Washington weddings
A North Cascades Mountain Elopement with a Pretty Floral Dress
From the photographer, Suzanne Rothmeyer Photography
Stephanie and Justin rolled up to the Thunder Knob Trail trailhead with their little trailer they had been camping in for the last week as they traveled through the Cascade Mountains. We did their first look overlooking Diablo Lake with stunning weather and views. I gasped when Stephanie stepped out of the loo in her dress…I adore brides who go with something other than the traditional and really embrace their personality when choosing their wedding dress!
One of the sweetest things about this elopement was their sharing of memories of their 10 years of knowing each other, first as friends, on the climb up to the summit, and then sharing their hopes, dreams, and plans for the future on the way down.
They read their vows against the backdrop of a layered mountain landscape, with the sun disappearing with a twinkle over the tallest peak as they embraced. Then wrapping up the moment toasting with cider before we headed back down. It was truly the perfect day – and not another soul at the top.
Lakeside Engagement Portraits in Washington
Rattlesnake Lake was the perfect Pacific Northwest backdrop for Mary and Gabe’s summer engagement session. The couple wanted natural, candid pictures amid the mountains where they like to hike and DBK Photography delivered. These beautiful images are authentic, adorable and full of laughter.
Mary and Gabe met the first weekend of college back on the east coast. In fact, they met at a party that ultimately got busted. When she told me this I was just so tickled. What a perfect college meet-cute. They’ll be telling their children about it one day.
Ultimately, though, what bonded the two of them was their shared love of music. Years later, after graduating and moving across the country together, when they decided they were ready for the next step, Mary put together a playlist of their favorite songs and got it ready for their perfect date night. The night before they were planning a trip back home to visit family, they got dressed up and went out for dinner at The Pink Door. Gabe brought a journal he’d kept since they met, and he read his words to her throughout the evening. As they next made their way around the Seattle Ferris wheel, Mary played their playlist, and they continued sharing their memories together as the sun set over the water. Gabe proposed at the top, amid giggles and tears. Soon after, they hopped on a red-eye back home to celebrate with their families for a long weekend.
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Vintage Nordic Mountain Shoot
From the photographer, Suzanne Rothmeyer Photography: Our inspiration for this shoot was a combination of the natural beauty of the Cascades paired with elegant details, including vintage Scandinavian glassware and traditional food & drink. The Pacific Northwest has a strong Scandinavian influence that we wanted to highlight with the help of some amazing Puget Sound vendors, and to illustrate how even the most intimate celebration can be elegant and dramatic.
THE STYLE TEAM: Photographer: Suzanne Rothmeyer Photography // Apparel: Butcher & Tweed // Floral Designer: Flowers by Shamay // Bakery: Hoffman’s Fine Cakes and Pastries // Culinary: Old Ballard Liquor Co. // Personal Stylist: Rainchild Stylist: Prop-Set-Wardrobe // Invitation Designer: Robinson Paperie // Design and Decor: Silk & Willow // Equipment Rentals: Vintage Ambiance // Dress Store:Wai Ching Studio // Hair Stylist: Kelsey Ekstrom Hair & Makeup Artistry
A Rustic Chic Mountain Wedding in Washington
Nicole began planning her wedding day from the moment her and Darek got engaged. An adventurous, free-spirited, fun-loving couple, these two put an incredible amount of care and thought into each personalized detail from their wedding. From the beautiful hand-dyed napkins to the naked cake made by one of Darek’s very talented groomsmen, these two had everything covered for the perfect wedding celebration. The evening was filled with signature cocktails made with simple syrup infused by the groom, lawn games, and dancing under the stars.
The Wedding Vendors: Photographer: Amy Galbraith Photography // Venue: Brown Family Homestead // Event Planner: Knox Standard // Hair Stylist: Posh Styling // Caterer: RE: PUBLIC // Dress Designer: Sarah Seven
Bliss on Lake Chelan
Tia & Nate | August 31st | Chelan, Washington
From the bride: We chose Lake Chelan as our destination wedding locale because, aside from its stunning scenery and surroundings, we wanted to unite our families into one in a small intimate setting.
My advice: The best piece of advice is to plan everything early. We started booking 16 months ahead and it was difficult finding availabilities. By starting early, there’s no mad dash of stress and when your wedding day arrives, you will be excited for it as opposed to being overwhelmed, exhausted, and just plain over it! This is a beautiful time in your lives that you’ll only get once. Enjoy your engagement – love it, embrace it, and have fun with it!
Tia’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Jacquelynn Brynn Photography // Venue, Caterer: Karma Vineyards // Florist: J9Bing Floral Design // Wedding Gown Designer: Monique Lhuillier “Bliss” Collection
Rustic Country in the Cascade Mountains
Hannah & Anton | June 2nd | Leavenworth, Washington
From the bride, Hannah:
Our mountain destination really let us be ourselves on our wedding day. We felt relaxed and at peace in nature. The mountains offer the most beautiful backdrop you could ask for so you don’t need to add much, just your love!
I loved the ceremony programs I made. I used all different types of vintage/country style scrapbook paper as the cover sheets, cut strips of burlap as a binding and a friend helped me sew the pages together like a book. They ended up really beautiful. It was fun for the guests to pick their favorite one and I noticed that many people took them home with them!
Our other favorite DIY project was the ceremony arbor that Anton and I made. Anton found perfect pieces of birch logs and created the sturdy structure of the arbor. I then found strips of burlap and lace and strung them from the top beam to cascade down like a curtain behind us. It was a really beautiful addition to the ceremony; just enough to add to the beautiful scenery around us but not be distracting.
I loved creating all the little do-it-yourself crafts for the wedding. I didn’t know I had such a creative side, but surprisingly, I really enjoyed all the crafty projects!
One of my favorite personalized things about our wedding was my shoes! I wanted my shoes to be comfortable yet unique. I picked the most comfortable white shoes I could find and my sister, who is an amazing artist, drew a collage of pictures onto my shoes that represented Anton and my relationship: nature scenes, a camping tent, the Icelandic flag (our honeymoon destination), our wedding date, etc. She highlighted it with bright blue accents of color as my “something blue”. They turned out so beautiful and I loved how they peeked out playfully from beneath my hem. I will treasure them forever!
The only anxious moment was when we were having a hard time bustling my dress…my advise to brides would be to have the person (maid of honor?) who will be doing the bustling PRACTICE a few times before the day of! When you’re excited and in a hurry to get to your reception it can be really hard to find that tiny button!
The ceremony took place in an Aspen Grove, an absolutely gorgeous setting with shimmering trees and waving grass. Our ceremony was short, sweet and perfectly ‘us’.
My favorite moment of the whole day was when Anton picked me up and carried me out of the ceremony. We both were barely holding it together during the ceremony and once he carried me past that last row of chairs we both broke into tears and let all of our emotions pour out. It was the greatest and purest feeling of love and joy I’ve ever experienced.
After he carried me off we found a private picnic bench to say our written vows to each other. We are somewhat private people so we decided to do our personal vows on our own after the ceremony ended. It was a really special intimate moment and it also gave us a chance to have some time alone to reflect before the reception. We were both very glad we decided to read them to each other in private.
For the centerpiece vases I hand-soldered the heart and our initials into the bark. I ended up giving many of them away and keeping quite a few too. It was a nice way to create a lasting memory!
My mom’s apple pies are legendary and she generously offered to bake pies to feed all 100 guests! In the days before the wedding, she measured and mixed all the dry ingredients and placed into individual plastic bags, one for each pie. Then, the day before the wedding, it was pie assembly time! We had some family from out of town that had arrived early so we all sat around and had an assembly line of apple peelers, corers and slicers. It meant so much to us that everyone helped out and we had a great time putting together those pies – they turned out PERFECT!
At the very end of the reception, I asked our DJ to play the song “Off We Go” by Trent Dabbs as our last song of the evening. As Anton and I slow danced to the beautiful song our friends and family held hands and slowly danced in a circle around us. Everyone was smiling and spinning, we were surrounded with love. It was such a special moment and the best possible way to end the greatest day of our lives.
My advice: Remember this day is about you two and no one else – you cannot please everybody! Go with your gut and make decisions based on what you feel is right in your heart.
Hannah’s RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Mastin Studio. Kirk captured our day perfectly! He was attentive and around whenever you needed him, but he also was very stealth in the way he moved around that I hardly noticed he was there. It was the perfect attribute for a photographer. We felt completely comfortable around him and were able to be ourselves in front of the camera. He also shot in both digital and film, which I loved.
Venue & Caterer: Mountain Springs Lodge. I could not have asked for more from a venue. Not only were their facilities stunning, their staff was outstanding. There are no words for how much I appreciate their help and expertise. They were so on top of everything; I had absolutely no stress on the day of my wedding. The food was PERFECTION. Wedding food is not always memorable, but we had people telling us for months after the wedding how good the food was. I highly, highly recommend Mountain Springs.
Florist: Floral Laura. Laura created the perfect bouquets and boutonnieres for our wedding. As soon as I started describing my rustic inspiration, she completely understood and created the most stunning arrangements I could have ever dreamed of. I had sort of unique ideas of what I wanted for the men (moss/lambs ear/twigs/acorns) and she was totally on board. She also used almost completely locally farmed flowers and shrubs. By locally I mean from her and her neighbors gardens.
Wedding Gown: I Do Bridal // Bridesmaid Dresses: J. Crew
Honeymoon Location: Iceland
Romance Under the Harvest Moon
Kimberly & Jesse | September 29th | Cle Elum, Washington
From the bride, Kimberly:
We love the outdoors and spend most of our weekends rock climbing and camping, so we planned to get married in a natural setting in the Cascade Mountains in Washington, the State where we met. After booking our venue for the only available weekend, we discovered our wedding day, September 29th, fell on the eve of the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox. What luck! We used the fall harvest as our inspiration and incorporated Granny Smith apples and wheat grass into our décor. We wanted a timeless feel, so Jesse wore a three-piece suit with black wingtip shoes, and I wore a Casablanca dress with a shadow train and a pearl bridal comb. We gave our groomsmen suspenders and our bridesmaids, in Alfred Sung niagara blue dresses, vintage silver spoon bracelets.
We exchanged vows we wrote for each other in front of the stone fireplace inside the lodge. The ceremony was originally going to take place outside, but we felt the inside of the lodge offered seating on both the main floor and in the balcony, allowing us to be surrounded by family and friends and making the ceremony more intimate.
Our day was very special and came together thanks to the hard work of family and friends. In many ways, we were lucky our big day happened! A few weeks before our wedding, huge forest fires broke out in the Cle Elum area, destroying more than 60 homes and coming within half a mile of our venue. Luckily, the smoke and haze cleared by the day of our wedding, but smoke from many of the forest fires in the surrounding mountains can be seen in our wedding day photographs.
I carved apples with a votive carver and we put the apples with votive candles as part of the table centerpieces. Our flowers and centerpieces were created by my sister’s mother-in-law, who lovingly put together beautiful arrangements from the flowers we bought at Pike Place Market in Seattle.
We gave each of our guests a jar of either Marionberry or Gooseberry jam from Woodring, which are considered Northwest berries. The jam was the first gift I ever gave to Jesse.
My uncle handcrafted two incredible wooden signs that read “Bride” and “Groom” to hang from our chairs. The signs were made from the wood of an old barn in Michigan, my home State.
Our menu was inspired by the harvest, and included roasted root vegetables, hearty breads, Pacific salmon, and glazed chicken. During dinner, the harvest moon rose in the East as if on cue, offering a beautiful backdrop for our guests.
Jesse and I both love old-fashioned donuts, so we dreamed up a dessert bar that included donuts from a local baker, cake and other treats. We chose to have carrot cake as our wedding cake in honor of the first cake I ever baked for Jesse. We topped our cake with fabric birds we found on Etsy.com that were personalized to match our outfits (three piece suit for the groom, lace gown for the bride).
Our first dance was to the song “Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show, a song Jesse included on a mixed CD he made me when we first started dating. Jesse learned to two-step for our first dance, and we had a wonderful time making our way around the dance floor.
RECOMMENDED VENDORS
Photographer: Nikki Closser Photography // Venue: Huntley Lodge // Caterer: Blue Ribbon Cooking // Dress Store: Columbia Bridal Boutique
Blissful in the Cascade Mountains
Lib & Mike | August 27th | Winthrop, Washington
Surrounded by the beautiful Cascade Mountains, Lib & Mike recited their vows under Mt. Gardner at Sun Mountain Lodge. A ‘nature’ green and ‘sky’ blue color palette complemented the mountain surroundings while colorful bridesmaid bouquets provided a pop of bright color. All the mountain loveliness was captured by Nicole Goddard Photography.
