Our Just-In-Time Seattle Wedding

When Brenda and Aaron first inquired about our services for their May 2 wedding, we had already decided that Laura, in the ninth month of pregnancy, wouldn't be in any condition to tackle the shoot. We figured that 17 days before our boy Caleb's due date was a safe enough buffer to allow Scott to shoot the wedding solo. Close call as Caleb was born the next day!

But on May 2, such concerns were far from my mind. I'm so used to shooting with Laura, handling a wedding solo was a change of pace but not a completely foreign experience, as I have shot a good half-dozen weddings without Laura's help over the years. It was nice that both the ceremony and reception were held at familiar venues: the beautiful, historic Blessed Sacrament Parish and the fabulous art deco Lake Union Cafe.

My day started shortly before Brenda and Aaron's "first look" — a loosely structured moment where the bride and groom lay eyes on each other for the first time in full wedding regalia, usually right before we start the portrait session. First looks are so easy to set up, and they usually result in better photos than when the first look takes place as the bride walks down the aisle. See for yourself:



What weird weather we had that day! Check out the beautiful blue sky we enjoyed at the start of the portrait session, featuring the wedding party ...

... and then we had time for only a handful of portraits of the bride and groom ...


... before the skies opened up and it rained for the rest of the day! Brenda had wisely rented cute umbrellas from Bella Umbrella but they only bought us a few more minutes before the downpour forced us inside anyway. Those minutes were well-spent, though! (By the way, we also own a really cute white Bella that we bring to rainy-day weddings. It's been a big help!)


The ceremony was beautiful, and long enough to enable me to capture all sorts of different angles. Here are a few favorites:




Then it was off to LUC for the reception. These first dance photos really show off the ornate cut-glass chandeliers suspended over the dance floor.





Congrats to Brenda and Aaron!

Caleb at 6 Weeks

Six weeks after our little boy Caleb was born, we had fun with his first real photo shoot. Laura posted some of these shots on her Facebook page a few days ago, and judging from the comments she received, the photo above is nearly everyone's fav. A few more of our favorites are below. Big sister Bailey co-stars in the last shot.

Weekend at Point Defiance: Part II

Here are favorite photos from Scott's second engagement portrait of that May weekend. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the previous post below first!) The stars of this shoot are Cynthia and Mike, who are getting married this summer at McCormick Woods in Port Orchard.

Weekend at Point Defiance: Part I

Last month, mere days after our first child was born, Scott shot engagement portrait sessions at Point Defiance Park on two consecutive days. Given that he used the same sections of the park for both sessions, you might expect a lot of redundancy between the two sessions. Think again! There's something about our photography style that ensures that every Wallflower client's photos look different than the others.

I think that more than anything else, it's a result of our approach to posing. Some photographers really fine-tune their poses: tilt your head another inch this way, rotate your body a few degrees that way, and so on. They must have this image of the perfect pose in their heads that they work to achieve. We prefer to request poses in less-specific terms, believing that our subjects will then put themselves into positions that feel natural to themselves. We've found that by doing so, our clients look more natural in the photos — and, as a result, their photos look different than what we've done before. Plus, it's more fun that way!

Here are a handful of favorites from Scott's first shoot of that weekend, featuring Julie and Mike, who currently live in Arizona but are getting married this summer at Thornewood Castle.