Kelly and David (sort of) get married at the Evergreen Gardens

First thing I want to confess is that this was a family wedding.  David is the middle child of my oldest cousin Bob and his wife Jeanne, and I have known David all his life.  One interesting fact about David – he is a very good card player (a regular family activity since he was born) and probably could make a bunch of money playing blackjack in Las Vegas as long as he was not identified as a card counter.  So if he ever offers to play cards with you for money, consider yourself warned! 😉

I first met Kelly about a year and a half ago when I photographed their engagement session at the Kobota Garden in Seattle.  So I knew many of the main players as well as the guests at this wedding.  Which was rather an interesting experience for me, since I rarely know anyone at the weddings I shoot.

This is another one of the many Covid delayed weddings that I have photographed this summer.  The wedding was originally scheduled for mid-August 2020, but because quite a few of the guests were coming from out of town (from all over the country) it was decided that the Big Wedding would need to be put off until 2021.  However, David and Kelly also decided that even though the planned Big Wedding needed to be delayed, they were still going to get married  even though it would be without most of the planned guests.

This is why I said that they “sort of” got married, since the “real wedding” took place last summer on roughly the originally planned date.  Regrettably I was not there to photograph that event, as the decision was made to have a minimal crowd due to concern for some older relatives and their potential susceptibility to Covid, and they elected to skip the photographer.

So I had a long time to think about this wedding, which I knew would also double as a partial family reunion.  When you are shooting a wedding and know almost everyone there, it changes the way you think about some of the photos.  Normally I know very little about the wedding party and families at a wedding, but since I know almost everyone present I found that I was looking for grouping of relatives in a different manner than usual.

Just about a week before the wedding I got a call from David.  Their caterer had cancelled without any warning or explanation, and David and Kelly were rather frantically scrambling to locate another caterer.  I was quite impressed with the calm David showed at this development.  But maybe he just was exhibiting his excellent “poker face” and was freaking out internally.

Fortunately they were able to find a caterer, who (especially considering the very short notice) did an excellent job. The name of the caterer is Cosmos Bistro, and if you ever need a caterer in the Bellingham area I suggest that you look them up!

The day of the wedding I made the drive to Bellingham to meet with Kelly and David at the hotel where they were getting ready.  Kelly was in the middle of having her hair and makeup done when I arrived, and all was going well.  However, things were not going very smoothly for David.  He had discovered that his suit pants had somehow not made it into the back with his other clothes, but it was not certain just where the pants might have been left.  Just what he needed a few hours before the wedding!  His mom dashed into town and picked up a couple of pairs of slacks as possible replacements.  After many phone calls (and not a small amount of anxiety)  it was finally discovered that the missing pants were at Kelly’s parents’ house, and would be able to be delivered to the wedding venue.  Crisis averted!  From this point on the Wedding Gods apparently decided to have mercy on the couple, and things went (mostly) smoothly for the rest of the day.

From the hotel I moved on to the venue, the Evergreen Gardens in Ferndale.  I had never been to this venue before, and I wasa really impressed with what I found.  Gorgeous garden venue with great photo possibilities amost everywhere I looked.  You’ll see plenty of examples in the photos below.  David’s brothers Peter and Andrew (who were the DJs) were already there, but not many others.  The guests, most of whom were also family, started to arrive.  The wedding party consisted of David’s bothers as the groomsmen, Kelly’s sister as the matron of honor, Kelly’s niece as the junior bridesmaid, and three of David’s nieces as the flower girls.  The officiant was David’s cousin Matt.  Definitely a family affair!

David and Kelly arrived separately, and Kelly moved into the Bride’s Room for some final touch-ups before she and David had their first look.  Kelly looked amazing! She had a beautiful dress with a big train, which I always like to have fun with for photos.  I found a private area away from where all the guests were congregating, and we had a very nice First Look session.

From that point things progressed quickly.  Everyone was seated, and the wedding party got into position for the processional.  What a great backdrop for a wedding!  The wedding party came down a path through the woods and into a large grassy clearing where the wedding took place.  Lots of photos below to illustrate this!  Matt did a masterful job as the officiant, and in what seemed like a very short time Kelly and David were married for the second time.

Now it was time for the party to begin!  Peter and Andrew fired up the music as everyone moved to grab some appetizers and drinks. As I said earlier, almost everyone here was related in one way or another, and many had not seen each other in person for at least a couple of years.  Even though I had to spend most of my time and attention being sure to photograph the event, I was still able to catch up with some of my cousins who live in other parts of the country who I had not seen for several years.

When David and Kelly had their first dance, I will admit that I was surpised at what a good dancer David is.  Kelly is also excellent, but I was not surprised by that.  Sorry David, I’m afraid I pre-judged your dancing abilities!  You showed me some moves I did not that you had in you!  And your dance with your mom might have been even more impressive!

It was a really fun wedding, and now I’m really looking forward to the much larger family reunion that is being planned for next summer.