Weddings

Sun - November 11, 2007

Beth + Phil: The wedding

I had the pleasure to photograph Beth and Phil's wedding Saturday. With a fun and relaxed group of friends and family they were married at the Lake Union Crew House in North Seattle. The weather was unseasonably perfect for a November wedding in the NW. One of their best friends became ordained to perform the ceremony and Sean , my fellow photographer, dubbed him 'Friar Todd', it was fitting. :-) The wonderful food (really wonderful) was provided by Seasoned in Seattle.

Here are a few of my favorite images from the night. :-)

They planned their portraits for just after sunset, a time when the sky and the Seattle skyline are beautiful. But the fact is these two showed so much love they could have been anywhere and anytime and it would have been easy to get great portraits of them together. :-)

Above: The recently ordained Friar Todd

Above: The toasts were moving and plentiful

Thanks you two, I had a wonderful time at your wedding and I wish you a long and beautiful life together. :-)

~Bill

Posted at 08:40 AM

Wed - October 24, 2007

Giselle + Jeff: The Wedding

The smallest most intimate wedding I've been to, Jeff and Giselle celebrated in high style with their closest friends. It was beautiful!! :-)

I started the day with Giselle and her friend Fatima at Fatima's house in West Seattle. What a perfect place, the natural light in their house is amazing. The ceremony, reception and dinner were at Canlis Restaurant in North Seattle.

I had a wonderful time, I hope I see everyone there again! :-)

:~)

~Bill

Posted at 12:43 PM

Sun - October 21, 2007

Meagan + Emmanuel

Meagan and Emmanuel had beautiful fall weather for there wedding last weekend in Renton. Meagan met Emmanuel when she was doing Peace Corp work in Africa. It was an uphill battle to get the paperwork in place for Emmanuel to be able to come to the US and be married. I was very pleased to be the photographer at this celebration, it was, in many ways, a triumph for this wonderful couple and their family and friends.

Here are a few of my favorites from the day:

Posted at 11:40 AM

Tue - October 2, 2007

Jessica + Tyler

This couple and their friends are some of the most fun people you could ever meet! We had so much fun in downtown Seattle on Saturday. It rained. There was a bird poop incident (involving Jessica, the bride). Nothing stopped them from having an absolutely wonder fun time! That's the way it should always be... Weddings should be fun, no matter what. ;-)

We had a lot of time set aside for portraits... and for me that means we're gonna have fun. We had chocolate, chased birds, stopped traffic....

An extra big thank you to Jessica's friend Valerie for all your help!

Here are a few of my favorites, I'll post an album design and slideshow soon. :-)

Posted at 08:14 PM

Sat - September 1, 2007

Jennifer and Orin

Last weekend was such a mad dash, with two weddings and a family portrait all in two days. You might think I would have been dragging by the time I got to Jennifer and Orin's wedding, but that wasn't the case at all. I love this work, so I was excited! I'd never been to downtown Bremerton before so finding parking by the waterfront was a little confusing. The Kitsap Convention Center is an awesome place for a wedding with a nice indoor facility, great views of the water and hotels and restaurants all around.

The ceremony was on the pier and we took the time for some portraits outside on the deck and by the fountain. Here are a few of my favorites:

:-)

The brides mom brought her mom's wedding album and asked if I could recreate a posed picture from the book so that she would have the same shot of both her mom and daughter. It was a very skillfully set up studio shot with careful lighting and posing, I did what I could to get close in the brides dressing area with the location lights I had with me:

Orin, the groom, explained to us that he is full blooded Irish and, as such, is a master heal clicker... observe:

A beautiful day all the way around... ;)

Posted at 10:51 AM

Fri - August 31, 2007

Erin + Doug

Erin and Doug are so much fun! They're a super laid back couple and their outdoor ceremony at the Walter Dacon Winery (near Shelton WA) was absolutely beautiful! They said their vows just as the sun went down and then the party started!. I didn't get to try the wine (I was working ya know...), but I'm gonna head back out there during tasting hours sometime soon!

The slideshow is here: Erin + Doug Wedding day slideshow (grab some popcorn it's a long one!)

There engagement slideshow is here: We Will: Erin + Doug

Again, it's tough to pick favorites... Here are more than a few: :-)

The stylist, Julia, checking out the favors Erin packed for her bridesmaids:

Whoops, it's just a small hole in the ceiling....

Haha, look at that, she's making a playlist on the very same Powerbook I'm posting this from.....

It took a while to get everybody's hair done, but the results were awesome!

Then on to the winery:

Doug, the groom, catches me....

Zoe was a beautiful flower girl :-)

I love dresses that lace up the back, a zipper just isn't the same...

The live music was great, I wish I'd gotten their card (if someone has contact info for them please leave it in the comment section, thanks!)

The first look:

Signing the Ketubah. This was my first Jewish ceremony and I really enjoyed the beautiful marriage contract (Ketubah).

Another shot of the band:

Breaking the glass, another first for me, I'm glad I asked ahead of time what the sequence would be so I didn't miss this shot:

And of course.... the kiss. :-D

Followed by a beautiful outdoor party, toasts and dancing. A perfect evening....

I had two weddings last weekend, so I'll have more to share soon... ;-)

~Bill

Posted at 12:48 PM

Thu - August 23, 2007

Karla + Eric

I had such a great time at Karla and Eric's wedding. Karla and the girls started at the always fun Robert Allen Salon in West Olympia. She was a little worried about the schedule, but the stylists were done early and they even had time to stop for a snack before heading to the Schmidt House in Tumwater and getting dressed for portraits.

The Schmidt House is a beautiful place for an outdoor wedding and they even have room for an indoor wedding if the guest list isn't too long... ;-)

The rain was coming down outside and we were all hoping for a clearing to allow for an outdoor ceremony

Karla is an amazingly beautiful bride!

The groom's handsome son seating guests:

Not quite yet....

The sun came out and was absolutely warm and beautiful the rest of the day!

The groom giving thanks:

A little mishap that seemed to happen over and over with those large bottles of Champagne (they had way more than they needed and even sent a bottle home with me, thanks Eric!)

The strawberries in Tuxedos were THE BOMB! The groom made them himself. :-)

Good friends, good times....

The rings and centerpieces... very pretty :-)

And of course there were some super cute kids...

The groom's mom enjoying a quiet moment:

I'm not actually sure how this nice lady is related, but she was so sweet and I just love this picture of her:

I accompanied the family to a very nice dinner at Mercato's restaurant . Everyone had a good time (and so did I!)

Gifts were given...

Now they're off to honeymoon in Paris, France for 2 weeks! Enjoy yourselves and I'm looking forward to seeing your vacation pictures when you get back! :-)

The custom album design will be posted tomorrow!

~Bill

Posted at 08:30 PM

Sun - August 19, 2007

We Will: Karla and Eric

Karla and Eric are getting married today! Here are a few shots from their engagement session. :-)

The slideshow is here.

Wedding pictures will follow in a couple days!

~Bill

Posted at 07:01 AM

Wed - August 15, 2007

Melissa + Jesse

Wow, it's been a busy few weeks! I'm going to try to catch up on my blogging, I promise.....

Melissa and Jesse got married at the Olympia/Lacey Church of God and had their reception at the Red Lion in Olympia. It was a beautiful celebration, so full of love. And I had such a nice time, they really made me feel like one of the family. :-)

You can find all their pictures and slideshows on their own custom webpage: Melissa + Jesse links

Once again, I had a terrible time picking my favorites, so here are 38.... ;-)

Gotta love that shirt!

A surprise gift from Jesse, diamond necklace and earrings...

Off to Macy's for a little makeup. :)

Jesse surprised her again, this time with snazzy shoes!

The florist did an amazing job!

She had snazzy shoes too, hot pink, how cool is that!

I told him "she's on the way down, get ready"

Walking towards her groom, her dad behind her.

The first look. I think it's so cool to be the witness when a groom first sees his beautiful bride (and Melissa couldn't have been more beautiful!)

The one person I can't tell to beat it when I'm doing portraits:

Something Blue

A prayer just minutes before the ceremony, I only took one picture, as quietly as I could, I didn't want to interrupt this moment.

At the altar:

Her brother caught me looking his way:

Jesse's mom, sisters and grandparents:

Did I mention the flowers were amazing?

Everybody was heading to the reception at the Red Lion and this guy was a picture dying to be taken, 3 piece suit, cigarette and a bright yellow motorcycle:

The Red Lion Ballroom has lighting that I would call 'very difficult', but I've got a few lighting tricks up my sleeve, so I think it worked out just fine... ;)

Guess who caught the bouquet....

A few portraits and ring shots outside:

So, ya know I love signs! I couldn't resist this one:

A band was playing in the gazebo, they were kind enough to let me use the tools of their craft in the pursuit of mine.

Every best man needs a cigar, right?

The band took a break and we borrowed their space...

Melissa asked me if I had gotten a picture of the church reader board, and I hadn't even been out to the street side of the church so I had no idea their names were in lights. She said she'd been waiting since she was 13 to see her wedding announcement on that board, so of course I went back and got it.... ;-)

Posted at 08:54 AM

Tue - August 7, 2007

Silje + Kirk

Silje and Kirk got married in the same church her parents did 39 years ago, as well as all of her older siblings. She's the youngest in the family and the last to be married. A very special day for everyone! The reception was in Aberdeen at the Rotary Log Pavilion. What a beautiful place that is! The decorating and special touches they added made for an amazingly beautiful setting for their party. They even had hand made and hand wrapped truffles for each guest (including me!) at the tables.

Wedding photography is a tremendous amount of work and can often make for long days. Including commuting this one was a 17 hour day for me, but the satisfaction of helping preserve the memories of a day like this make it all worthwhile. :-)

The day started at the All About You salon in Aberdeen.

My next stop was the home of the bride's parents in Hoquiam, where the groom and best man were getting ready:

Then on to the Saron Lutheran Church in Hoquiam:

The Rotary Log Pavilion in Aberdeen is on the shores of upper Gray's Harbor. A wonderful backdrop for portraits. :)

Posted at 08:41 AM

Sat - July 14, 2007

Theresa + Ron 7-7-07

The biggest wedding day of the century... maybe ever. I had the pleasure of spending the day with Theresa and Ron, a very cool couple, and their family and friends. The diversity and love in this group is amazing. Really amazing. I had a great time.

The wedding day slideshow is here... And the album design will be posted in a couple days... ;-)

Once again it was tough to narrow it down to 'just a few', so here are my favorite 35. (!!) In fact getting it down that far really hurt, I had to cut some pictures I love... they're in the slideshow though.. but really narrowing down to 165 images for the slideshow was a little painful too... The entire image set is a little over 600 shots and I'm rather proud of them all... ;-)

Posted at 02:57 PM

Wed - July 4, 2007

Julie + Dave

Julie and Dave had an outdoor wedding last Saturday at there beautiful home in Thurston County (just NE of Lacey). Lots of friends and family enjoyed the sunny day with them!

Normally I would be working on an album design today and post it tomorrow (and I still might post it late tomorrow), but since the holiday is here and I'm taking the day off, I decided to do a short slideshow to go along with this blog post and tide them over so they can see some of the images.... ;-)

Wedding Day Slideshow

Here are some of my favorite images... Once again it was very hard to pick just a few. :-)

The dress:

Jacquelyn David salon in downtown Olympia:

They had about the cutest bunch of kids there I've ever seen:

I love this next image. One cool thing about using two cameras at once is I can set one to get the 'safe shots' and another with more daring settings to get artistic images like this:

Details:

Still lovin my new macro lens for ring shots:

Dave's brother Doug was the best man, and he gave a very fun toast:

I wasn't kidding about the cute kids! see:

Lens flair can ruin an image, unless you're trying to get flair like I was here. Sometimes I really like the effect of shooting right into the sun (or a strobe):

A girl and her dad:

And another: :-)

A beautiful day and a beautiful night :-D

I love my job... ;-)

~Bill

Posted at 10:09 AM

Wed - June 27, 2007

Heather + Carl

What a fun wedding! They had family from all over, including the grooms 3 brothers that hadn't all been together for quite some time. The location was the Woodmark Hotel in Kirlkand, WA, a beautiful place. The weather was awesome!

I teamed up with Marv Heston on this one and I really enjoyed working with him. Thanks Marv!

I had a hard time narrowing down the images to post here, I like so many... If you want to see a few more (OK, quite a few more), watch the slideshow here: Heather and Carl Wedding Slideshow

The wedding bands:

What a cutie!

And another one :-)

The first look, Carl was overwhelmed when he saw his bride, they'd been apart for 2 days...

While most of my wedding photography is candid (or photojournalistic, but that word is little overused in this business), sometimes a posed picture really grabs me, and this is one of those. I saw the brides grandmother sitting by herself waiting for the ceremony to start and I asked her if I could take her picture. She lit up and said 'why yes!', the man standing next to me proudly told me that I was photographing the brides grandmother, so I asked him who he was and he told me he was the brides uncle, and this lady's son. So I asked if he''d like to be in the picture. The joy and pride of the day is no more evident in the candids than in this posed picture:

Just after the ceremony, the first of many toasts...

The best part about guests not throwing rice anymore is that now they blow bubbles. :-)

I love showing the motion in my dance shots. It's a trick to pull it off and get the faces sharp. I never know for sure if I got the shot in the camera, so I take quite a few... I like these:

:-)

~Bill

Posted at 01:18 PM

Tue - June 26, 2007

We will: Julie + David

These two have a beautiful home just NE of Lacey with a huge yard! All the engagement pictures were in their yard and that's where the wedding will be too. I couldn't believe all the work they've done building retaining walls and planting plants and flowers, it's a stunner!

The wedding is only 4 days away now. I'm looking forward to it!

A short slideshow is here: Julie + David Engagement Slideshow
The gallery is here: Julie + David Engagement Gallery

Posted at 02:21 PM

Wed - June 20, 2007

Jen + Brian

I second shot a wonderful wedding on Saturday with Steve Smith . It was a beautiful ceremony and reception at the HUGE First Church of the Nazarene in Portland, Oregon. These two are a fun/crazy couple with great friends and warm inviting families. I'm glad I was a part of it!

I hope you two are having a great time in Hawaii!!! :-)

A bunch of the images I captured are below and a short slideshow is here: Jen and Brian's wedding slideshow

One of the bridesmaids locked her dress in the car... it was a bummer, they ended up having to break a window to get it out in time. The show must go on. AAA is a great thing, but fast they aren't...