Linking Tacoma's Glass Hot Spots

The awesome wedding of Helen and Chris followed a script that could have been written by Tacoma's Chamber of Commerce:

• Get ready at the recently renovated, glass art-themed Hotel Murano — check!


• Take a free ride on a Link light rail train — check!


• Walk past the Washington State History Museum and across the Chihuly glass-laden pedestrian bridge to the Museum of Glass — check!


• Get married and have a rockin' reception in the museum's Grand Hall — check!

The downtown settings, a polar opposite of their engagement portraits at Point Defiance Park last fall, were every bit as photogenic. Check out this view from the top floor of Hotel Murano, where you can clearly see the Hotshop Cone, where we'll soon be heading. Be sure to peek at the peak hiding behind the curtain! Don't forget you can click any image to see it larger.

The couple's daughter Ella made sure that no boys entered the bride's room! The same rules don't apply for her in the groom's room, obviously!

We took a few bride and groom portraits at Hotel Murano, including on this fantastic pink patio set in front of the Savi Day Spa, then we walked down to the nearest light rail stop. Because the wedding party was running a bit late, we took a detour to the Convention Center to get a view of Mount Rainier and the Cone before climbing aboard the next train and heading to the Museum of Glass.

Helen and Chris staged their ceremony on the Main Plaza of the Museum of Glass, which is one level closer to the water than this 2008 wedding on the Mezzanine Plaza. The Main Plaza is currently beautified by an art installation called Fluent Steps, which you can see in several of these photos.

The reception decor featured shimmery purple/green tablecloths and big, crystal-laden floral arrangements by J. Robbins Florist.

Congrats again to Helen and Chris!

BREAKING NEWS: Giant Peacock Spotted at Lakewold Gardens

Scott snapped these shocking photos at Lakewold Garden's 20th Anniversary Summer Garden Party tonight (click photos to enlarge):

Turns out the bird is Janet Rayor, vocalist of Rouge, the evening's entertainment. Rouge is quite unique: an ensemble of strings and accordion that accompany beautifully sung French lyrics. Janet really worked the crowd during both her performances — as vocalist and as peacock (a part she also vocalized, in fact, with spontaneous bursts of crowing and clucking). She and her band would be so fun for a garden wedding reception, and I bet she'd sing some romantic French songs for a ceremony, too!

Lakewold threw a most excellent party! Besides the French band and stilter, they had Valet Parking Systems, catering by Gallucci's, decor by AA Party Rentals and Beds of Roses Florist, and vino by WineStyles — plus, of course, the most beautiful venue in all of western Washington! A great way to celebrate 20 years open to the public for this formerly private estate.

Back to School for Team Wallflower

Wallflower Photography's owner-photographers Laura and Scott Schoeggl met while attending the excellent University of Puget Sound in North Tacoma, and we still live within a mile of its beautiful campus. So it was fun for us to "go back to school" for the wedding of Amy and B.J. at the historic Kilworth Chapel.

We had planned out a little "portrait tour" of campus for our bride and groom portraits, and got a great variety of backdrops and poses in a pretty short amount of time on the Puget Sound campus!

The ceremony featured a mix of Jewish and Catholic traditions — Hebrew words under a chuppah (traditional Jewish wedding canopy) one minute, ceremonial wine drinking the next, all in front of Kilworth's signature organ pipes.

After the ceremony, the wedding party boarded a cool party bus and headed off to the Tacoma Country and Golf Club for the reception.

The comedic highlight of the reception was the toast given by the maid of honor (Amy's big sister), who presented B.J. with a sort of "survival kit" for life with Amy.

A few more of our favorite (and, in some cases, wackiest) photos from the reception:

Congrats again Amy and B.J.!