Jeff and Jeaux get married at St. Dunstan’s

On May 26 I headed out the door for the wedding I was shooting that day a bit before 11:30; the church where I was going was not one I had ever worked in before, and I wanted to have plenty of time to do some reconnaissance before I was due to meet up with Jeff and Jeaux, who would be getting married that afternoon.  I had done a bit of research online to see what I could find out about the church and the nearby area, but really couldn’t see as much as I wanted to be able to give me a better idea about the photo possibilities at or near the church.

I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the church was set back in a decent size set of woods, and even had nice paths winding among the trees.  And the interior of the church was beautiful as well as very well-lit with plenty of natural lighting through the large windows on both sides of the church.  Yes, it’s true, as a photographer I tend to look at things a little differently than most people do!

Preliminary photos with Jeff and Jeaux

After I did my walk-around of the church and grounds I went to locate the two grooms so we could begin the photo session they had requested that we do before the rest of the wedding party were present.  Once I found the two of them (which was not as easy as it sounds!) we made our way into the woods that surrounded the church and started our session.  Both men proved to be quite photogenic, and we spent a very pleasant time together just wandering the woods as I looked for the best possible lighting and backdrops for the photos.  For these photos they wanted to have a more casual session, so they did not wear their tuxedos, opting instead for more everyday clothes.

While we were busy taking photos some of the wedding party started to arrive, as well as some family members.  But we were pretty much finished with all that we wanted to do for the “early photos”, so Jeaux and Jeff decided it was time to meet up with the rest of the wedding party and change into their tuxes.  We all moved into the church and the guys all headed for their designated changing room, while the ladies made their way to their room.

I don’t know why this always seems to happen, but typically no matter where a wedding takes place the guys have a smaller dressing space than the girls.  Sometimes a LOT smaller!  In this case the guys had actually been given a decent sized room, but it was so full of tables, chairs and cushions that the amount of actual floor space was pretty limited.  I tried to move as many of the tables as I could off to one side of the room to open up some larger spaces, but there were enough guys trying to get changed that it was still rather tight.

But no one really cared about the cramped conditions.  Sandwiches, drinks and cookies were also laid out on a couple of the tables and everyone had a chance to get a little food before the wedding ceremony.

The Wedding Ceremony

As happens at the great majority of weddings I photograph, Jeff and Jeaux opted to try to take as many of the wedding party and family photos before the ceremony as possible.  After organizing most of the wedding party we moved into the sanctuary and began photos.  Here are the names of the members of the wedding party –

Lake Cruise Reception on the Emerald Star

Once the ceremony was completed Jeuax and Jeff had a receiving line in the church lobby to greet all of their guests, and then it was time for everyone to make their way to Lake Union, where the reception would take place on the Waterways Cruises ship Emerald Star.  I have done numerous weddings and receptions on the Waterways cruise ships, and have always been impressed with the professionalism of the Waterways crew.  And today was no exception, Waterways once again did a great job.

Once all of the guests had boarded the ship, we left the dock and motored out of Lake Union through the Montlake Cut and onto Lake Washington.  What had started as a rather gray day had turned into a very nice day for late May, with mild temperatures and a very light breeze.  That light breeze meant that the cruise was on nice calm water with no big waves.

The Emerald Star has a large open upper deck on the stern of the boat, and with the nice weather this was a very popular spot for many of the guests.  Having the bar located just inside didn’t hurt either!  The boat cruised along the 520 bridge and then turned south along Medina, stopping in front of Bill Gates’ home (complex?) so those who had not seen it before could marvel at what he had created there.  As the cruise continued, dinner was served and everyone moved into the main downstairs cabin to eat.  Waterways provides their own catering services and as always the food was wonderful.

As we returned to Lake Union the captain brought the boat to the foot of Lake Union so we could get a good look at downtown and the Space Needle.  A small boat that had been set up to accommodate a band pulled alongside and began to serenade our boat.  I organized all of the guests on the stern deck so we could get some photos of the entire crowd with the backdrop of Seattle; you’ll see some of those photos below.

As we continues to put around Lake Union, Jeff and Jeaux opened up the dancing with their first dance as a married couple, after which each of them danced with Jeaux’s mother.  Then the dance floor was opened up to everyone, and dancing continues well after the Emerald Star had returned to her moorage and the cruise was concluded.

All in all it was simply a fantastic day, and I greatly enjoyed being a part of it.  Below you will find a relatively small sampling of the photos I took, if you’d like to see more leave some comments below and I’ll add to the collection!