Cassie and Robert get married in their own backyard!

I need to start this posting by telling everyone that I have known Robert for about 12 years.  I was his javelin coach while he was at Bellevue High School, and we met when he was a 16 year old sophomore who got tired of playing baseball and thought that it might be fun to throw a spear.  He won’t want me to tell you this, but while at Bellevue High he won two state titles in the javelin, setting a state meet record his senior year that has not yet been broken.  I also wrote one of his recommendations to Stanford University, where I graduated in 1978, and where he met his future wife Cassie.  We have stayed in pretty close communication throughout and after his time at Stanford, and I met Cassie fairly soon after they began dating.  It was pretty clear early on that this was not going to be a short-term relationship, and after they had been together for about a year I did a photo session for them (freebie) just because I thought they were such a great match and I wanted to document things from as close to the beginning as I could.  OK, I actually thought that Robert was dating way out of his league, but if Cassie was crazy enough to want to be with him then that was fantastic!  🙂

After Robert and Cassie finished at Stanford and then decided to move back to Seattle we continued to stay in touch, and last summer I was delighted when they asked if I’d be interested in being the photographer at their wedding.  At the time they really had no idea exactly where or how it was going to happen, but they had picked a date and were ready to get started with their plans.  Since I have a “wee bit” of experience with weddings I volunteered to help them in any way that I could, and I waited to hear from them how I could help.

Fast forward to this last winter and spring as they began making the really tough decisions about where the wedding would take place, who would be invited, etc.  At some point they decided that they wanted to have the wedding and reception at their home in Normandy Park, which is located just south of Seattle very near SeaTac airport.  This was the house where Robert’s father had grown up, and he and Cassie had been doing a massive amount of renovating of the house and grounds since they had purchased it.  There is another entire story here, but the bottom line is that they had been working their butts off trying to modernize the house and clean up the grounds around it for a couple of years, and while their progress was amazing there was still a lot more work to be done if they were going to be able to actually hold the wedding there.  But they were undaunted by the task; I think they figured they were going to have to do the work anyway, and this way they just had more incentive to go faster.

Because Cassie’s family is mostly in California, Robert’s sister’s family lives in Florida, and some of the other guests would be coming from other parts of the country the decision was made to turn this into a multi-day event rather than simply a wedding and reception.  On Friday there would be a greeting dinner held at a nearby park located on Puget Sound, the wedding would take place on Saturday, and on Sunday there would be a good-bye brunch at another local park.  At one point I think I jokingly (but also semi-seriously) told them that they might be taking on a bigger job than they realized, but they just laughed.

The weather the day of the Greeting Dinner at Seahurst Park was pretty near perfect.  Seattle had been in a hot spell that had gone on for several weeks, but this day was a bit cooler as a new weather system approached the area.  Pretty much all of Cassie and Robert’s family were there, as well as quite a few friends, including kids.  Robert’s sister Cindy and her husband Prince have three young kids (Livia, Lily and JP) who all adore their uncle Robert, and who also treat him as their own personal climbing toy.  I had to laugh as they would constantly be chasing Robert trying to get him to play with them (which he usually did).  Pizza and pop was served and everyone enjoyed a beautiful evening and great sunset.  Sorry that I am not including any photos of the dinner in this post, but I already almost have more photos from the wedding alone than I can use. But if I get enough requests I might be persuaded to do another post with photos from both the Friday dinner and Saturday brunch (hint, hint!).

The change in the weather that had been evident the at the dinner was much more evident the following day, as the skies were now quite gray and dark and rain and even thunderstorms had been forecast for the day.  When I headed for their house at about noontime, it had not yet started to rain but the clouds were looking a bit ominous and I wondered whether the “wedding gods” were going to have some fun with us later in the day.  When I arrived the big tent was set up in the backyard and final work was being completed on the dance floor inside the big garage.  The caterers were busy unloading chairs and tables and moving them into the tent.

The plan was to set up a first look session for Robert and Cassie at around 1PM, then spend an hour or so taking photos of them at various places on their property, then take family photos from ~2-2:30 so Cassie could disappear before the guests arrived.  But a short time after I arrived it started to rain, and not just a gentle rain but a pretty decent shower.  Cassie was upstairs working on her makeup and Robert was in the basement tracking the weather on his computer.  It looked like we would be getting a break in the weather soon, so Cassie and Robert both completed getting dressed and we waited to see when the rain would stop.

It wasn’t long until the rain started to slacken and then quite completely.  The sun even made a few appearances as I moved Robert into position for his first look at Cassie in her wedding dress (which you will see below).  The first look went perfectly, and the three of us then spent some time looking for good photo spots on their lot.  The sun continued to cooperate and we had a nice session.  We had already decided that we would do a separate photo session on the following Monday to give us a chance to get some different backdrops, so we did not need to get too carried away with photos at this time.

Next up it was time for photos with the families and wedding party.  Since Cassie and Rob had chosen not to have any attendants other than their nieces and nephew (who acted as the flower girls and ring-bearer) wedding party photos were pretty quick and easy.  Family photos were slightly more complicated due to a couple of missing people, but we managed to get most of them done, and knew that we would have a chance to get the remainder done after the ceremony.

Once we finished the family photos it was time to get ready for the arrival of the guests, and for the ceremony to begin.  Cassie moved out of sight as people started to arrive and move into place for the ceremony.  The weather was still holding up, though there were occasional very light showers, so it looked like we would be able to have the ceremony outdoors as planned.  To create a space for the ceremony to take place, Rob had used his tractor to clear out a lot of brush and small trees between the house and the fence on the west side of the lot, making a very nice area that was just the right size for the crowd.  It was a stand-up ceremony for everyone except the parents and grandparents, so the guests were directed to where they needed to stand and the ceremony began.

First came Rob, escorting his mom and dad.  The three flower girls (Lizzy, Livia and Lily) and JP the ring-bearer came next.  As they walked down the “aisle” and the girls dropped their flowers, ring-bearer JP (not quite 3 years old) decided that he also needed to be throwing flowers and did his best to take some from his sisters.  LOL!  Once the kids completed their walk Cassie was escorted to the “altar” by her father Steve and presented to Robert.  Rob’s brother Chris was the officiant, and he conducted a very nice (and at times very amusing) ceremony.  I work with a lot of professional wedding officiants, and Chris would have held his own with any of them!

At the conclusion of the ceremony we got the entire crowd together for a big group photo, which you will see below.  I’m sure glad Rob was able to give me a good ladder so I could elevate myself a bit for the photo or it would have been pretty tough to get everyone in so that they’d be visible.

While the caterers (Pyramid Catering) were serving some tasty snacks to the guests, I grabbed the newlyweds and the various relatives who had not yet been photographed and moved a short distance away to finish up the posed photos.  Then I was finally able to turn Rob and Cassie loose so they could spend time with their family and friends.  We were still enjoying a nice sunny (but not hot!) day, but there were some pretty dark clouds in the distance that made it clear that the dry conditions might change very soon.

After hanging out and eating plenty of appetizers and drinking some nice wines and beers, everyone moved toward the tent to find their seats for dinner.  And it was just in the nick of time, as the clouds I referenced earlier now made their way overhead and started to rain on us.  Rob and Cassie had to make their Grand Entrance to the party under cover of an umbrella.  The showers continued in an unpredictable fashion for the rest of the evening.  At one point I looked out and spotted a great rainbow over the airport, and grabbed Cassie and Rob so we could get some rainbow photos; you’ll my favorite of those below.  There were several different games set up on the lawn for the kids, though I noticed that there might have been more adults than kids playing Corn Hole. 🙂

As dinner was finishing Cassie and Rob moved to the dance floor for their first dance.  The floor had been constructed by Robert and probably was strong enough to support an M1 tank, and had no problem at all with the rather substantial crowd that sooned joined Rob and Cassie on the dance floor.  The DJ, Michael Johnson of Viva Productions, did a great job of playing music that kept a big crowd on the dance floor all evening.  Robert’s nieces Lily and Livia seemed to work as a tag-team trying to get Robert to not just dance but when possible to spin them wildly around the dance floor.  The party was so successful that the DJ was asked to stay longer than first planned, and the guests all seemed to appreciate that as they continued to dance until it was finally time for everyone to go home.

This was hands-down the best backyard wedding that I have ever photographed, and I have been the photographer at a LOT of weddings!

Below you will see a pretty decent assortment of photos from the day.  I will also post some photos from the wedding portrait session that we did at The Cove on Monday, when we had a chance to just spend a fun time getting some good photos without any time pressure to get ready for a wedding ceremony.

I hope you like the photos, and please leave some comments to tell me what you think!