When it comes to wedding planning, the very first thing you must determine is WHERE. Even before the date. Billy and I have several factors to consider. I’m on the side of having a destination wedding, and Billy wants to have a traditional wedding. I really can see advantages to both, and seeing as I love this man so much, I’ll most likely give in because it’s important to him. We are both from Oregon, but now live in Seattle, so we’re adding that to the list of decisions. If we DO have a “wedding” wedding, Oregon or Seattle? We’re both really drawn to the unique and uncanny, so we’re researching locations that break the mold a bit.

I’ve googled just about every possible combination you can imagine to find out of the ordinary venues (some of them are more ordinary than others). I’ll start with the pro’s and con’s on getting married in Seattle VS. Oregon:

[Sidenote: did you know "pro's" is the abbreviation of productive, and "con's" of contrary? I googled]

Pro’s:

• No travel for the Bride and Groom
• Local vendors, local hands-on planning!
• Existing relationships with wonderful vendors
• Most guests would be traveling from other locations, so more incentive to stay at the wedding longer

Con’s:

• It’s likely to be cold and or rainy
• Budget will double…. Seattle is just more pricey
• Two words….House guests

The theme I’m drawn to is Rustic yet elegant. For whatever reason, I’ve always pictured a barn when thinking about my wedding.

Here are some Seattle wedding venues I love:

SODO PARK, HERBAN FEAST

I’ve been told that this is the #1 venue for 2010, so I suppose the originality factor goes out the window on this one. I just get giddy when I think about this venue, it’s everything I want and more. Most of the venues I’ve been researching require that you use their catering, or work with one of their preferred vendors. This usually makes me really mad, except in the case of Herban Feast.The food is definitely a selling point to this venue. The space is a converted warehouse, and the old world charm still exists. It has a rustic feel, but as you can see, exudes elegance with the right decor. I also LOVE that this venue is right in the city. Most of the rustic venues I’ve found are so far away from civilization, transportation is going to become a factor. I want to encourage my guests to stay as long as possible.

photos courtesy of  www.herbanfeast.com.

CARNATION FARM

This place is amazing. The views, the sweeping lawns, the solitude. Amazing. It has the feeling of a farm, without the smells of a farm ;-) It’s a little further out, and would be about 45-60 minutes of driving if guests elected to stay in Seattle. There is some lodging on site, which would be a good option, but I would probably need to research transportation for guests who didn’t fit or decided not to stay there.

These images courtesy of www.campkorey.org

These STUNNING images courtesy of Michelle M. Waite, Photographer

THE LOFT, RUSSEL DEAN LOWELL

I only just found this location while doing research for this post, and I absolutely must see it. It looks like one of those places with miles of potential. Loving the cathedral ceiling, and even though working with the catering is a requirement, by the looks of the menu… I’m excited for the tasting. It too is in town, so it would be closer to hotels for guests.

photo courtesy of www.rdlcatering.com

THE HALL AT FAUNTELROY

This is not a barn, obviously. I love the uniqueness of this location however. It’s a converted elementary school. So much charm! I love repurposed things, and the combination of the dated architecture and exposed brick, really make this a reasonable contendor for me. Again, the required catering…. so until we taste, there can be no decision. They also include gold Chaivari chairs with the rental of the room. These are the chairs I’m going with (I know, I have the chairs but no where to put them). Depending on where they’re rented from, they can cost anywhere from $7-10 per chair. SO that equates to savings for me! And the hassle of delivery.

photos courtesy of www.tuxedosandtennisshoes.com

I’m very excited to view all of these venues, and I’ll let you know what I find and taste!

A couple of weeks ago I had an opportunity to second shoot for the ever fabulous Jamie Delaine in Vancouver, Canada. I love Vancouver. No really, it’s awesome! I can’t believe my first time there was only this last summer. It’s such an amazingly beautiful city, and the city in the fall…. OH my.

This was the sweetest couple, I met Jennifer for the first time on Saturday morning. She was glowing. Warmth and excitement oozed from her pores. She was the most excited bride I have witness yet.  Her sweet voice shook ever so slightly with the nervous anticipation of seeing her groom. As her mother laced her dress, her sisters and bridesmaids gathered around her and said what both Jamie and I were thinking. Stunning Jennifer, Mike is going to lose his breath.

And I think he did. Between the dynamic music, and the hushed oooo’s and ah’s, the time in the room seemed to stand still when she walked in the door. I really could go on and on about how captivating this ceremony was. I of course was in tears, and so happy for the love that they found in each other. More than anything though, it was the understanding of the commitment that really was apparent at this wedding. Jen’s father gave her away, and led the ceremony. He’s the pastor at Coastal Church in Vancouver, where Mike and Jennifer married. It was truly unique and extremely personal.

Following the ceremony, we headed to Jennifer’s parents penthouse downtown. We couldn’t help but take advantage of the gorgeous 360 degree views of the city from their rooftop. Mike and Jen did an awesome job of looking warm didn’t they?

J’aime les feuilles de chute.

After leaving the high rise, we headed to Stanley Park for a quick portrait session before the sun went down.

The reception was held at the Stanley Park Pavilion. Such an amazing venue!

Thank you Jamie for allowing me to join you again. You’re awesome!

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Of all of the line items in your budget for your wedding, which of those are tangible heirlooms? As I’m prioritizing my own budget, I’m asking myself these questions. The dress you will likely never wear again, and the past time of handing dresses down is long gone (which I’m actually QUITE thankful for because my mother was married in the seventies). Food, flowers, favors, and decor all disappear after the big day. While you’ll cherish those memories forever, having a wedding album, brings the images to the forefront of your memory forever!

I believe that albums should be free of trend, full of classic simplicity and beautiful. They should tell the story of your day, but mostly of your love.

I’d like to welcome Queensberry Albums to my arsenal. They are the best of the best of the best of wedding album craftsmen, and I am so pleased to be able to offer them to my brides to hand down for generations to come. They’re handmade from the finest leathers, and come all the way to my porch from New Zealand. This little package arrived in the post yesterday, and I had to snap some pictures because I just adored the attention they took in packaging everything.

They offer the unique option of  ”wing” or “flip” pages!!!! So amazing!

GORGEOUS!!! Can’t wait to design one for you!

visit my wedding photography website to enquire about rates and availability.

Last week, Billy and I decided to randomly take a little mini-cation. It’s been quite a few years since we took off and did something just for us. The incentive this time came from an invitation from The Outlook Inn, in Eastsound, WA. I met the owner, Adam Farish, at the Tacoma Bridal Show this year, and he graciously invited us up to visit his GORGEOUS hotel in the San Juans. This wedding venue has the sweetest charm. The Outlook Inn sits right across from the water, and from our suite, we had the most delightful view of the water.

We spent the weekend laughing, flirting with danger, and exploring the islands. AND it was perfect. Saturday afternoon, we returned from the day out, flipped on the fire, brewed a pot of decaf, and prepared for one of our most competitive pastimes. Scrabble.

One thing I KNOW about my man, after 6 years of togetherness is that he is a competitive game player. If you think I’m bad at spelling, you have yet to play Scrabble with Billy. He likes to make up all kinds of words, and argues them to the death. In fact one of our very first dates involved playing Scrabble…. I learned early on that he likes to cheat. So it really wasn’t a surprise to me when I returned from filling up our coffee cups and saw that he had the entire bag of tiles dumped out on his lap. CHEATER!!!! He whined and complained that he didn’t have any of the tiles he needed. I immediately did what any rule abiding Scrabble player would do, I docked him -57 points and confiscated the tile bag. The rest of the game he continued to struggle with the game, because as per usual I was BEATING him.

About halfway through, I left the table to fill up our mugs (took the tile bag with me of course). When I returned I came back to this:

AND this:

SO…. We’re getting married!!!! Thank you to everyone who has already shared their excitement, and well wishes with us. We are very excited for this next chapter in our lives. I’m completely overwhelmed at the prospect of planning a wedding, and gaining a new respect for all of my brides, this decision making stuff is hard!!! I’m adding a new category to my blog to document as much of my wedding planning as possible.

Many brides who want to remain true to tradition and wait to see their groom until the actual ceremony, can lose out on precious pictures with their new hubby on their day. There simply isn’t enough time to fit everything in. The pressure of waiting guest, capturing all of the bridal party and family photos can eat up that time you had set aside. Most of the breathtaking images you see of the bride and groom together are either possible because they chose to see themselves before the ceremony in a private session we call a “first look” OR because they opted to use their signature session for this:

A day after session!

Yes! You will get to wear your gown again, BONUS.

I always try to encourage a “first look” during the day of, because the emotions are so true to the day, and likely you’ve had great hair and makeup done. However I can respect the tradition, so this is a fantastic compromise!

Amanda decided to recreate her bouquet for her day after session as well, and I honestly couldn’t tell the difference. I guess I know who’ll I’ll be recruiting for my florals someday!

My FANTASTIC second shooter Tre captured this one below:

See what I mean about the bouquet? I think she should be a floral designer. FO SHO.

This is my favorite shot from the session. Doesn’t Walt look so GQ?