A Rainy Seattle Wedding

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Lyon-Mickiewicz Wedding, by Sam Day,  24 x 30 inches, oil on canvas

Labor Day weekend is most often sunny in the Seattle region, but moisture is never entirely unexpected.

The Lyon-Mickiewicz wedding was held in Issaquah, Washington, an eastern suburb. The weather prediction was partly cloudy, with a minority chance of rain in the late evening. What we got was a booming late summer thundershower at the end of the cocktail hour, followed by a downpour, which settled into a steady rain. Fortunately, we all fit under this lovely party tent, and the festivities continued cheerily

Reception detail

But moving my easel, after I’ve commenced a painting, changes my view.  So I made a rare exception and finished the painting back at the studio. Happily, the couple had had time before the ceremony, after picture taking, to stand for a few minutes for me to paint them. Al I needed to do was a little touch up, some recognizable faces in the distant crowd, and finish the puddles of rain on what was meant to be the dance floor.

The very practical couple felt it was representative of a memorable night.

Painting a Wedding at Seattle Aquarium

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Who wouldn’t want to get married in front of an eighteen by sixty foot wall of salmon and rockfish? Actually, the couple had planned the ceremony to be outside the SeattleAquarium, with the incredible views from the pier, of Elliott Bay and the Olympic Mountains across Puget Sound. But it was a rare dark and rainy day in August, and the ceremony was moved inside. The foot-thick plexiglass made a great backdrop for the ceremony, and when the room was flipped during the cocktail hour, the aquarium became the backdrop for the bridal party’s long table during the reception.

The Little-Greene Wedding, Seattle Aquarium, 2015. Oil on Canvas, 24 x 36 inches, by Sam Day.

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.

The Grooms of June at the Fairmont Olympic

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The Victor-Barnes Wedding, The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, Seattle

TheFairmont Olympic Hotel is the grandest old hotel in downtown Seattle, housed in an Italian Renaissance edifice with marble clad lobbies, Corinthian columns, and vast, ornate ballrooms. The Garden Room is the centerpiece of these gathering spaces, with double height windows rising above the hedges of the motor court.

The gentlemen who chose this place to exchange their vows are lovers of the arts, and I was pleased to have been among the evening’s artistic offerings.

Upon entering the lounge, guests lined up to have custom poetry written on the spot by Typing Explosion, a performing trio in the guise of mid-century secretaries. The nostalgic song of their typewriters was accompanied par excellence by the Seattle String Ensemble, and dancers emerged from the shadows, choreographed by Rainbow Fletcher.

The grooms with flower girls

At the end of the cocktail hour the violins went down, and the convivial voices rose. But suddenly the crowd hushed, as Jennifer Krikawa, an operatic soprano, began—mezzo piano— to call them to form a ribbon- lined aisle.   She sang from both the standard opera repertoire and Broadway show tunes. I got a little verklempt at Somewhere There’s a Place for Us from West Side Story; later a Mezzo joined her for the famous Flower Duet from the opera Lakmé, by Delibes.  As an avocational tenor myself, I was in heaven.  

During dinner the grooms and their flower girls found time to stand for quick portraits, and the painting was done by the time the dance troupe returned to pull them onto the dance floor with white feather boas.