Before this wedding I was so embarrassed to take my camera out at events and take pictures thinking that people would think I'm weird and I would be out of place. Needless to say I don't think that anymore and have come out of my shell when taking pictures. However before the wedding, maybe a day or two before, I read an article linked from a blogger (I can't find it unfortunately) that was written by a wedding photographer to guests of weddings. The short of it was explanations as to why guests need to stay out of the way of the photographer and keep their picture taking to a minimum, or at least out of the photographer's way. I took this to heart and determined to take no pictures in the photographer's way, although I didn't think I'd be taking many pictures anyway. I was able to achieve that goal throughout the night and still got plenty of pictures that I love.
My cousin Betsy and now-cousin Andrew got married at 7 o'clock in the evening at Ray's boathouse which is on Puget Sound. The wedding was outside on the dock part, near the boat launch, and the reception was in the separate venue building.
We arrived about 30 minutes ahead of when the wedding was supposed to start because my grandma was convinced my mom didn't know how to get there and thus we should give ourselves plenty of time. It only took us 45 minutes so we had lots of time on our hands before the wedding started. My mom and grandma were holding hands as they walked up the dock but they stopped once I got my camera low enough to get a picture of it. Figures.
Aunt Becky, the second oldest in the "original" family.
They had amazing music at the wedding and for part of the reception. They played live music for the wedding aside from the exit song (an ACDC song).
Littie and our cousin Sarah who is Aunt Becky's second daughter.
This guy has a story, let me tell you. At the rehearsal dinner this my grandma, who just turned 90 remember, and I were sitting at a table near the drinks area. This man comes up and starts outright flirting with my grandma which was hilarious! My grandma kept calling him a young'un because he's only 86 and hasn't experienced life yet. He was Andrew's family's photographer for years and owns a summer house near theirs. He was always taking pictures with his borrowed little point and shoot. :)
My Aunt Susie, my mom's oldest sister and mother of the bride, putting the corsage on my grandma, the matriarch.
The actual photographer doing his work. I wish I could have gotten his business name. :(
Flowers to toss at the very end of the wedding. I, sadly, didn't get to throw them because I was unprepared as they walked back down the aisle.
Uncle Michael, Aunt Becky's husband. He always seems to be making funny faces and is quite the jokester though he doesn't seem like it at all. When Littie and I were littler we used to make him go down to his basement and dig out the lego box for us to play with when we were at his house, which was a lot since he had the legos.
My Cousin Elaine and her husband Richard with their youngest daughter, M. She is my Aunt Becky's oldest child.
The wedding part assembling to walk down the aisle. Many of us were trying to figure out how Betsy was going to get to the aisle without Andrew seeing her since it's completely exposed from the reception building. She came out with a massive white umbrella held in front of her that was taken away right before she came down the aisle. I didn't take any pictures during the ceremony as I wanted to enjoy the wedding and thought taking pictures would be distracting.
The reception was truly fantastic. The decorations were just right, decorative and minimal with just the right balance. Everyone was assigned a table and I was a bit worried who we would be put with. Not to worry because Uncle Mike, Aunt LuAnn, Eric, and Katie were assigned with us to table 9! I'm so glad we were placed with them because we had so much fun joking around spending time with each other.
Grandma was given a chair to sit on as she waited for pictures. When you're the matriarch of the family you get what you want.
There was an open bar which was the best thing ever. Shirley Temples for everyone! My mom knew that we wanted them so my cousin Katie, who was one of the first to get to the bar, asked the guy if he makes them and he gave the correct answer, yes. I enjoyed 2 of them throughout the night. This is literally the only time I'll drink soda and one of 2 times I'll drink something fizzy. The wedding provided many chances for bokeh because of all the glassware on the tables which made for one very happy Caroline.
My cousin Brian, who is the youngest child of Aunt Becky and Uncle Michael, and his lovely wife Erica who I got to talk to quite a lot at my grandma's 90th birthday dinner.
I managed to get a couple of pictures through the windows without being in the photographers way. I love the way they are looking at each other in this picture, without prompting from the photographer who was getting ready.
This is Jouan (I spelled that wrong I know. It's pronounced yo-ahn) messing around with his little sister M.
Grandma has only recently, as in the last couple of years, shown an interest in beer. She won't let anyone near her get a beer without letting her try it first. Because she doesn't drink whole beers she didn't have a cup for it and substituted her wine glass for it. :)
The next 2 pictures remind me so much of the dog bopping the cat on the head from pinterest.
Imma bop you on the head. Bop!
I love this kid. He was all over the place and ended up spending most of his time outside running around with his little sister. He was the CUTEST little boy with his suspenders and impish look.
Nothing quite like a child's joy.
After eating our heart out on appetizers we (Katie, Littie, and I) decided to go outside and snap some pictures. I found out that I need to learn how to shoot against a bright backdrop like the approaching sunset through this.
2 years ago when we were on Sucia island we took a bunch of pictures together and they wanted to replicate them this year. Unfortunately they aren't all perfectly in focus. :(
Katie took this because she wanted me in a picture too, which is nice since I don't get my picture taken with my camera unless I use a mirror which is more a picture of the camera then.
I wanted to share my love of Shirley Temples with my cousin's older girls so 7 year old M and I went to the bar and got a Shirley Temple for both of them. M carried hers back and was very careful not to spill it or drop the heavy glass cup. Both M and Y were both fascinated with the maraschino cherries and found them delicious.
My cousin Sarah told me I have a certain face when I take pictures, a half smile and concentration, so I tried to capture it. I don't think it worked.
M was my buddy during our trip. From the first time we went swimming together she latched onto me and followed me everywhere. I loved it and was happy to have someone who liked having her picture taken all the time. I'm not kidding when I say these are maybe a third of what I took of her. I had to slim down the amount of pictures of her by a lot.
I thought this sunset picture was pretty not knowing the scene to come.
This is my all time favorite picture of M. She's not looking at the camera, the light softens her face, and there's bokeh in the backround from the restaurant nearby. Perfect.
I was wanting a picture of the musicians and got a picture of that guy stretching. Lovely.
Littie hates this picture, let me start with that. I wasn't intending to take this picture and I didn't think I'd keep it but for some reason I like it. My cousin Elaine was asking me about my camera and if it does continuous shooting so I demonstrated by taking approximately 30 pictures of Littie. The lighting was too perfect right then to throw out an interesting picture just because Littie didn't like it.
The bride and groom make their official entrance to the party (which means that the food is going to come soon, yay!).
Aunt Becky was savoring the moment with her youngest granddaughter, M. In the background is the food line. That food was so so so good. I had halibut for the first time which was superb and reminded me a lot of the texture of chicken versus the texture of fish. A plus with being related to the bride was that we go to go through line before the other guests. Woohoo!
Betsy making the rounds to greet the guests.
In Betsy's hand was her beer and cozy which Katie stole from her for a moment to get a picture of. Upon seeing this picture Aunt LuAnn remarked that Katie should be a model for pictures like this. :)
This is Betsy's cousin who I don't know the name of. He gave Betsy a hug as she came to greet him and since I wanted a picture of it I yelled at him to keep hugging at her, which he did.
Admiring Betsy's ring with his girlfriend nearby.
Betsy and Andrew were very thoughtful and provided Martinellis for the underage to drink during the toasts. I did try Kate's champagne and deemed it much better than the different wines I've tried. It is at least bearable to drink during toasts rather than occasional sips of wine.
M and I ventured outside to where Richard and his youngest were playing for a while. It was nice getting to talk to Richard for a little bit as I haven't really seen him much since I was in his own wedding in 2004.
I took this to show how many glasses we had on our table. At our peak amount we had 35 glasses between the 8 of us.
This is Andrew, the groom, with my Aunt Susie and his own mom. I love Aunt Susie's face as she laughs at Andrew's joke.
This was the first time they stuffed cake in each others faces. The photographer and I ran outside to get some pictures of this as it wasn't announced.
This picture is of the second time they did ate cake.
Rather than have cake, which neither of them are particularly fond of, they decided to have homemade ice cream sandwiches. Andrew's mom made about 4 different kinds of them with enough for most people to have 2. I had a lemon cookie and strawberry ice cream one. It was scrumptious.
Bokeh <3
The food was cleared from the dance floor and the fun started. It was difficult to get any pictures of them dancing in the dark light without getting in the photographer's way.
Father and daughter dance.
This isn't intended to be a picture of Richard's head but of him and his 2 littlest children observing the dancing.
\The dancing started at around 10 or so and the Park family had to leave. Elaine danced with her kids for a minute or two so they could experience dancing with the flashing lights. :)
Grandma had so much fun at this wedding, she deemed it the most fun wedding she had ever been to. She was dancing in her chair during the music and had a blast without ever getting up.
A mother and her son. 
Katie and Littie had just come off of the dance floor when I took this picture.
Twins and sisters and all of us cousins.
The wedding took place on Saturday but they also had a Catholic blessing Monday. Before the blessing, which was just for family, they opened up their gifts, something I remember my cousin Elaine and Richard doing way back in 2004 when I was the ringbearer.
This was a hand painted butter dish that Andrew's 11 year old sister, Emily, made for them.
Grandma had no idea what to give them so Momma suggested some glassware since my grandma has so much of it. She gave them part of a teal set that they will get the rest of when they move to a different house.
Momma crocheted them a blanket from a pattern I found online. They both loved it since Andrew loves cozy things and Betsy was wanting something homemade from my mom.
Grandma attempting to relieve them of some cash. :)
They were gifted a Hawaiian vacation from both of Andrew's parents along with an airfare gift certificate from someone else (it might have been from Andrew's dad and step mom or Betsy's parents).
They also received a handmade quilt from one of Betsy's relatives which they were very happy about. And clearly grandma was too.
Aunt Susie and Uncle Chuck live in an amazing condo in what is considered "uptown" Seattle, just a nice walk from downtown Seattle. Since the light is so great there Littie and I went outside to get some pictures. This is Littie's tumblr picture since it has an American Apparel bow on with an H&M dress.
And that's the end of the pictures I took! I posted almost 500 pictures in 3 blog posts although I could have easily posted double that if I hadn't thinned my pictures down! None of these pictures were edited because I don't have the time to edit 500 pictures even though some of these should have been. Maybe I'll get around to it someday but for now I want to get better at taking the pictures themselves before I get good at editing them to death to make them look better. I'd rather perfect the art before I perfect the editing. :) Until next time!
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