A Back Yard Wedding — Eatonville, WA

The Trenter Wedding, by Sam Day, 24 x 30, oil on canvas

 

Eatonville, Washington is a small town in the morning shadow of the tallest volcano in the United States. Once a lumber town, it now serves mostly as a gateway to Mount Rainier National Park, and as a nest of vacation homes around several lakes. The groom’s parents built their retirement home here, and the couple chose to be married in the large, wooded back yard.

An outdoor wedding in October, in the Pacific Northwest, wouldn’t be complete without rain. Several tents and awnings were readied for guests to move dryly from wedding to table. Fortuitously, sunshine made an appearance during cocktail hour, and people chatted on the lawn. Children played among the trees, and dogs romped and begged. (A pit bull in a bow tie appears in the painting, lower right.) Two great food trucks parked in the drive, one Filipino (the bride’s heritage), and one with a classic pizza oven.

I shared an awning with the DJ. The clouds did open again, and it rained the rest of the evening.

A Back Yard Wedding Reception

Steve and Holly's Back Yard Reception, by Sam Day, oil on canvas, 24 x 30

The third time’s the charm, they always say. Or is it good news comes in threes?  This groom was the last of three siblings to marry, and I painted each of their weddings. (Earlier this year I completed another set of three siblings’ weddings.) I love it when families carry on traditions! The first sibling in this family was one of the first weddings I ever painted, about ten years ago (before I started this blog, so sorry for no link); the second was at a great Snohomish county family farm retreat a couple of summers ago

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In this case, the couple had been previously married in a private ceremony, and in July they threw this intimate reception in their own back yard. The barbecue was great, the faces were familiar, and the children played on the lawn. And I captured it on canvas for posterity.