Sarah & Jacob’s Wonderful Wedding at Rose Hill Community Center

This is another of those Covid weddings that was postponed from 2020 to 2021. Sarah and Jacob had originally planned to have their wedding in July 2020 on Mercer Island at Luther Burbank Park.  For obvious reasons they had to postpone for a year.  But when they were ready to set their new date, the old venue was unwilling to commit the date since they were still concerned about potential Covid restrictions.

So Jacob and Sarah went into Plan B and started a search for a different venue.  I am delighted to report that they found that the Rose Hill Community Center in Mukilteo was available on their chosen date.  I have photographed weddings at both locations and while I love Luther Burbank Park, Rose Hill is one of the “hidden gems” of wedding venues in the Seattle area.  It is only 10 years old and I have already photographed more than 10 weddings there.  It is a beautiful facility with the capability to host anything from small to very large weddings in a gorgeous setting overlooking the Mukilteo beach and Puget Sound.  If you are getting married in the Seattle area and are looking for a venue I highly recommend that you check out Rose Hill.

The day before the wedding I met with Sarah, Jacob and the entire wedding party at the Pike Place Market in Seattle for a pre-wedding session.  Click on the link to see some photos from this shoot!

The day of the wedding the weather was about as perfect as you could ask.  Clear sunny skies and very comfortable temperatures, back to Seattle normal summer temps from the crazy heat wave we had suffered through a month before.  When I arrived at Rose Hill Sarah and the ladies had not yet made their own arrival, but Jacob and the groomsmen were there changing into their wedding clothes.  I took a few minutes to scope out the setup for the ceremony, which would be held outdoors on the huge lawn.  When I got back the ladies had arrived, but still needed to get dressed.  So Jacob and the groomsmen headed for the game room to play a little Foosball while they waited for the ladies to finish dressing.

Preliminary Photos at the Beach

Once the ladies were all dressed, we did a quick “first look” for Sarah and Jacob then the entire wedding party headed for the nearby beach for a photo session.  Because it was a perfect day to be at the beach we had quite a few potential photo bombers, but they mostly behaved themselves and we were able to get a nice assortment of fun shots.  Then we headed for the nearby Mukilteo Lighthouse.  Unfortunately we found that it was closed (likely due to Covid fears) so we were unable to take any photos in the lighthouse itself.  But we still got some nice photos with the lighthouse as the backdrop.

The Wedding Ceremony

Next it was back to Rose Hill for the ceremony, which was due to start about 30 minutes later.  The guests were already arriving, so wedding party retired to their dressing rooms for a little down time before the ceremony.  Once the guests were all in place the processional began, and the wedding ceremony was underway.  You could not ask for a more picturesque backdrop for a wedding ceremony!

Here are the names of the wedding party –

Bridesmaids – Miranda Moore, Katie Shashlo, Miran McPoland, Audrey Hu

Groomsmen – Chris Cox, Kevin Donlin, Kevin Kunde, Mike Drost

Parents of the Bride – Joan and Greg McNabb

Parents of the Groom – Sue and Al Anderson

At the conclusion of the ceremony all of the guests were directed to the large patio in front of the Center and we got a few big group photos of everyone who was in attendance.  Then the guests were released to get some appetizers and drinks while I took photos of the various family groups.

The Wedding Reception

Once we finished the family photos Sarah and Jacob joined their family and friends and the party really got underway.  I’m not going to go through everything that happened at the party, but I will say that it was really well run by the staff at Rose Hill.  Music was provided by JD the DJ of Catch The Beat Productions, who kept the party rocking until it was time to close things down.

It was a great wedding and really fun to be there as the photographer.  I love my job, especially when working with a group like this one!

OK, now you finally get to look at the photos.  I hope that you like them!