Yoshimi and Jake get married at Northshore Community Church

Two weeks ago today I photographed the wedding of Yoshimi Mishani and Jacob Anderson at Northshore Community Church in Kirkland.  I first met both Yoshimi and Jake just over two years ago, when I was the photographer at the wedding of Yoshimi’s sister Manami to Sam Stein.  Yoshimi was one of Manami’s bridesmaids, and Jake was one of Sam’s groomsmen.  At this wedding the roles were reversed, with Manami now a bridesmaid and Sam a groomsman!

I’m not going to tell the whole story of how Yoshimi and Jake met, but they both worked at Red Robin (along with Sam and Manami) and apparently Jake was immediately smitten.  Not so much for Yoshimi!  But Jake knew what he wanted, and proved to be extremely persistent.  This wedding is the proof of just how persistent Jake turned out to be!

I always enjoy working with couples who I have met through other couples, and this was a double winner since I also got to see and catch up with Manami and Sam.  I had done an engagement photo session with Jake and Yoshimi about two months earlier, and had had a great time working with them, so I was looking forward to shooting their wedding.

Pre-wedding Preparations

When I planned out the timeline of the day with Yoshimi and Jake we decided that I should meet them early at the church, so I could get some photos of both the men and women before they got dressed.  It was a rather gray morning when I arrived at the church, though the forecast was for sun that afternoon.  Yoshimi and her bridesmaids were just finishing up their hair when I arrived, so I moved on to where the guys were getting dressed.  Sam was already almost finished dressing, but Jake and the other groomsmen were just getting started.

I moved back and forth between the guys’ and girls’ dressing rooms for the next half hour, working on getting photos of the whole process.  You’ll see a few of these photos below.  Both bride and groom looked amazing!

Once Yoshimi was finished getting dressed I moved Jake into position in the courtyard, where they had requested they have their “first look” session.  Jake was so excited and nervous he had trouble standing still as I moved Yoshimi into position.

Off-site photos at Marsh Park

Once we finished the first look photos, I drove Jake and Yoshimi to Marsh Park along the lakeside in Kirkland, where they had spent quite a bit of time while dating.  The weather was still quite overcast which was a bit of a mixed blessing; the sky and lake tended to kind of blend together in the gray conditions, but the lack of sun meant no harsh highlights and shadows to make photos more difficult.  And it also meant that we had very few potential photo-bombers to screw up any of the photos! 😉

We had a good half hour to take photos together before the rest of the wedding party and also both Jake’s and Yoshimi’s parents arrived to join us.  The group consisted of –

Matron of Honor Manami Stein (Yoshimi’s sister)
Bridesmaids Yin Yee Goh and Dana Felix
Best Man Stephen Foskey
Groomsmen Sam Stein (Manami’s husband) and Caleb Anderson (Jake’s brother)
Flower Girls Madalynn and Caroline Bryant
Parents of Bride Shin and Lisa Mishina
Parents of Groom David and Tricia Anderson

After we finished the final group photos everyone headed back to the church.  Once again Jake and Yoshimi were riding with me and as we drove back through Kirkland I spotted what looked like a nice garden for a few more photos at Heritage Park, so we pulled into the park to check it out.  Very pretty little garden, and I liked that we were able to get some photos that were a completely different look from what we had done at Marsh Park.

The Wedding Ceremony

Once back at the church Yoshimi, Jake and the wedding party headed for the basement to hide and have some lunch while the guests were arriving.  The sanctuary filled quickly, and it was soon time for the ceremony to begin.  First to enter were Jake and the groomsmen led by Jake’s father, who was going to officiate the ceremony.  Next up were the mother’s of Yoshimi and Jake, who lit the tapers for the Unity Candle.  Now it was time for the bridesmaids, then the flower girls, and finally Yoshimi and her father took their turn walking down the aisle.

It was a very nice ceremony, beginning with Jake’s dad telling everyone a short version of the story of how Jake and Yoshimi first met, and some of the subsequent events that led to this wedding.  The guests clearly enjoyed the story and there was quite a bit of laughter.  The laughter continued during parts of the ceremony, but this time from Jake and Yoshimi as they had some difficulties during the ring exchange.  I think that more often than not during a wedding ceremony, at least one of the rings just doesn’t want to fit onto the appropriate finger when needed. 🙂  But despite the ring problems the ceremony went beautifully, and in a short time Yoshimi and Jake were officially married.

The Reception

Immediately following the ceremony the guests were directed to the room where the reception was to be held, while the extended family on both sides gathered for some group photos in the courtyard.  Then it was time for the grand entrance of the wedding party into the reception, with the newlyweds being the final entrants.

Next up Yoshimi and Jake had their first dance as husband and wife, which was followed by the traditional father-daughter and mother-son dances.  But there was a bit if a twist to these dances.  Each started with just the new husband/wife with the appropriate parent, but after a a couple of minutes the dance floor was opened to all the other fathers and daughters, who were present, then to the mothers and sons.  I really liked this touch, it is not something I have seen very often in my 35+ years as a wedding photographer.

The remainder of the reception proceeded as planned.  There was a fantastic buffet, plenty of dancing and everyone had a wonderful time.  I especially liked the speeches given by the Matron of Honor (and bride’s sister) Manami and the Best Man Stephen.

It was finally time for our new husband and wife to leave.  All of the family and guests gathered at the main entrance to the church and were given bubbles so they could give Yoshimi and Jake a bubbly send-off as they made their way to their well-decorated (thanks to the efforts of the wedding party) car.

It really was a wonderful day!  I hope that you’ll look through the photos below, and perhaps leave a comment.