Aimee-Jane and Josh (Wedding)

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

It’s been two months since I was able to take part in this beautiful, Catholic wedding ceremony at the Holy Family church in Kirkland, WA. This is the first Catholic wedding I have had the honor of photographing, and it was quite enjoyable! The sense of tradition, the flare, the reverence were all moving and added to the ceremony.

The day started early at Aimee-Jane’s family’s house in Kirkland, where the ladies were preparing themselves with stylists and makeup artists. The party then moved to the church, where the women were hustled off into one corner of the building while the men dressed in the other–the Bride and Groom forbidden to see each other until they entered the chapel. When both parties were ready, they entered the chapel for the first look: underneath the arched brick ceiling and large stained-glass windows, before the holy altar, they saw each other anew for the first time.

From then on in the day it was all smiles, even as the day wore on the smiles remained through tiredness and stress. The ceremony went beautiful as practiced and choreographer by Stephanie Cullen (the planner for the wedding), and before you knew it, everyone was hurrying off to reception at China Harbor in Seattle. The place was beautifully decorated, and everything was positioned magically to allow a constant flow while reserving space for a dance floor. Emil Molina (the reception planner) did a wonderful job with food, music, and decoration.

The reception was one long, beautiful blur of dancing, eating, laughing, and, always, smiles. The action flowed smoothly between dinner, dances, toasts, photos, the cake-cutting, and finally the clean-up. Even as the last tables were being cleared, the beautiful newly-wed couple still had huge smiles beaming from their faces, ready to start their new life together.