Christin and Jean have a Hot-Air Balloon Elopement Wedding

This wedding was a first for me in two ways.  First, it was the first wedding that I have photographed since the COVID pandemic caused our governor to declare photographers “non-essential” businesses.  And second, because it is my first time shooting a wedding in a hot air balloon; or for having the chance to go up in a balloon for that matter!  Oh and I almost forgot, also my first time shooting a wedding when there were curfews in effect all over the area due to the protests/riots that had been happening all over the Seattle area for almost a week.

But at the start of the wedding day it looked like the wedding might not even happen, because Seattle Ballooning, the company with the balloon, told Christin that the forecast was bad and there was an 80% chance that the balloon would not be able to fly, and that she should consider changing the date of the wedding.

But Christin was having none of this kind of negative thinking!  She contacted me in the early afternoon to tell me that she, Jean and a bunch of their friends would all be at the planned location at the planned time.  I believe her exact words were “I just spent $600 on hair and makeup and one way or another we’re getting married today!”.  LOL!  I told her I’d be there and ready to take photos of the ceremony, wherever and however it happened.

A couple hours before the planned ceremony time I got an email from Christin.   There had been another change, due to curfew restrictions in Auburn, where we would be leaving from (and returning to) in the balloon.  The launch site had been moved to the Muckleshoot reservation, and the timing set a bit later.  At this time the weather was not exactly horrible but it was quite cloudy and rainy, but when I checked the forecast it actually looked like by 7PM (the planned flight time) that the weather would be much better, so I was feeling pretty good that the balloon wedding might happen after all.

I arrived at the designated location on the reservation a little on the early side and looked around to see what kind of photo possibilities we had here – kind of an occupational hazard for a photographer!  It was located right on the edge of a huge grass area the size of dozens of football fields, with a small grove of trees and grass behind and a large street with a reservation medical center to one side.  Weather conditions now looked pretty good to me, with high clouds, brightening skies and light wind.  But I am not a balloon operator so what do I know about the needed conditions?  A few minutes later Christin and groom Jean arrived, accompanied by their two kids, 6 year old Luna and 4 year old TJ.  More cars with friends arrived almost immediately afterwards.

Since it was only ~6:30 and the balloon was not due to arrive until 7PM, Christin thought maybe we should get a few photos while waiting.  I was in full agreement, and pointed out the trees and grass I had scouted earlier.  Christon, Jean and I headed into the grass to take the photos you’ll see immediately below.  Check out the photos, and the story continues again below.

After spending some time in the tall grass we moved out to join the others and let Christin check to see how the kids were doing.  The balloon crew arrived at this point, and they discussed the options with Christin and Jean.  It was now a rather nice evening, with clear weather getting ever closer from the SW, and a ceiling of maybe 10,000 feet.  Still very little wind, so I thought that it would be pretty much perfect for a flight.  The crew agreed, but were now concerned that if we did the full one-hour fight that by the time the balloon landed we’d be past 9PM and in violation of the curfew.  Christin said no problem, let’s go up for as long as we can and have the wedding ceremony, then we can come down and be finished before 9PM.  The crew agreed and started the process of getting the balloon set up to be inflated.

Since we had a bit more time to kill, we decided to take more photos, this time with Luna and TJ and then with the entire group of friends who had come to be a part of the wedding and posy-wedding party.  You’ll see some of these photos next –

As the balloon started being inflated I saw that the crew were walking in and out of the slowly inflating balloon, and asked if it would be alright for us to go inside for some photos.  We got the OK so in we went!

Finally the inflation process was nearing completion, and the basket for the passengers was attached.  The lucky people who would be part of the flight climbed into the basket – first the pilot/captain Shawn, followed by Christin, Jean, bridesmaids Lacie and Dena and officiant Betsy Harvey.  And finally me!  The balloon pilot fired up the burners and in a few seconds we were airborne and slowly climbing.  The burners are amazing, when activated they shoot giant flames into the balloon, generating a lot of heat that is also felt by the passengers of the balloon.  The burners are also very loud, and we were warned that we’d probably need to pause the ceremony a couple of times when the burners were used while we were in the air.  Unless of course we wanted to come down considerably faster than planned!

We knew that our time was going to be limited, so as soon as we got to altitude (~1500 feet) the ceremony began.  The basket is a pretty small space, roughly 4′ x 8′, or about the size of a sheet of plywood.  So for 7 of us, plus the gas canisters needed to supply the burners with fuel, it was a fairly snug fit.  A very wide angle lens was a necessity or all of my photos would have been very close up looks at my subjects!  Fortunately I had the needed equipment and got a lot of photos of the flight and ceremony.  Once the ceremony was finished Jean brought out a bottle of champagne, a very nice Dom Perignon, and we all had a glass.

All too soon it was time for us to end our flight and return to the ground.  The pilot picked out a likely field to be our landing site and we started down.  Once on the ground and after a little bit of lift had been lost, I climbed out so I could get some photos of the entire balloon and passengers.  It would have been great to shoot some photos of the balloon in flight, but not exactly practical. 🙁

But I did have a lot of fun getting photos of the balloon from the “outside” perspective.

While the balloon was being packed up we took advantage of the final sunlight of the day for more photos!  We then climbed into a van for a ride back to the parking lot where we had left our cars, and where the rest of Jean and Christin’s friends were waiting.  More champagne was served, and after a few final photos it was time to say goodbye.

I hope that you have enjoyed my retelling of the day, as well as the photos.  Please leave some comments below for the bride and groom!