Ceremony Venue: The Rotunda at the Washington State Capitol Building
Reception Venue: Medicine Creek Winery
Flowers/Decor: Nancy Hall (360) 943-4262
Cake: Celebrity Cake Studio
DJ: Lakeside Entertainment

But once I got to Orcas Island, and got settled into my room at the Deer Harbor Inn, I was picked up by a friend of the family and taken up to the beautiful wedding venue. The house itself sat at one of the highest peaks of Orcas Island, facing west, and had the most gorgeous sunset imaginable. Seriously. I thought I was in heaven. And again the whole “Is this REALLY my JOB?” question ran through my head.

Richelle and Jeremiah as a couple are absolutely beautiful, but not just on the outside. They are fun, loving and giving it was so enjoyable to spend the day with them. Their passion and affection for one another is obvious and they both put their inhibitions aside and really allowed me an intimate peak into their relationship; capturing them in a very unique way.

Once again, I like to show full albums as those who browse through the blog can see a wedding story from start to finish!

Steve designed a massively awesome cover. This particular print will actually be printed on a piece of aluminum which will then be wrapped in leather. The metal cover and leather binding is absolutely amazing and truly unique. This image in particular is going to be stunning!

From there… the wedding only got more and more beautiful. With one of the most beautiful and passionate “First Look” moments I’ve ever witnessed!

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Digital files are great. Sharing on Facebook is fun. But nothing beats holding an album in your hands or showcasing a large print on the wall. It’s tangible. You can touch and feel. It’s right there. And it really says something about the event, the person or the emotion of a photo. When you view photos online, everything is backlit and illuminated. Colors may or may not be true to form. Seeing a photograph in person, with front lighting, is an entirely different experience for your eyes.

In this digital age, it’s difficult to convince people that YES, you DO want something to show for your money; and it’s more than a disc of files. And what we offer it isn’t cheap, I will give you that. We put a lot of man-hours into these albums. They aren’t just plug and play programs we use to design these books and each one is carefully crafted using our imagination and our own creativity. We customize every single inch of every single album. Additionally, the product itself isn’t cheap for us to buy or produce. But every time I deliver an album to a client I get to watch their eyes light up, I get to see them get choaked up, and I see how having that product in front of them makes them feel. I think everyone agrees that it is definitely worth the investment.

I feel those emotions too. When I opened this package today (and I’ve been looking at these files now for about 6 months… so I admit I’m kind of tired of them), I experienced these images in an entirely different way. I was so proud of what we created and proud to showcase it for our clients. In fact, the first thing I did was run to my husband so he could see the album. I love seeing his pride in me, and my work, too.

This particular item is my number one top seller. I sell this exact product (or a larger version) to almost 100% of my couples. It’s an engagement guest book. We lay the photographs into the album on the right side of the page. The left side, along with a couple of additional blank pages, is left open for guests to sign at the wedding. It’s an amazing way of showing your guests your engagement pictures along with having a beautiful keepsake for a lifetime. This particular album was bound with a two-tone leather/suede combo (we have endless possibilities and combinations) along with a 4 inch cut out to feature a photo on the front. We recommend the 8×8 size shown here for weddings with guests up to 140. Larger albums are available for those with larger weddings. With every album purchase, we automatically include a DVD disc of all the original jpeg images from the session for our couples to archive and keep.

This is a shot of the custom CD case we do for the digital files. Recently, we were featured as a top designer of these cases by the company who produces the product. It was such an honor for Steve’s designs to be featured like that on a national scale!

Yesterday though, they flew from Rincon, PR where the wedding is happening to meet me and Rebecca in San Juan. We did a session at the Castillo San Felipe del Morro in old town San Juan. Then, all four of us, piled into the car, braved San Juan traffic (by the way… I rock at driving around here. Which kinda makes me question the legality of my driving skills back home.) and make the three hour drive to Rincon.

After few hours at the hotel bar, and some time in the sand, Jessica and Andy invited as guests to their rehearsal dinner. Didn’t stop me from taking more pictures! I’m so looking forward to spending more time with the both of them and their wonderful families today!

Here is one of my favorites from our session when exploring all the knooks and crannies of the fort. We went down this long corridor that was totally dark and found this open door at the end. I quickly placed Andy and Jessica right there in the light, and I just felt like it was a little bit of magic!

Yeah. I know.

It’s super awesome and super cool.

But they really wanted to include the boat in some of their pictures as that is a really important aspect of their life together and I was more than happy to oblige. We met up at their house first and then headed out with the hydroplane towards Seward Park. We were originally scheduled to do their session on Sunday, however because of rain (yeah, rain in Seattle… go figure…), we rescheduled for that Monday. Luckily the weather was ideal and you couldn’t ask for a warmer more diffused sun light. It was fantastic and I was in photographer-heaven; two gorgeous people, a gorgeous location, and gorgeous light. <sigh> It was nice.

But these two made it fun – we tried to keep things playful (although I do think at one point Jeff actually thought I was completely off my rocker) and fun and capture their personalities and fun relationship. They have a very sexy and intense chemistry with one another, so as the sun went down, things got a little sexier and hotter.

Funny thing happened though… Christabelle really liked the engagement session I did last year with another couple. One of her favorite shots was from Kerry Park, on Queen Anne Hill, after dark. It was a total accident that shot ever happened though because where I was going to originally take that couple was closed. For this session though, we did Kerry Park prior to the sun going completely down, but that location I wanted last year? Well, it was open! So I quickly called them on the phone while driving towards the highway, called them back, and went for it. I have to say… I love the results of the rainbow light!

Note: Double click to zoom in closer on the pictures!