Seattle Wedding Atop the Space Needle
When I arrived at the Airbnb in Seattle, I found six close friends milling around in their PJs – making coffee, ironing clothes and getting ready for the day ahead. Among them was the most adorable bride with a huge, giddy smile on her face. She was about to do the thing she always swore she’d never do: get married.
Gamers in Love
Jamie and Will are die-hard gamers. It’s a world I admittedly do not really understand. But the way they explain it, they met in an imaginary jungle in the game World of Warcraft. They were each in their own homes, he in Nevada and she in Maryland, with headsets so they could hear each other’s voices while playing. They spent hours and hours hanging out this way, until they upgraded to phone calls, and, finally, a real-life meeting in person. Will says he proposed to her on the spot. She said no. He proposed over and over again until she finally said yes. Or, more specifically, “I’ll marry you on some random Wednesday in a random city.”
This “random” wedding ended up being very special to everyone involved, including me. The officiant, Lori, is one of my oldest friends (we lived together while working for a newspaper in Myrtle Beach, SC). She is the one who gifted my photography to Jamie and Will as a wedding gift.
Seattle Wedding Adventure
The day was a perfect Seattle adventure. We all crammed into a limo and headed straight to the Space Needle for the wedding ceremony. After spending some time there for portraits afterward, we got back into the limo and stopped at a few great spots, including a cozy coffee shop and a trip on the ferry. The day ended back at the Airbnb with champagne and charcuterie.
I teared up right along with Jamie and Will when they said their vows, because I know what it’s like to receive the kind of love you never thought possible. I know what it’s like to miraculously find this person you can be yourself with, who loves you with their whole heart. When someone chooses you out of all the amazing and interesting people in the world, and you choose them right back, it’s an indescribable feeling of joy.
Jamie and Will’s wedding day was a playful, unpredictable, unique, adventurous day that I am so grateful to have been a part of. I say it on this blog often, but when couples get married the way THEY want to get married, eschewing the pressures of the typical, traditional wedding, it makes all the difference. What a way to begin a life together.