Luke and Jennifer's Wedding

These two.  Luke is my wonderful brother and Jennifer my awesome sister-in-law.  Everyone in both of our families were so excited that these two were getting married after being together for over a decade.  They are both very outdoorsy, so they had planned....an outdoor wedding!  They found the most perfect, idyllically beautiful ceremony location in North Everett--the arboretum at Legion Park.  They wedding was in late May, which means the weather can be great, but is usually rainy.  Fortunately, the day was sunny and gorgeous.  The ceremony was simple and perfect for them.  Since the arboretum was so verdant and bursting with color, there was no need for elaborate decorations.  Everything that they chose; from the location, to Luke's suit and Jen's dress, to the processional was unique and personal.  In his pocket, my brother placed a St. Christopher pendant, which belonged to our late grandpa, and our late grandma's cross pendant.  We all love and miss both of them so much, so this was a super special gesture.  Jennifer carried a bouquet that she put together herself and wore a dress that quite literally suited her flawlessly.  The ceremony was short but meaningful and I found myself biting back tears of happiness as I snapped away.  Here are some of my favorite shots from that picturesque day, sorry there are so many.  I might be a little biased, haha:

The beautiful arboretum

The bride and her big girl

doing the robot

The groom and our mother

Our dad and Jen's mom each carried one of the twins (dad had Jamie, Sue had Daisy), and Lucy.  The twins each had a ring and Lucy was the flower girl.

The bride and her dad

The groom.  He gets a little emotional.

One of the coolest things I've ever seen out of all the many weddings I've been to; the ceremony was small, so Jen took the time after she walked up the aisle to look at each guest and smile, taking it all in like she was trying to memorize every guest and every detail.  It was very touching.

Jen's sister holding Daisy

Amy and Amir Wedding

I posted a little while back about Amy and Amir's engagement photos, it was a blast.  Then they chose me to be their wedding photographer.  I was so stoked!  I knew that it would be a super fun wedding, and they had some cool things planned like riding into the reception in a boat and an amazing first dance, since they are both swing dancers.  Since the wedding was in Seattle in May, there was a good chance that it would be raining, even the weather forecast predicted a 10% chance of precipitation.  So, the morning of the wedding day, I drove to the venue, Blue Ribbon Cooking, in the rain.  Drat!  But, even though the ceremony was outside and it was absolutely pouring by this time, it turned out just fine.  It was a little tricky to shoot around the umbrellas and tents, but it made us be more creative in our photography.  And I was relieved to read on Amy's blog (about why she was glad to have her wedding in the rain) that she was really happy with the way the photos turned out.  Nothing sounds better to a photographer!  Anyway, one of my favorite parts of their wedding was the bridal party arriving to the reception on boats.  The guests were blowing bubbles out of the windows of the venue, and the entire effect was just really unique and cool.  My next favorite part of the wedding was their first dance.  Both Amy and Amir are really great swing dancers, and they put together this choreography that was so fun and totally them.  The whole celebration was delightful, full of love, cake and dancing!  I'm so pleased that Amy and Amir chose me to be their wedding photographer and that they loved their photos.  They are really great friends of mine, so I don't feel weird saying that I am looking forward to taking some maternity pictures sometime in the next couple of years...ahem!  :)

It was really hard to choose just a few of my favorites from their wedding, but here are a few.  Also, if you check out Amy's blog you can see several posts about her wedding with a bunch of her favorites that I took.

Luke, Jennifer, and family

My brother and sister-in-law wanted to get family pictures done before their wedding.  They hadn't gotten family pictures done since their oldest, Lucy, was a year old.  So I was happy to oblige!  I love photographing their sweet family.  This shoot was a tad bit more challenging since we were dealing with a very active toddler and two little ones.  It was definitely interesting!  Especially because we wanted to try to get a shot with my parents and all their grand babies.  It was hilarious.  I just clicked away and there were a few shots that ended up working out, although I really do love the pictures that turn out not so perfect.  It was great being in the beautiful park with all these kids, including my son.  Here are some of my favorites:

And here are some of the grandparent/grandchildren ones.  Even though they are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, I love them: