summer wedding date maximizes your chances of sunny skies — but in our area, you should be prepared for anything! Fortunately, Kelly and Michael were, and they pulled off a rainy-day wedding perfectly.

The ceremony was held at the waterfront house of Michael's parents in Gig Harbor. The back deck features wide-open views of the harbor, and a huge tent kept everyone dry.

A small, intimate reception followed inside and outside the house, and we were able to take advantage of a somewhat-break in the rain to conduct a portrait session around the yard. We were very lucky that Kelly was our bride on this day, because she brushed off the light rain like few brides would!

Then everyone headed off to Kelly's dad's beach house on Key Peninsula for the main reception. This property was plenty big enough for a much larger reception, and a couple hundred guests mingled comfortably on the expansive lawn, giving us ample opportunity to create lots of great guest candids. (Click on any image to see it larger.)

Capturing laughing, smiling candids of guests is a Wallflower specialty. It's a key part of our approach which doesn't always bring the accolades that our coverage of the big moments and our creative portraiture do, but we still feel they are important. We know our clients enjoy having them, and their guests do, too — we receive print orders of guest candids from nearly every wedding!

Kelly and Michael, your wedding turned out beautifully — rain and all — and we wish you all the best!

Married in Style, This Time Around

Angela and Jeffrey were unique wedding clients of ours in several ways, the biggest of which is this: They were already married! A military couple, they got hitched with little fanfare before Jeffrey deployed, with a vow of doing it in style when he returned from overseas. Mission accomplished!

Their wedding ceremony and reception were both held in The Heritage Room at Capitol Lake in Olympia. It's a venue we know very well, in part from our participation in Occasions Catering's Bridal Teas the last few years.

After getting ready in a back room while the guests were seated, the processional wrapped around the outside of the historic American Legion Building and entered through the huge double doors — one of our favorite features of The Heritage Room.

The midday sun was streaming through the doors, providing dramatic lighting for their ceremony.

Immediately after the ceremony, we whisked Angela and Jeffrey across the street to Capitol Park for a quick portrait session. This park has wide-open views of the Capitol Building across the lake ...

... and a small shady nook of cobblestones and lush greenery to work with.

Check out those shoes! Angela is a bit height-impaired, just like Laura (who also wore four-inch heels to our own wedding).

Then we wrapped up the portrait session at this cool wrought-iron gate in a hidden hallway of the building.

And back through the double doors for their grand re-entrance, all in only about 20 minutes! While we love the luxury of hour-long portrait sessions, we have a knack for collecting a wide variety of creative, artistic, and emotion-invoking shots even when we're pressed for time, as we proved here!

Our efficiency was matched by that of the Occasions staff, who had already flipped the room for the reception. The first dance was especially beautiful ...

... as was their last dance, late in the evening.

Congrats to the renewlyweds!

Perfect Timing!

We witnessed a wonderful case of perfect timing at Sarah and Matt's wedding at Indian Summer Golf and Country Club in Olympia. While we had to work around a late summer downpour during most of the portrait session, the clouds parted just about a half hour before their outdoor ceremony — with just enough time for the dedicated staff to hand-wipe every chair in preparation for the guests' arrival!

Luckily the golf course has a unique tunnel that provided perfect shelter for us and Sarah and Matt to play around with portraits while we waited out the rain.

The weather cleared up just in time for us to take a few beautiful shots like this one under Indian Summer's signature oak grove ...

... and stayed clear for the rest of what turned out to be a very beautiful outdoor ceremony!

Sarah's brother, a music industry professional, strummed and sang a beautiful song for the couple during the ceremony ...

... but even more entertaining was the hilarious song he wrote for the reception, in which he welcomed Matt to the family — and warned of the bodily harm he'd receive from each family member should anything happen to his sister. The song was a hit!

Sarah and Matt, we had a great time at your wedding, rain and all, and wish you all the best for many happy years to come!