I fell in love with the Pacific Northwest on a recent trip, and this wedding just reinforces my growing desire to return. With the stunning natural beauty, gorgeous pink peonies and roses, and some fabulous sparkly shoes, I can’t stop staring. Enjoy the full gallery by Nikki Closser and don’t miss out on the beautiful video by First And Foremost Productions; just a heads up, tissues will be needed.
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From Nikki Closser… Claire & Charlie chose to have an intimate wedding in Port Ludlow on the shores of tranquil Ludlow Bay in Washington state. Claire & Charlie worked as a team to design their wedding. Golds and pinks speckled the day with mismatched bridesmaid dresses, gold chargers, to-die-for sparkling pink Kate Spade shoes, and carefully designed centerpieces. Claire & Charlie opted not to do a “first look”, but instead, Claire did a very sweet first look with her dad! It was an overcast, beautiful day and there were smiles all around.
From The Bride… Let’s start at the beginning…Charlie and I met in high school art class in Ohio and have been dating ever since! After graduating from college, Charlie got a job in Seattle. I got a job with Nordstrom and moved to Seattle soon after. The day I arrived, Charlie took me on a four mile hike and proposed at the very top of the mountain. It was a beautiful moment and such a special welcoming into the Pacific Northwest. He proposed after seven years of dating and we instantly knew we had to get married on our “date-iversary,” May 16th.
With the date set, we made a big decision to not have a traditional large wedding but instead to have a small intimate celebration in our new home of Seattle, followed by a party at home on our first anniversary to celebrate with extended friends and family. The guest list consisted of immediate family and a few close friends. It became very important to us to make this a trip none of our guests would ever forget. We wanted to show them how amazing our new home is. That thought alone inspired a lot of our planning decisions.
After seeing ten different venues we finally landed on The Resort at Port Ludlow. The Resort sits about an hour outside of Seattle. It was a perfect destination surrounded by water, mountains and the great outdoors. One of the coolest things about the resort is that seaplanes can land right next to the front door. We knew immediately that we had to incorporate that!
Being a designer, it was very important to me to create a custom logo for our weekend. After doing so, I chose the welcome bags, coins and menus to apply it to. My dad owns a coining mint and kindly offered to make coins to attach to our welcome bags. They were perfect, they had one of our engagement photos on the front and our date and logo on the back! My other favorite custom piece at our wedding was definitely our LOVE sign that helped light our reception. Charlie made it for the occasion and we had so much fun making them that we started selling them on Etsy! Etsy also happens to be where I found almost all of the rest of our decor.
Everyone arrived at the resort the afternoon before the wedding. The bridal party took a seaplane from downtown Seattle, a few blocks from our home, arriving at the resort in style! Luckily we had one of our videographers on board to capture the whole thing! The arrival was followed by an amazing Salmon Potlatch, a Northwest Native American tradition, rehearsal dinner.
The morning of the wedding, the groom and his friends went and played golf on the resort’s course. Meanwhile, the rest of us had a private yoga session at the resort – it was a very peaceful start to our day! The rest of the day went off without a hitch and we were married by the water. I walked down the aisle to a string rendition of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” The ceremony was followed by an intimate candlelit dinner reception. Our guests are still talking about what an amazing weekend it was! To Charlie and I, it was everything we dreamed it would be and then some.
Photography: Nikki Closser | Videographer: First And Foremost Productions | Floral Design: Butter & Bloom | Wedding Dress: Essense of Australia | Cake: Butter & Bloom | Invitations: The First Snow | Bride's Shoes: Kate Spade | Bridesmaids Dresses: Simply Bridal | Bridesmaids Dresses: Gilt Groupe | Animal Escort Cards: Catharine Kelpac On Etsy | Bouquet Charm: Charming Vintage Jewel On Etsy | Bridal Hair & Makeup: Megan Bingham - Off White | Bride's Wedding Band: Fred Meyer | Bridesmaid Gift Box: Urban Outfitters | Cake Topper: Etsy.com | Getting Ready Robes: Something You Gifts On Etsy | Groom's Gift To Bride: Personal Creations | Groom's Ring: Fred Meyer | Groomsmen, Groom, And Fathers' Ties: The Tie Bar | LOVE Light: Claire Nordloh | Menus: Claire Nordloh | Sea Plane: Seattle's Kenmore Air | The Inn At Port Ludlow: The Inn At Port Ludlow | Veil: Calla Bridal | Vow Books: Tasteful Tatters On Etsy