Sophia's Seattle Wedding Details & Photos

I am so excited about today’s post, given that it involves a very special guest, one of my best friends, Sophia! For those of you not familiar with Sophia, we met while at Furman University. We were in the same pledge class there and were both education majors (and even got our master’s degrees together), but it took until after we decided to live together our junior year for our friendship to flourish. We spent the better part of that year questioning how we went two years of college, only really knowing of one another given how quickly we hit it off and how similar we are. 

Sophia is one of those friends that you envision making when going away to school. She’s driven, kindhearted, and strives for excellence in every area of her life. It came without question that her wedding would turn out beautifully due to her attention to detail. I was so thrilled when she asked me to be her maid of honor and knew that standing beside her and attempting to calm her nerves on the big day would be the smallest of ways to express how much I value her as a friend. 

Sophia and Judson met way back in high school, got engaged on my birthday in 2017 (admittedly, I was more focused on receiving that facetime than I was responding to “happy birthday” texts that day), and got married on July 27, 2019, in Seattle. In my mind, Sophia was made to be a wedding influencer. I’m confident that this will be her only wedding as bride given how in love she and Judson are, but her affinity for the pretty things in life would have her create a picture-perfect and sentimental wedding over and over again if given the opportunity. In addition to sharing the photos and vendors she used for her wedding, I asked her to answer a few questions for today’s post for y’all to truly see how beautifully and thoughtfully the day came together. I knew I couldn’t do justice in sharing all the time and energy that went into making this day so special and FUN! As I was putting pictures into this post, I found myself desperately wanting to go back and relive their big day again, given how much fun they made it for their guests. 

All photos in this post were taken by Sophia's incredible photographer Amanda of Amanda K. Photography.

  

 

How did you choose where/when to get married?

We always knew we wanted a Seattle summer wedding. We both grew up a little outside the city and met in high school. Since our relationship started in the Pacific Northwest, it felt right to have our next chapter start there too. I’m convinced there is no better place than Seattle in the summer. A bustling city on the water, warm sunshine, zero humidity, beautiful vegetation, and snow-capped mountains… plus, the reality that this weather lasts only a few months makes it extra special. We also had been telling our college friends all about Seattle and wanted to show them around our city before the big day!

When looking for a venue, we were amazed by how many venues were already booked a year and a half in advance. Most everyone getting married in Seattle stick to summer months, so recommended vendors get booked far in advance. Because of this, we felt some pressure to make large vendor decisions within a couple of months. We knew we wanted an intimate garden wedding with a tented reception in the yard of a house. We narrowed it down to about three venues, and the venue we landed on checked all our boxes and included the most on-site, which allowed us to allocate wedding funds to other categories in our budget. I forget most people tour venues before choosing one, but that wasn’t our reality with planning a wedding across the country. Thankfully, it was just as we pictured it when we saw it in person the following December. 

 

When planning your wedding, what was your vision?

For a year and a half, I looked at way too many wedding pictures on Pinterest and StyleMePretty. The more inspiration I saw, the more I slowly tweaked my vision. For example, we had peach in our floral pallet for a year until I changed florals to all white. I found it to be more crisp and clean and representative of my love of neutrals. Our planner, Alissa, was incredible in helping me narrow down choices and put together visual mock-ups to help with the decision process. I’m your typical over-thinker and very detail-oriented, so I couldn’t imagine going through this process without a professional second opinion. 

“Southern elegance meets northwest charm” is the phrase that came to mind as I was taking in our tented dinner on our wedding day. People living in the South wouldn’t think my wedding was southern, nor am I claiming it to be, but I did include some traditional aspects that aren’t included in typical Northwest weddings and are included in almost all Southern weddings. Weddings in Seattle generally have a trendy and moody aesthetic. In general, I am not a trendy person and, instead, am loving of timeless details and everything old-fashion. The contrast of timeless light and airy details against a rustic Northwest backdrop was symbolic of our life on the west coast and east coast joining together.

What were the most important aspects to you for your wedding?

People always say pick the most important aspects of your wedding to focus your budget on. Well, not so lucky for me, a wedding is a combination of all my favorite things. Florals? Tablescapes? Stationary? Food? Music? Open bar? Yes, to all of it! However, I would say the most important aspect was the “feeling” I was trying to create for our guests. This, of course, is made up of many things, but I would say the music, and the overall design (stationery, florals, and tablescape) dictated this feeling the most. I tried to create this feeling based on my favorite way to spend a Seattle summer night: Dinner in Judson’s backyard under the huge evergreen trees with twinkle lights hanging above and jazz music playing. I wanted this feeling to be communicated in an elevated way for our guests and I feel confident in our execution! 

 

What details of your wedding were the hardest to execute? 

The Logistics! Holy moly. Judson and I sent hours planning the entire week of showing our friends around, while still getting last-minute wedding details in place. Many of these logistics existed because almost our entire bridal party and family were coming in from out of town and on different days and times, including us! This meant planning out transportation, where people were staying, meals, activities, and last-minute wedding chores to the hour. We understood people made a large financial sacrifice to be a part of our day from across the country, so we wanted to take care of everyone the best we could. We were so thankful our friends were so flexible, helpful, and appreciative of everything. We wouldn’t have had it any other way since having all our people in our city was a once in a lifetime experience, but it still was more moving parts to manage. 

 

 

 

 

What was the most memorable part of your wedding day? 

I cherish every moment of that day, but a very memorable part was the surprise firework show I put on for Judson. Our venue is beside a large field, so fireworks are an add-on they offer. We declined when we met with the venue because it was still early, and we knew we had a lot of other details we needed to prioritize. About three months before our wedding, I convinced myself I would regret passing on the opportunity to end the night with a (literal) bang for our guests that traveled so far to celebrate with us. I decided to make the firework show a surprise for Judson because he always gives me a hard time for hating surprises (Dorothy likes to get worked up about this too), and I know he loves them. The only other people who knew were my mom, the venue, and our vendors. Our planner made a separate timeline to send to us and to our vendor team to keep it a secret, and I’m amazed we pulled it off! One of the best moments was seeing the surprise on Judson’s face when a couple small fireworks shot into the sky as the announcement was being made for guests to move to the field for the show. Judson and I took in the last few moments of our day together as we watched the fireworks, and then our bridal party and family joined us. It was one of those once in a lifetime moments we will treasure forever. 

 

 

What was your favorite part of your wedding day?

I would say my favorite part of our day was the small moments we had to ourselves. Judson and I are both introverts, and by the time Thursday night came around, our social energy was at an all-time low. Not the most practical thing when we had three more events ahead of us. We did it to ourselves with planning activities for our friends all week and wouldn’t have changed a thing, but this made us treasure the time we had alone so much. I think by the wedding day, we both were so focused on each other and kind of blurred everything else out. All we cared about was the fact that the day we had been dreaming about for nine years was actually happening. During our couple portraits, I couldn’t help but feel like we were fifteen again and saw the last nine years play out in front of us. It was surreal to have everyone in all our walks of life come together in one place to support us stepping to our next chapter. 

  

 

 

Did anything go wrong on your big day?

I got to the venue half an hour late, which is the last thing I think would have happened since I am usually early to things. We were transporting our entire bridal party from the hotel in multiple vehicles, so the logistics of that while keeping Judson and I separated slowed us down. This didn’t allow as much time for photos before the ceremony, so we had to move family photos to after the ceremony. This made us miss our cocktail hour, which I was pretty bummed about. However, this did make getting a group photo easy since our family was already in one space, and the rest of our guests could easily join us. This was a photo that meant a lot to us, and we were so happy to get it in a painless way. Other little things probably happened throughout the day, and I was very thankful no one told me about them.

 

What did you do to relieve stress leading up to the wedding and on your wedding day?

Ha! This is the part of the wedding planning I failed at… having a destination wedding meant extra expenses, so I got a job for a month to help pay for everything. I also couldn’t imagine having no routine for the whole summer. I love having summers off, but I definitely didn’t want to sit around when my friends are at work. Thankfully the job wasn’t stressful and extremely flexible, so it didn’t add to my stress, but the planning definitely escalated the month before, and everything was finalized. I really wish I scheduled a massage for some time during wedding week. As for the wedding day, I woke up early to have time to myself before the festivities started. Judson and I texted photos of puppies to each other to bring some stress-relief the morning of, which, if you know us personally, you are not at all surprised by. 

 

 

Where did you go on your honeymoon?

On Sunday night, we flew to St. Lucia to stay at Sugar Beach, A Viceroy Resort. We wanted a quiet resort with private cottages, easy access to the beach, and great fresh food. Sugar Beach exceeded our expectations. Their customer service was impeccable, and the aesthetics were even more beautiful in person. It was the perfect place to rest and reflect on our wedding. 

Has anything changed now that you are married?

Many people have asked us if anything is changed for us since we got married. Not much has changed since we have the same jobs and live in the same apartment we lived in before, but I would say we are more focused on planning our future. We talk more about financial goals that will contribute to the life we wish to create. We also are more intentional in practicing habits that will serve us since we know the habits you form in your twenty’s are usually the ones you take with you down the road. I’m such a personal development nerd, and very thankful Judson listens to what I’ve been learning and willingly tries new things with me to better ourselves, and therefore our marriage. 

 

Vendor List:

Dress: Lillian West 

Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes 

Bridesmaids’ dresses: Amsale 

Groomsmen’s attire: Jos. A. Bank

Hair & Makeup: OffWhite Make-up & Hair 

Planner: GatherEvents

Invitations & Stationery: GatherEvents Stationery 

Rentals: CORT Party Rentals 

Linens: BBJ Linens 

Photographer: Amanda K Photography 

Videographer: Watertown Films 

Venue: Laurel Creek Manor 

Florist: Land Floral 

Cake: Spilled Butter Desserts 

Cookie Favors: Sueded Sugar 

Catering: Act 3 Catering 

DJ: Brandon Ghorley

Getaway Car: British Motor Coach