Weddingbee Blog

Sandy and Billy celebrated their marriage surrounded by the warmth of good friends and family at a waterfront venue in Seattle, WA. Sandy and Billy included lots of beautiful personal touches to their ceremony and reception that made their wedding entertaining and memorable for guests of all ages.

Wedding Date: September 27, 2008
Venue: Tyee Yacht Club (aka Yacht Club at Lake Union), Seattle, Washington

Catering: Ravishing Radish
Wedding Coordinator: Christine at Belle Nuit Events
Florist: Loves Me Flowers
Photographer: Cory Parris
Cake: Cake Envy
Minimoon: Aerie Resort on Vancouver Island
Bridal Gown Designer: Jasmine

We didn’t really have a theme, but I would describe our wedding as whimsical, sweet, and heartfelt.

My favorite part of the wedding was when we shared our vows with each other. I’m so glad my husband insisted on doing this because I wanted to recite the traditional vows since I hate public speaking. I love that we were able to share that moment with each other and exchange personalized promises in the presence of our family and friends. Many of our guests said this was their favorite part of the wedding too. I love that our family and friends witnessed a moment between me and Billy that captured our love for each other. I have really traditional, stoic, Korean relatives and it was very touching and surprising to see some of them in tears during our wedding.

I loved that we had children at our wedding. Even though our bridal party was small, they all had small children and I loved that they were part of the day. Billy’s sister and her husband were in the wedding, and so they walked down the aisle carrying their 3-month old son. After the wedding, someone asked if that was our baby, which cracks me up! I guess people assume a baby in the wedding must mean it’s the bride’s child. My two maids of honor have little boys, but only one made it down the aisle… good thing for back up! They were adorable in their matching velvet suits.

We are not a serious couple, so we did not have a serious wedding. It was more like the biggest and best dinner party of our lives with a room full of all of our loved ones enjoying good food and good wine!

We don’t really like the dancing part at weddings (and my family doesn’t dance), so we didn’t have a band or DJ. We have two good friends who are DJs in NY and DC so they mixed some CDs for us to play.

For mingling purposes we set up a Rock Band area and hired a caricature artist.

Everyone loved the caricature artist and it was definitely the hit of the
party.

We used caricatures on our invitations (got the idea from Mrs. Strawberry to use an online service www.dimpleart.com), had a personalized cake topper, and my cousin gifted us with personalized Jones Soda bottles with our caricatures.

Our wedding was definitely US and I’m so glad we didn’t do anything just for the sake of tradition… everything about our day was personal and genuine… just a room full of laughter and great conversation.

I also loved our boat getaway! This was one of the things my husband really showed interest in (and part of the reason we booked our venue) so I wanted to make it happen even though we don’t own a boat. We decided to book our wedding night suite at a hotel across the lake that does complimentary boat tours for their guests hoping they would let us use their boat even though the tours are usually in the afternoon. The hotel said they would not charge for this, but that it was up to the Captain who takes care of the boat. Fortunately for us, the Captain was free and generously agreed to pick us up at our venue and take us to our hotel. We enjoyed a beautiful boat ride across the lake.

I was lucky that my husband was interested in the wedding and wanted the wedding to be a genuine reflection of us.

I think that’s the best advice I have for anyone planning a wedding: include your husband, make it personal, and have fun. Your guests will feel the love that went into planning the wedding together. It is so overwhelming to plan a wedding because the possibilities are endless. Don’t worry about what you’re supposed to do at a wedding or what people are going to think…all that matters is that you and your husband love it and want to include it as part of your wedding. Your family and friends will have a good time if you are having a good time!

all photos by Cory Parris Photography

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