Fauntleroy Church Wedding - West Seattle | Olivia + Alissa

Olivia reached out to me to get some short coverage (elopement pckg) of her religious wedding ceremony taking place in the beautiful Fauntleroy Church in West Seattle. She admitted that she wasn’t big on pictures and that having a wedding photographer was her family’s idea. Talking to her, it was clear to me that she didn’t want any intrusive or “posy” photos, instead she wanted me to capture the moments naturally, as they saw them and as they happened, putting an emphasis on the beautiful background that the church provided. I felt completely in my element and I am proud to show some of the pictures from that day:

Venue: Fauntleroy Church - 9140 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98136 Photographer: Piero Manriq

Seattle Yacht Wedding - Ruth & Tobias Chillin’ Yacht

Tobias reached out to me 2 weeks before the big day, and apparently, that was the beginning of all their wedding planning. Thankfully I was free that Sunday, who could say no to a yacht wedding?!

The wedding day came and I headed to Fisherman’s Terminal on a beautiful warm and sunny day. Parking was reely easy and navigating through the docks was a breeze (sorry about the puns). About a 2 minute walk from the entrance, there it was, the 75-ft yacht they call Chillin’

I was there 15 minutes before sailing time so I took the chance to take pics of the decorations and the rings. Then, the captain explained all the safety procedures and we departed!

Originally, Ruth and Tobias planned their ceremony at 1:30pm, but I advised that if they waited at least  1-hr, the sun would be coming down from an angle, creating shade on their faces which makes for more flattering pictures and avoids them having to squint during the entire ceremony. 

I used this time to take pictures of Ruth putting on the dress and Tobias getting ready for the big moment.

The captain timed everything so we would have the Seattle skyline in the background during the ceremony as the couple requested. It worked wonderfully.

One of my favorite parts during the day was during the couple portraits. While we were walking around the yacht, many of the people on the boats passing-by greeted the couple and wished them well. We had a lot of fun saying hi back to all the different characters that greeted us.

Photographer: Piero Manriq |  https://pieromanriq.com/

Venue: Chillin’ Yacht | https://www.getmyboat.com/trips/RNRewdAK/

King County Courthouse Wedding | Cathy & Brian - Piero Manriq Photography

Contrary to what some people may think, courthouse weddings aren’t particularly tricky or stressful. Once you fill out your paperwork and set your date, there won’t be lines or anything else to queue for before meeting the judge at the designated time. 

So, I met with Cathy & Brian 30 minutes before the ceremony to greet them and take some portraits before they met with the judge. Unlike the Seattle Municipal Court, the King County Courthouse doesn’t have big windows or access to a rooftop where we could use natural light, so we have to find the ideal spots to make use of the artificial light at this courthouse, which in my opinion has its own appealing character if we know how to use it in our pictures.

After making it to the courtroom, one of the workers explained the ceremony process to the couple and allowed those who had been vaccinated for covid to remove our masks. I used this time to take some detailed shots of the rings. 

The big moment came and Cathy could not contain the tears. It was such an emotional time that I had to make sure to capture everyone’s reaction, the couple and the family. 

Just like that, in about 5 minutes they were finally married! Now we had to find nice places around to take some family shots and couple portraits right after.

There is a place relatively new to the area called The UPS Waterfall Garden Park, it’s a small half-indoors place that will always look beautiful for pictures regardless of the weather. 

After that, we walked a block down the street towards Occidental Square for the couple's portraits. There is a big brick wall with dried leaves that makes for some amazing wide-angle portraits. 

The whole square is just surrounded by a lot of brick walls, leaves and just tons of character so we spent a fair amount of time getting nice shots in the area.

Lastly, we walked towards Post Avenue for more portraits. The street reminds me a lot of Boston where Brian is from, so we had a great time reminiscing about the north-east coast, the weather and the architecture (I lived for over a decade in New York so I consider it my second home). 

Cathy and Brian were a joy to be around, they clearly love each other to no end and you can see that in every interaction they have. I had such a wonderful time with them and their families. 

Photographer: Piero Manriq | https://pieromanriq.com/
Venue: King County District  Court - Seattle: https://kingcounty.gov/courts/district-court/weddings.aspx