Basking in the Glow

Jason and Marisa were married at the end of July in a beautiful sun-kissed ceremony at the Northwest Room at Ray’s Boathouse in Ballard. This was my first time shooting there, but I loved all the great natural light and the view right onto the Puget Sound. It was a young crowd in attendance and they knew how to bring the party! Rather than having people clink their glasses when they wanted the couple to kiss, they would have to do a shot, so the guests really had to work for it! 

This was the groom’s best-man. They have definitely known each other for quite a long time and were not shy at all! Just helping the groom prepare for the first dance…

The groom just couldn’t hold in his excitement!

Can’t resist sharing a picture of a cute baby…

The couple’s friend was the officiant, which always makes for a fun, personal ceremony.

The bride’s young niece was the flower girl. I love the “wild-card” of having young kids in the ceremony - you never know what will happen!

The dancing was so very entertaining!

Love at the Locks

I met Jason and Jessica a few weeks back at the Ballard Locks to take their engagement pictures. Their wedding is coming up in November and although I am not shooting their wedding, I was so excited to do their engagement session, as they are always a lot of fun to do, and they were both a joy to work with - such a cute couple as you can tell from the pictures! 

Isn’t her ring gorgeous? Nice work, Jason!

This picture is particularly funny when you know that Jason works at the Courthouse…the tables have turned! Nice to know that Jessica would at least go visit him if he was in the slammer, that’s love!

From the Locks, we headed to downtown Ballard to get some fun urban pictures. I love all the brick that they have there as it always looks good in pictures. By this time, they were both warmed up and totally in the swing of things so it was a lot of fun.

This is my new favorite spot right outside the Matador restaurant. The window is filled with different colored liquor bottles but you also get the reflection of the trees around, so I love the variety of colors that you get - a very unique backdrop.

Thanks so much for being so easygoing and fun to work with, you two. Have a great November wedding!

Wedding Bliss at Monte Villa FarmhouseI

I joined Danielle & Greg (who you may recognize from their engagement session this past April) a few weeks ago at Monte Villa Farmhouse in Bothell for their fabulous wedding. This was my first time shooting there and I really loved it - a great mix of outdoor for the ceremony and mingling and indoor for eating and dancing. I started off with Danielle, her mom and maid-of-honor/sister upstairs for some getting ready shots and fun details. Often for getting ready shots, there is a large group of bridesmaids and I am working to get shots and blend in, but I must say that with only three women up there, it wasn’t very easy to act invisible! They were all so sweet and welcoming which made it a lot of fun to start the day.

A little spying on guests as they arrive…

It was such a beautiful day for shooting, we really lucked out. How pretty is this place??

The bride never really chose formal colors for her wedding, things just naturally evolved to shades of purple and green. For not choosing, she had a gorgeous bouquet!

Mom, sister and grandma all ended up wearing shades of purple as well, which made for some beautiful color.

How cute is the bride’s grandfather??!! Love it!

And you know I cannot resist the shots of adorable small children…

My “assistant” photographer. Okay, not really, he was the maid-of-honor/bride’s sister’s boyfriend, but I’m sure he got a lot of good shots!

Hilarious story - the groom’s best man decided to give himself a quick trim before heading to the wedding. Would have been great, except the guard on his clippers fell off leaving him with a nice gash in the back of his head! Made for a great story during the speeches and some hilarious pictures. Moral of the story - never give yourself a haircut before a major event!

This bell dress is so pretty on Danielle, perfect for her body type. And I have to say, it’s nice to see brides in something other than the big princess dress sometimes (even though I always love those).

The speeches at this wedding were so great! They had me laughing so hard I could barely take the picture and then tearing up the next moment. Hard to beat!

The bride has the absolute best laugh of any bride I have ever photographed, as you will see from below and some of the previous shots. It’s hard not to smile and be in a good mood after witnessing that!

The bride’s grandmother and her two sisters.

I’m always sad when I go to a wedding and the dance floor is empty. No worries, though, as that was definitely not the case with this crowd! The money dance started off with some hilarious combos…

The groom and his grandmother.

Congratulations Danielle and Greg! Thanks for having me as part of your special day, it was a blast!

Have I Mentioned I Love Engagement Sessions??

I met this couple at the Arboretum to start. The forecast called for rain (of course!) but we were lucky to start. They brought along their adorable Boston Terrier, which made for a fun, different take on some of the engagement pictures, and he was happy enough to wander by the pond and down the trails with us. We were able to get some great greenery and flower shots and even stumbled on a few surprises, like the silhouette tunnel shot below. 

From the Arboretum, we headed down to Golden Gardens park, a great place to shoot, especially when the day is clear, which is was not for us. Even though it was definitely starting to rain by the time we got there (crazy detour took us on a very circuitous route, needless to say!), D & G were still up for more shots, although we left little pup in the car. Besides the water, there are great locations at Golden Gardens from the trees, brick building, mosaics and even some cool graffiti that worked out well for some love shots. It was so great to get to know D & G better and I can’t wait for their June wedding!

On a side note, engagement sessions are a great way to get to know your photographer before your big wedding day as well as to help you get more comfortable in front of the camera. Pictures can be used at your wedding for slideshows, guest books, matted pictures for people sign or to send out with save the date cards or invitations. Plus, they are just a lot of fun and provide us the freedom to go to places we might not have time to photograph at on your busy wedding day. You don’t need to restrict yourself to only engagement shots - I am always up for fun couples shots or anniversary shots and we always have time for at least two of your favorite locations.

 

 

Love Abloom in Ballard

I met this couple in Ballard to capture some beautiful engagement pictures and it made me realize how much more I need to visit Ballard. Can you believe this was the first time I really walked out on the Locks? That is just crazy! We had a great time walking around downtown Ballard with all of it’s fun and funky architecture and sculptures, then we made our way over to the Locks to get some greenery and watery. There are some very fun wave sculptures on the far side of the Locks that M was brave enough to walk all the way to in her amazing red heels (definitely experiencing some shoe envy here!). Since most of M’s family lives out of the country, it was very important to capture these pictures before she went to visit them for two weeks so she could show her family what her fiance even looked like! 

I always enjoy doing engagement sessions before the wedding - it’s a great way to get to know the couple a little better before their big day. It was so much fun to get to know M & J before their August wedding - I know it’s going to be a spectatular day! Hope you enjoy!