I met Mark while working at Microsoft back in 2005. We worked together for many months on the same team and I loved hearing about his background as a popular musician in the band, Mars Accelerator. I left Microsoft to start my company as a wedding photographer, but we remained in touch off and on and, after he proposed to his girlfriend, he called me up and hired us to photograph his wedding at Tom Douglas’ awesome Palace Ballroom located in the heart of Seattle. Mark’s fiance, Gwen, is the genius bread baker for Tom Douglas who was in attendance the night of their wedding to make sure the food and drink were up to spec. It was also fun to meet one of Gwen’s high school pals, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who flew up from Los Angeles just after filming J.I. Joe. We tried to stay out of his face, but managed to grab a fun photo of the two of them together later in the evening. As you can imagine, Joseph was a fun person to talk to (Candice said he was very sweet).
The day started out with us meeting Gwen for hair and makeup at the RedX in Capitol Hill east of downtown Seattle. We followed Gwen from there to the Olympic Sculpture Park where she met up with Mark. After family photographs there at the Park, I wandered a bit with them to an overlook of the Puget Sound (enjoy the goosing sequence below).
Mark and Gwen entered the Palace Ballroom to greet arriving guests, then Gwen retreated to the back as everyone took their seats. The Palace Ballroom used long drapes to partition the room into a ceremony space (mid-room) and used the back area as staging for the heavy appetizers to be served after the room was turned over. During the changeover, guests were ushered back to the front of the building and treated to drinks and a chinese food appitizer buffet.
The food at the reception included a burger and fries bar, a cheese and wine table and an assortment of other great eats. The dance floor was set up in the south-east corner and hosted the bride and groom dance followed by the bride and father dance. The whole group of guests then joined them on the dance floor. Mark’s friend, a gifted pastry chef, treated everyone to a variety of treats. As the night came to a close, Mark and Gwen departed across the street to their hotel.
