Ilene and Burt get married at Ray’s Boathouse

Another fantastic summer wedding!  Ilene and Burt are a wonderful couple, and they had their wedding at one of my absolute favorite Seattle wedding venues, Ray’s Boathouse.  How can you beat a combination like that?

A couple of months before the wedding I was discussing possibilities for some off-site photos before the wedding, because Ray’s sits next to a couple of fantastic parks that are wonderful for photos.  We went over the possibilities, and then I made some comment about how with a mid-August wedding we might well have a rather hot day, and that I did not want to be dragging him around in the hot sun if he was wearing a tuxedo.  No fun to get all sweaty before the wedding!  Burt told me that this was going to be a very casual wedding, and that no one would be wearing traditional “wedding clothes”, and that the guests were also being told to dress casually; and that he hoped that I would also “dress down” as otherwise I’d be the only guy there in a suit.  Since I tend to get really sweaty at summer weddings when wearing the “wedding uniform” of coat and tie, this was very exciting news!

As it turned out we had a near-perfect day for a wedding; sunny but not hot.  About as good as it gets in Seattle during the summer!  We began the day by driving to the nearby Ballard Locks, which has a very nice park that works great for photos.  Our time was a little short to fully explore the park, but as you’ll see below we still got some nice shots.

Then it was back to Ray’s for the wedding.  The guests had already begun to arrive, and rather than hiding out until the beginning of the ceremony Burt and Ilene spent the time greeting and talking with their friends.  If you have never been to Ray’s, it is a restaurant that sits on top of an old pier in Shilshole Bay.  Years ago it was also a large facility for boat rentals, and the original name of Ray’s Boathouse lives on even though the boat business was ended more than 20 years ago.  Right next to the main restaurant is a separate building called the Northwest Room, which was built especially for events.  The views over and across Puget Sound are spectacular, and on a clear day you can see the mountians on the Olympic Peninsula.  Not to mention lots of boaters and sea life.  Seals and sea lions are always present, hunting the salmon who are making their way to the Ballard Locks and Lake Washington.

Because the day was so perfect the ceremony was held on the pier between the restaurant and the Northwest Room.  The backdrop of the sound and mountains was about as nice as you can find anywhere.  The guests were told to take their seats and the ceremony began.

I don’t want to bore you by going through the details of the rest of the wedding and reception, I’d rather just let you look at the photos and let them tell the story.  But it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed working with the couple and their guests.  Towards the end of the reception Ilene, Burt and I walked to a nearby beach where we took some sunset photos.  A great finish to a great day!