Posts Tagged ‘Nikki Closser Photography’

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.

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Photographer: Nikki Closser Photography  //  Venue: Huntley Lodge  //  Caterer: Blue Ribbon Cooking  //  Dress Store: Columbia Bridal Boutique