Love of a Lifetime | A Golden Gardens & Hotel Ballard Seattle Winter Wedding
One of our favorite parts of this Seattle Winter Wedding was the ceremony.
The officiant (who is the cousin of the groom) crafted a fantastic ceremony filled with personal details about Alex & Kyle. He broke the parts of their relationship down into “moves” – so there was move #1, move #2, the move that never was, and more. We were all filled with laughter and it had just the right mix of tearful moments, too.
This awesome couple has shared a lot of adventures during their journey to the wedding day, and you could tell that being in that moment, right there, was exactly where they wanted to be more than anything else in their lives. It was beautiful and perfect. I’d love to let Alex, the bride, fill you in on some of the fun stuff that started their story and then their journey to their Seattle winter wedding.
From Alex:
It was my birthday and we had planned on spending the day/night in Leavenworth. We made a pit stop in Lake Wenatchee just to splash around a little bit. After a few minutes of being there, he asked me if I wanted my birthday present and told me to close my eyes. When I opened them, he was down on one knee and asked me to marry him! (I still get butterflies thinking about that moment – even as I type this!!) Little did I know, our friend was hiding in the woods, and took pictures of the whole thing! It was amazing and so much better than I could have ever imagined 🙂
We have actually known each other since middle school and high school. We think we had a couple classes together, but don’t really remember – and we never really hung out during that time. In 2012, Alex got a ‘persons you may know’ notification on Facebook, and it was Kyle. I friend requested him, not really thinking much of it – mainly because I’m a little nosy and thought he was cute in high school. He messaged me later that day and we never stopped talking. It was long distance for the first three years and then he moved back home in 2015.
I heard about the while doing one of the local wedding tours and as soon as we went down and saw it, I was just so in awe of the mix of elegance and simplicity that it had to it. I immediately saw us getting married there and what it would look like. It was a piece of the planning that just made our entire vision ‘click’ into place.
We did DIY coasters for favors – and I love them so much!! (they seriously are SO cute and perfect for a Seattle wedding!)
Both of Kyle’s parents will walk him down the aisle. My brother will walk down the aisle with my mom. And we will be thanking our parents at the beginning. I think it should be pretty straight forward after that – however, it’s all pretty special and I cry every time I go through the ceremony with our officiant
What is your most anticipated moment of your wedding day?
I’m really excited for our first look and for the moment immediately following the ceremony when we can walk back and have a minute just the two of us – finally married 🙂
Watching football, hanging out with family, drinking wine or beer, kayaking, camping
Awesome Vendor Team for this Seattle Winter Wedding
and a special shout-out to our third shooter, Jeremy!
Kate of GSquared WeddingsWedding Photographer & Certified Wedding Coordinator
We’re Kate (she/her) and Josh (he/him) —
married humans, emotional chaos wranglers, coffee worshippers, timeline nerds, Marvel fanatics, and occasional ugly criers at weddings.
(Okay, maybe more than occasional. Look, vows get us. Every damn time.)
We’re Kate (she/her) and Josh (he/him) —
married humans, emotional chaos wranglers, coffee worshippers, timeline nerds, Marvel fanatics, and occasional ugly criers at weddings.
(Okay, maybe more than occasional. Look, vows get us. Every damn time.)
Yes, that sobbing lady in green is me.
I didn't even have time to put makeup on ... Not that it would have mattered because I would have just cried it all off.
My whole face did me wrong. Who cries like that?!?
No matter what, just know you don't look like THIS when you're crying on the wedding day.
Also, that's my awesome kid on their wedding day. Don't they look amazing???
There is something magical and powerful about seeing yourself for the first time on your wedding day.
And yet, this moment is often overlooked. We make sure it happens.
SNOHOMISH WASHINGTON OPEN TO TRAVEL WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
How long have you been a Snohomish Wedding Photographer?
Kate has been photographing since 1997 and Josh started in 2011. We started photographing weddings together then.
Josh and Kate of GSquared Weddings have photographed over 630 weddings together across more than 15 years — specifically in the Seattle and Snohomish County area. That’s not a flex for its own sake. It means that when your timeline runs 20 minutes late, when the clouds roll in over your outdoor ceremony, or when your reception venue is lit exclusively by Edison bulbs and bad overhead lighting, we’ve been there. Hundreds of times. And we know exactly what to do.
As a husband and wife team, we also bring something no two-photographer strangers can replicate — we communicate without words, we read a room together, and we move through your day as a unit. A Snohomish wedding photographer with genuine field experience doesn’t just take better photos — they protect your entire day experience. That’s what 630 weddings actually buys you.
How do I know GSquared Weddings is the right Snohomish wedding photography team for us?
Honestly? You’ll know pretty fast. If you read through our work and our words and thought these people get it — trust that instinct.
We’re built for couples who want their day to feel like themselves, not a performance. Couples who want a team that genuinely shows up — not just with cameras, but as timeline wranglers, veil fixers, chaos calm-ers, and two people who will absolutely tear up at your first look. We’ve spent 15 years and 630 weddings earning the trust of couples across Seattle and Snohomish County, and our approach has never changed: protect your vision, protect your experience, and keep your messy, beautiful, real love story safe.
If you’re looking for heavily staged, ultra-polished, everybody-stand-still photography — we’re probably not your people, and we’ll tell you that honestly. But if you want someone to be there for all of it, exactly as it happens? That’s exactly what we do.
What is your photography style, and will my Snohomish wedding photos look natural or overly edited?
At GSquared Weddings, our photography style is rooted in one core belief: real is always better than perfect. We shoot in a documentary-editorial style — meaning we’re capturing what’s actually happening, not directing a magazine spread. Candid tears, windblown hair, belly laughs mid-vow, the flower girl losing it in the corner — that’s what we’re after.
Our editing is clean, timeless, and true to life. We don’t chase trendy presets or heavy filters that will feel dated in five years. What you see in our galleries is what actually happened that day — the light, the color, the emotion — preserved honestly. Your Snohomish wedding photos will look like you, not like a template.