My first wedding last weekend was on Saturday at Sahalee Country Club out in Sammammish.  We had a beautiful sunny day, perfect weather for exploring the gorgeous golf course at Sahalee, and a beautiful couple, Allie and Ryan.

I started the day in the bridal suite with Allie and her three sisters (the bridesmaids) and her mom, popping out every once in a while to get some detail shots in the ballroom.

I love their favors – and the card is super cute.

Once Allie was ready, I met up with Ryan and his groomsmen and set up the first look.

Allie had been really nervous all morning, and the emotions really came out during their first moments together.

We sent Ryan off to find everyone for the formals while Allie and I took some shots alone.

There was a formal photo which looked a little like Allie’s matron of honor was biting her face … this is what happened when I mentioned how it looked:

The gorgeous cake by Kelli Morse:

Allie and Ryan had reserved a good chunk of time for couples portraits before the ceremony – I love having plenty of time to play with!  We took a couple of golf carts (thanks Mike for driving me!) and headed down to the water hole by the club entrance.

This is one of my favorites of the day – I really love squishy noses!

As they were waiting for instructions on the other side of the water, a duck flew up … cool!

As we were driving around the upper part of the course, I spotted this truck – I love old stuff …

After checking out a good chunk of the golf course, we headed back to the club house for the ceremony.

I love this shot of Allie waving to guests arriving for the ceremony, while her mom was fixing her veil.

We had a nice long cocktail hour on the deck after the ceremony – I got tons and tons of great shots of their friends and family.

This is the fabulous Jen, who recommended me to Allie almost a year ago … thank you Jen!

One of the uncles, Art, is a pro photographer down in Cali.  He was traveling “light” with a Canon 5D – his regular cameras are Hasselblads!

After dinner, we headed back out for a few final photos just as the sun was fading behind the trees.

Back at the club, Mike and I set up some lights for the rest of the reception – it had gotten pretty dark in there!  Then there were toasts …

… and dancing (Ryan and Allie broke into an awesome salsa dance after the traditional slow dance) …

… and then lots of crazy fun dancing and of course the hora!

Thanks to Allie, Ryan and their friends and families for a lovely day, and to Laura Gram for once again being an amazing coordinator.

© 2008 Kate McElwee Photography