Photography, Ben Wagner Photography | Venue, Hotel Ballard | Wedding Coordinator, Natalie Selle, Your Perfect Bridesmaid | Catering, Stoneburner | DJ, Orion Entertainment | Dessert, A La Mode Pies | Floral, Curly Flowers Designs | Rentals, Cort Party Rental | Hair and Makeup, Michelle Wight
Hotel Ballard Wedding Photography
The thing you need to know about Helen and Kevin is that they had the single most creative seating chart I’ve encountered. Instead of your usual tables listed out with names, they hung up a printed polaroid photo of themselves with every single guest at the wedding — their assigned table number written on the bottom of the photo. Collected over decades: photos from trips, family vacations, baseball games, selfies at the bar. Photos from their childhoods, from college, from weeks before the wedding.
This tells you everything you need to know about who they are, the kind of wedding they wanted, and the kind of wedding they pulled off. What they cared about most, was being with their people.
The couple, their families, and the wedding party were all staying together on the top floor of Hotel Ballard, a fantastic arrangement of hotel rooms that open onto the venue’s Olympic Rooftop Pavilion. This gave a wonderful intimacy to the pre-wedding hours (especially on a perfect Seattle September day). With the sun shining the crew hung out with their hotel room doors all open, mingling back and forth, sitting outside, family in and out. Snacks out. Drinks half-finished. No one rushing. No one performing. Just people enjoying each other. That’s usually a good sign.
Helen and her bridesmaids hung out flipping through an old photo album, remembering past weddings, trips, college. Characteristically the groom’s side was more chaotic. A doordashed beer delivery as Kevin was getting dressed, the groomsmen piling into the bathtub for a photo, the hotel rooms’ TVs playing fall football.
The first look was casual. I like to ask my couples “if there was no camera here and the first look was about the two of you, and not the photo, how would you do it.” So Helen waited in the shaded back area of the pavilion as Kevin came out of his room, laughing as he saw her for the first time.
No pressure. No performance. Just the way it really was.
We had plenty of time to spare, so the whole group wanted to go down to Ballard Ave, stopping in the middle of the quiet Saturday traffic for photos. Then a quick run to classic Ballard dive bar King’s Hardware, who were gracious enough to let the group have take a couple of quick photos (and have a quick shot).
The Hotel Ballard wedding ceremony was on the rooftop, the western fall sun backlighting the couple. Helen’s brother played guitar as she walked up the aisle. When the ceremony was over Helen sprinted back to the hotel room to check the Mariners score as they hunted a playoff spot, shouting to the guests leaving the ceremony that the team was beating the detested Astros.
The cocktail hour began in the hotel lobby and everything loosened. Conversations overlapped. People moved in clusters, then broke apart, then found each other again. Back on the roof a few people stepped away from it all. Leaning on the railing, watching the light shift over the city.
Once the Pavilion was flipped the group slowly made it’s way back up, each guest touched to find their polaroid seating assignment. The dinner was exquisite. As a personal note, so often I eat my meal alone or off in a separate area. This night all the vendors took our meal together at a table outside, under the stars, chatting in the early fall evening. That alone was unforgettable.
And then the dancing started. Chaos. Beautiful chaos. Helen ended up in the center of the dance floor, head back, laughing, fully in it. A drink in one hand, the rest of the world gone. The moment the family won’t forget is Helen’s grandfather ditching his walker to dance with her, joy flowing all around.
Hotel Ballard Wedding – The PhotoFilm
Helen and Kevin’s chosen wedding package included a hand crafted Documentary PhotoFilm — a one-of-a-kind video that combines the photographs and audio recorded throughout the day to create a keepsake highlight that tells the entire story of the wedding day.
Hotel Ballard Wedding — Select Photos
The gallery below contains select photography from Helen and Kevin’s Hotel Ballard Wedding. Their chosen package included all digital photos delivered in both Color and Black & White edits, as well as analog film photography.
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Click any image to view in fullscreen or slideshow mode.
Digital images photographed on the Leica M11, Leica Q3, and Fujifilm X-T5. Film photographs taken on the Leica MP and RolleiFlex 2.8E with a variety of film stocks.
Film processed by Panda Lab, Seattle, WA.
