Grace and Tyler’s fantastic wedding at The Hall at Fauntleroy

On July 7, 2018 I was the happy photographer at the wedding of Tyler and Grace, which took place at the Hall at Fauntleroy, located in West Seattle just up the hill from the Fauntleroy ferry dock.  The Hall is an elegant events space housed in a picturesque 1900s-era former schoolhouse, and is a very nice venue for a wedding at any time of the year.  Grace and Tyler lucked out with a beautiful summer day and were able to take full advantage of the indoor/outdoor possibilities of the Hall.

Pre-ceremony photos with the family and wedding party

Grace arrived fully made up and already in her dress and looked amazing; her hair and makeup were done by Divya, the Little Makeup Artist.  Everyone else in the wedding party also arrived all dressed and ready to go, so I was unable to do any dressing room photos with the wedding party.   But this also meant that we had more time before the ceremony for photos with the wedding party and family.  We started out by walking a very short distance to a playground/playfield at the school that is located next door for photos with Grace and Tyler and the wedding party.  As I said earlier, the weather was pretty much perfect and was great for photos.  We got some fun wedding party photos on the big climbing toy, you’ll see a few of them below.

Next up were family photos.  These sessions are often a lot like herding cats, with it being almost impossible to find everyone needed for the photos.  But this group was remarkably organized and cooperative, and we were able to take care of the important family shots with no difficulties.

The Wedding Ceremony

After we finished with the family photos, Grace moved inside the Hall to hide out for a few minutes while the guests all got settled in their seats.  This was a remarkably “on-time” group, with all of the guests in their seats well before the scheduled start time for the ceremony.  This is VERY unusual, typically the ceremony will begin 15 minutes or more behind schedule because so many guests are late to arrive.  Once the announcement was made that the ceremony was about to begin, everyone was in their seat within a couple of minutes and we were ready to go.

The processional began, with the officiant and the wedding party entering and positioning themselves in front of the guests.  The wedding party consisted of bridesmaids Adrian Bardue, Emma Strong, Marlee Gross and Dayna Van Dooren; and groomsmen Eli Van Dooren, Nathan Van Dooren, Miles Koons, Jared McGarry,  Curtis Thompson and Teddy Hartinger.  The officiant was Marty Cunningham.  Grace was escorted down the aisle by her mom and dad, Mary Kaye Bardue and Craig Hartinger.

The ceremony was held just outside the Hall, on a large lawn that was surrounded by trees that gave welcome shade from the now quite warm sunshine.  As at most wedding ceremonies I spent most of my time trying to be two places at once, alternating shooting first from Grace’s side and then from Tyler’s, with stops along the way to take photos straight down the aisle.  Marty did a great job of officiating, and in what seemed like no time at all Tyler and Grace were declared to be married!

The Reception

Once Grace and Tyler recessed down the aisle at the conclusion of the ceremony, it was time to take care of the legal paperwork.  While the newlyweds moved indoors to sign the necessary paperwork, the staff at the Hall began serving appetizers and the bar was opened for cocktail hour.  As you’ll see in the photos, the lawn where the ceremony was held as well as the large patio area that is adjacent was all utilized for the cocktail hour, before the “real” reception would begin indoors.  As soon as Tyler and Grace had signed all of the important legal documents they joined their guests and mingled until it was time to move indoors for the dinner service to begin.  There is a very nice large room that is immediately adjacent to the outdoor patio and ceremony area, and this is where the main reception was held.

Once all the guests had found seats the buffet line was opened and meal service began.  Excellent food, provided by the caterer Tuxedos and Tennis Shoes.  The DJ, Ryder Cunningham, had nice background music running throughout mealtime, and also did a great job keeping the crowd dancing once the dance floor was opened.  But I’m getting ahead of myself!

Once dinner was more or less completed it was time for toasts.  First up was Grace’s brother Teddy Hartinger, followed by father Craig Hartinger and then Tyler’s mom, Julie Van Dooren.  Afterwards Tyler and Grace mingled with the guests for awhile as everyone finished eating and just relaxed.  After a little while Grace and Tyler decided it was time to cut the wedding cake.  They had a special gluten-free cake for them to cut and feed each other, and a selection of other cakes for those who were not gluten-free.  The cake cutting was completed without incident, even though I did hear at least a few of the guests encouraging Grace to smash her piece of cake into Tyler’s face!  😉

Now it was time for the dance floor to open.  Tyler and Grace started things off with their first dance as husband and wife, followed by Grace dancing with her father Craig while Tyler danced with his mother Julie.  Once the first dances were completed a good number of guests made their way onto the dance floor.  Plenty of dancing photos below!

All in all it was a wonderful day, and I hope that you think I did a good job of capturing everything when you look at the photos below.  Please feel free to leave some comments!