James, Vehicle Repair and Logistics Coordinator at Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Bassist for Toarn & Amanda, Photographer
One sentence sum-up of the wedding vibe: Naturally chaotic and perfectly ours.
Soundtrack for reading: “Come and Listen” by David Crowder Band
Other Cool Stuff We Should Know About
The Proposal. On March 17, 2013, James took me to the pier next to the Seattle Aquarium (where we had our first date), took me aside and prayed with me, then got down on one knee with the water and the mountains as a backdrop. I immediately began crying like a baby, and when I looked back up I saw two of my good photographer friends from my hometown of Puyallup standing there taking pictures of us. I said yes, he picked me up and spun me around, and an unknown group of bystanders erupted into applause, only to disappear as soon as we turned back around. I appreciated the traveling ninja celebrators. We then had lunch at Anthony’s, the same restaurant we went to on our first date. (Oh, and I had gotten a black eye at work two days before. Our first date ended with me taking him to the hospital after he gashed his eyebrow open playing a metal show, resulting in a black eye. The proposal ended up being an almost exact replica of our first date.)
The photographer. Jonas Seaman was the first person we booked, even before our venue. Aside from the man I was marrying, the photography was the most important part of the wedding for me. Jonas and Mary were the perfect photographers for us—I looked up Jonas’ website and was floored by their attention to detail and the way they use light and focus. I love the look of tilt-shift lenses and the timeless feel of film, and immediately fell in love with their work.
Decorations. We ended up spending more on flowers than I had hoped, but that was really all that went into decorating. We had friends and relatives pool their string lights together, and my uncle spent a weekend cutting up a bunch of wood rounds for the tables. We wanted it to be simple and for the natural beauty of the park to be able to shine through.
The location. The story of how we found Deception Pass and how we found Rosario Head in particular is kind of ridiculous, and it was completely Divine intervention. It was very different from what I though I had wanted, and everything I never knew to hope for. After seeing a picture of the cliff that had no more description on it than “Deception Pass,” James and I decided to run up there one day before a show he was playing about thirty minutes east of the pass. The first place we found was Bowman Bay, and vowed that if we didn’t find the cliff that we would have our wedding there. The beauty of it completely floored us. We didn’t have much time to explore, but we found a map, and a peninsula with surrounding islands of rock that matched what we had seen in the picture. Jumping back in the car, speeding down the road, praying we were going the right way, we made it to another parking lot that didn’t look anything like the cliff we had hoped for. “Whatever. We can at least check this place out.” Down the trail, the path suddenly cut up. We looked at each other, and ran. Being the type for adventure, James found the tiniest of man-made trails branching off from the main path and cutting directly up the hill, and dove at it head first. Regretting my lack of commitment to cardio workouts, I followed. Through thick brush and grabbing branches, panting and wheezing, I reached the top just behind him. And stared in amazement at the open sky and water in front of us. We found the cliff, more wild and full of rocky beauty than I had ever expected. Mouths and eyes wide we stared at each other, then stared at the scene, then hugged, then danced. “This is it.” “We found it.” “We’re getting married here.” Even the $90 parking ticket we found upon returning to our car couldn’t dim our joy.
Favorite Thing About The Wedding
The location, insane as it was. From the story behind finding it, to the completely unreal experience of getting married in a hurricane, the place we stood and declared our love and dedication before God and everyone was what made our wedding ours.
