The girls started at the Eden salon and the boys started at the miniature golf course.

Thank you both for including me in your day — I really enjoyed it!

~Bill

Then we went up Queen Anne Hill to Highland Park for some family portraits. The park has a great view of the Seattle skyline - since everyone was from out of town, having the Seattle skyline as a backdrop is pretty dang cool.

The reception site, The Court in the Square, is a stunning 5 story glass enclosed courtyard between 2 historic buildings in Pioneer Square. Joe and Angie had a great party with family and friends from all over the country!

Thanks for including me. I really wish you two weren’t moving away!

Lots more to blog soon…

~Bill

Their wedding was tons of fun, I’ve never been to the Hidden Creek Community Church in West Olympia before - it’s a surprisingly beautiful sanctuary for a small community church. We did a fair amount of driving around, from the salon to the hotel, to the church and then to the fairgrounds for an amazing party. The food was provided by the Falls Terrace Restaurant in Tumwater - Both the groom’s mom Terri and Mary (the bride) work at the restaurant, so the whole staff was there - including the head chef to make sure everything was perfect! The MC/DJ was from Mr Lobo in Olympia, I wish I could remember the DJ’s name, I’ve worked with him a couple times and he’s a great guy!

Now what you’ve been waiting for - the pictures -

I love this reflection of me:

The lighting in the church sanctuary is beautiful:

I think this portrait of Mary is especially striking since it’s almost impossible to catch her without a big smile on her face:

The whole wedding party - a fun group!

Mary’s grandfather Ted walked her down the isle. He’s a wonderful man - I really enjoyed talking to him.

‘We did it!!’

These champagne glasses cracked me up - they’re from their Tumwater High School Prom, year 2000 - since when do Prom’s have Champagne????

And off they went!

Want some more? Here’s a slideshow :)

click here if the slideshow doesn’t show up correctly

Thanks for including me in your day - I’m looking forward to seeing you both again.

~Bill

Since it was a Mormon wedding there were no pictures allowed during the ceremony, but we still got plenty of pictures on the grounds of the beautiful Mormon Temple in Bellevue and at the home of Byron’s parents - they live on the ridge overlooking the Auburn valley - a stunning place!

Here are a few pictures:

Thanks guys!  I’ll have the rest ready soon.

~Bill

They drove down from Mukilteo to meet me in Tacoma for their engagement session - we hung out, had a nice dinner (although the restaurant was a little crazy, apparently it was $3 steak night!!).

The more I shoot in downtown Tacoma, the more I like it - it’s a beautiful area.

Here are a few of the pictures we captured - I can’t wait for the wedding!

Right after that last shot the train station security came to kick us out - very politely, but none the less…

See you both in a few weeks

~Bill

We stopped for snacks and drinks… twice.

As the sun went down we found a strangely deserted 5 lane city street in downtown Tacoma and took advantage of it….

What a good looking couple huh? Love you guys! See you Saturday at Erin’s.

~Bill

Check out a few of the images and feel free to leave a comment at the bottom.

After the sun went down we headed over to the bridge of glass and the waterfront - it was raining by then, hence the umbrella.

I had a great time hanging out with you guys - I’m bummed you’re moving all the way to Ohio after the wedding…

~Bill

They’re a relaxed and fun couple and I’m really looking forward to their wedding -

A couple of steamy kisses ~

This one with a little sun flare - I love sun flare…

Walking away… together.

Thanks guys - I’ll see you soon!

~Bill

The drive down took me 12 hours, basically sun-up to sun-down. The mountain pass as you go from southern Oregon into northern CA was sun and snow covered ~ basically a beautiful drive.

The sunrise as I was pulling out at 7am:

Mt Shasta through the windshield at 75mph:

I stayed in Sonoma with my new friend Trevor Meeks, photographer and pilot, he has an awesome studio in the middle of the wine country and let me crash on the floor.

A few behinds the scene shots (click image for a bigger view):

Night shooting; everyone got out their off camera lights and pocket wizard channels were overloaded!

So instead of using my flashes, I opted to shoot with my favorite low light lens (200mm f1.8) and get the mood of the street lights rather than the flash. I think it worked out.

There were also some kids posing…

Again, just lit by the fluorescent lights from a nearby bank parking lot.

We also had a chance to visit a couple beautiful wineries and work with some great ‘models’ (really friends and clients of the local CA photographers). What a treat! The first day I was a group leader, so I spent more time working with other photographers than actually shooting, I still got a couple shots I like of our model Kayla (who is actually a makeup artist from Sacramento — correct me if I’m wrong). Kayla had never modeled at all before (sorta like most of my clients, lol) and did an amazing job ~ Thank you Kayla!

The second day, Sunday, I had more time to shoot and our ‘models’ were all dressed as brides and grooms. Fun and relaxed bridals and couples portraits were the order of the day. These are the types of images that are hard to get on your wedding day when their is a tight schedule and lots of other demands. So doing a fun bridal after the wedding is an awesome idea, no stress and not a big deal if the dress gets a little dirty.

a few more:

A big thank you to everyone who came out to model and all the photographers that volunteered there time to help organize the event. I really enjoyed it ~ again.

Looking forward to next year.

~Bill

The biggest ingredient wasn’t the money they spent, but the love they shared. I wish them the best and I’m happy to call them my friends now.

~Bill