Amber & Peter get married at the Magnuson Park Amphitheater

Amber and Peter decided that their wedding was going to be different.  They wanted to have the ceremony outdoors, and they wanted to be able to have their friends and family be involved in the whole process.  And they wanted to have the ceremony early in the day.  After doing some research they decided on having the ceremony at the Amphitheater at Magnuson Park, a beautiful (and very large) open space in a huge park that occupies the space where the US Navy once had a large air base.  When I was a kid the Sand Point Naval Air Base was still operating, and even after it had mostly closed down there was still a military presence there until just a few years ago.  I did several weddings at the chapel that used to be there before the base was closed down completely.  Most of the base has now been turned into a fantastic park with the old runways removed and reclaimed by grass and trees, though there are still some of the old hangars and other buildings in place that remind us that this was once a very different place.

The day of the wedding Amber and a group of friends arrived early  (~9AM) and got to work setting up the Amphitheater for the wedding.  I was already there and started getting photos of everyone.  Soon after Peter arrived with the groomsmen, and a truck loaded with chairs that needed to be set up for the guests.  Once it was clear that the set up was going smoothly and Amber and Peter did not need to supervise, I took the couple to a garden area located directly behind the Amphitheater to start on some photos of the bride and groom.  Amber had designed and sewed her wedding dress, and it was spectacular!

The original plan was for the three of us to go to another part of the park (Kite Hill) for the pre-ceremony photos, but the garden turned out to be so nice that we decided to do all of the photos there, and go to the Kite Hill after the ceremony was finished.  The reception was not going to take place until later in the afternoon, and there would be plenty of time after the ceremony was over and the guests had departed for us to explore the park and take more photos.

After we spent some time taking photos all over the garden we gathered the bridesmaids and groomsmen so we could get photos of the wedding party.  This was a pretty amusing group, and it was fun working with them as we played around with different ideas.  At this point we had planned to do family photos, but it was getting pretty close to the planned start time for the ceremony, so Amber and the bridesmaids made their way behind some trees where they would be out of sight as the guests took their seats in preparation for the wedding to begin.

Once everyone was seated Peter took his place at the “altar” area at the top of the stairs, and the wedding party made their way down the aisle.  Here are the names and order of the wedding party –

Claudette Ludiker – Flower Girl

Veronica Fojtasek – Bridesmaid  Dakota Brown – Groomsman

Terry Lansdaal – Bridesmaid Mason Henry – Groomsman

Andrea Brado – Bridesmaid  Nick Millman – Groomsman

Emi Chadbourne – Bridesmaid Philip Olsen – Groomsman

Zoadonna Clerico – Maid of Honor  Dan Roberts – Man of Honor

 Each bridesmaid/groomsman combination had their own special method of walking/dancing down the aisle; some were pretty creative and all were a lot of fun.  Once all of them had climbed the stairs and took their positions, Amber and her father Damascus came down the aisle together.  They climbed to the top to meet Peter, Damascus gave Amber a kiss and handed her off to Peter, and the actual ceremony began.  I loved the way that Amber and Peter had planned the placement of the wedding party at the top of the Amphitheater, though because they were so spread out it did mean that I had to do a lot of running to catch each part of the ceremony from the correct angle!  You’ll see the arrangement of everyone in the photos below.

At the conclusion of the ceremony we gathered everyone who was at the wedding and placed them on the tiers of the Amphitheater for a big group photo.  Fortunately for me, one of the bridesmaids was able to bring a ladder over from the nearby parks building so I could get enough elevation to see everyone well; another photo that you’ll see below.