Whether the Weather?

Julie and Mike's wedding at Thornewood Castle was a real edge-of-the-seat thriller, thanks to optimistic plans to have an outdoor wedding in Western Washington in September, and schizophrenic weather that was determined to make everyone second-guess those plans. Thankfully, everything worked out perfectly!

It was a beautiful sunny day when we arrived at Thornewood, and stayed pleasant as we started the pre-ceremony portrait session in the sunken garden. That stunning bouquet is a Blitz creation.

We'd just wrapped up the family portraits when the sky suddenly opened up, and within a minute it was bucketing! Fortunately we brought our cute Bella Umbrella, which was enough to keep our MVPs dry during the dash to shelter. (Their entourage wasn't quite so lucky, but they were so good-natured about the whole thing!)

Since it was still raining 30 minutes before the ceremony, Thornewood staff set up the Great Hall for an indoor ceremony. But wait! Just 15 minutes later, the sun broke out, and Julie and Mike made the brave decision to go for the outdoor ceremony after all. Vows, rings and a kiss were exchanged in front of the magnificent hydrangeas of the sunken garden as planned. Adding drama to the ceremony, the skies again began to darken, and the stormclouds were just polite enough to wait until Mike and Julie were pronounced husband and wife before letting loose again. Needless to say, the guests didn't dawdle in the garden!

After the license signing upstairs, the wedding party descended the 500-year-old master staircase to join their guests for cocktails. After the sun broke out again a short time later, we were able to sneak outside for a few more portraits.

The buffet dinner, catered by Snuffins, and the events of the reception were held in Thornewood's wood-paneled rooms with medieval stained glass windows.

By the departure time, the rains were back, as strong as ever. Getting wet one last time was a worthy sacrifice to get this cool dusk photo of the Silver Cloud Rolls Royce in front of Thornewood's main entrance!

Congrats again to Julie and Mike, not only for getting married, but for showing the guts to get married outside on a day of crazy weather!