Ouch My Eye Gallery in Sodo.

I had my wedding dress made:

http://itsmarkmitchell.com/

He did a great job for me, and I would recommend him to anyone. Every person asked where I got my dress (1920s inspired, black and champagne colored) and I got to tell them I had it made and designed for me! I would totally wear it again, and it was stunning.

He may not be in your style (best to talk with him) or he may be busy, but figured I'd link him cause he is amazing.

Just be sure to have a lot of vodka. Seems everyone wants to drink it. At our wedding, we had gin, vodka, and Captin Morgans. The vodka ran out after like, 1 hour. All other alcohol took at least double the time.

I say go for it as soon as you can! Who's to say you couldn't re-renew again at some point in the future?

Our bridesmaids/groomsmen walked down the aisle to The Mountain Goats “Sorry mario, your princess is in another castle”
Flower girls: Franz Ferdinand “Do You Want To”
I walked down the aisle to: Maps “To The Sky”
Our first dance: Band of Horses “I go to the barn because I like the….” A close second (and almost was the song) is “Today” by Jefferson Airplane
My dance with my dad: Paul Simon “Father and Daughter”
My dance with my father-in-law: Jimi Hendrix “Little Wing” (a live version)
My husband danced with his mother: Iron and Wine “Upward Over the Mountain”
My husband danceed with my mom to: Seu Jorge “Life on Mars” (not lyrically meaningful, but we wanted Bowie) another good Bowie cover is M. Ward’s “Let’s Dance”

Hope this helps. I know picking songs can take forever! Good Luck!

I have at least 3 friends who married outside of their nationality, who had quick civil ceremonies to get the paperwork/Visa stuff going, but then had big wedding parties later so they could enjoy the festivities and so all their friends and families could celebrate with them. It's not selfish at all. You rushed through the legal part for some very real matters of convenience, but that doesn't mean that you can't have any fun too.

Since you're already married in the eyes of the law, this ceremony can be much less stressful. Announce it as a commitment ceremony. Have a friend do the vows. Worry less about wedding norms, and just do whatever you want to make it a fun and memorable day.

The best part of my wedding was having all my friends and family in one place for one day, which will probably never happen again. It was fantastic. Don't feel guilty.

Do it! Have fun! You are never a jerk for wanting to celebrate!

Hire a wedding planner! Make sure to be careful not to expect too much from friends and family on the day of the event. If they do too many tabletop arrangements they will be too tired to get crazy on the dance floor and try to take shots with your Grandma.

Go forth into your big day!

Great question. I think that the success of camping wedding lies in your expectations.

Here are some tips: 1. If you have people flying in. Help them get to the site. Make sure a three hour drive from the airport to the campsite in Yosemite or wherever is doable for guests. If not, re-imagine your site. 2. In the campground. Make a crazily exaggerated way for people to know where you are. If you have to hire your baby cousin to stand at the gate of the campground all day and night -- do it. Nothing is more frustrating for road-weary guests then driving around INSIDE the campground after having made a trek to get there. 3. Have some scheduled activities but leave most of the time for people to just chill. They will definitely get to know each other. An optional morning rafting trip is radical but activities every hour on the hour will wear guests out and they have to go the extra mile just to go to the toilet at a camping wedding. 4. Recognize that camping doesn't necessarily equal cheap. 5. I love the idea of a "bar" tent or picnic table where people can congregate for toasts. 6. Help out-of-towners understand the climate. It's only fun to party in the rain if you have some GoreTex action. 7. Elect captains to organize the cooking area and serve as grillmaster so that the meat is never left smoldering. Rotate the job or give it to your kindly Uncle. No one should feel like they have to step up to the tough jobs because it seems unorganized. 8. Make sure somebody brings the guitar. A wedding camp song book would be AWESOME. There is nothing more fun than people who never sing sitting around and singing something like Neutral Milk Hotel around the fire. All that being said, camping weddings rule!!! Totally a fun way to bring people together, very beautiful and in Washington, an awesome way to show off our state's total radness. Let me know if you want to talk more about this topic. I could go on and on!

Try BCBG! Their clothing is sophisticated and very well made. You can usually dress any of their pieces up or down, too.

We went back and forth about it and I am glad we went with a professional.
I liked the fact that Dani was at the event, but clearly separate at the same time, so we have photos that are really wonderful candids that I dont even recall being taken. I look GOOD though.

On the other side of this, we have lovely professionally styled and posed portraits of us and our families and our bridal parties. and we had a photographer that I could simultaneously trust to get the images I wanted and could direct for something different as well without hurting any personal friendships.

Our experiences after the wedding and the experiences of our family and friends who wanted to see the photos online has been marvelous as well.

Dani Weiss is the photographer we used, so if you see her webpage as you are looking around.

I think you'd be surprised to know that you can find a professional photographer for almost every budget. Especially right now photographers (such as myself) have recognized the need to include a package that doesn't include all the bells and whistles but offers just enough hours in coverage to document all the main events of your big day. I didn't start out in weddings and when I made the switch there was a ton I had to change about how I shoot, technically and creatively. Weddings are a whole other ballgame, and it's very rare that an amateur can handle all that is expected of documenting such an important day. Your wedding day is filled with incredibly important, once in a lifetime moments that if missed can't be staged or re-done. Consider doing a bit more searching, I guarantee you'll find a professional willing to document your day that is within your budget. I wish you all the best in your search and congratulations!

We had 75 people at 415 Westlake and it was fine for the number

We used 415 Westlake and they were awesome. http://www.415westlake.com/

here is video of the site (well, of all of us dancing the hora, actually)

http://www.youtube.com/user/Womyn2me?feature=mhum#p/a/u/2/4GuwiBzRa90

I just changed my profile picture to me in my wedding dress. I got it online from a bridesmaid dress website and then had it hemmed and taken in a smidge in the bust (I ordered it slightly big in fear of getting it too small. I didnt need to worry)

Nope. I am not legally married anywhere but I really wanted the wedding. So we had one. I think the straight people are so confused as to who can marry where and when for all I know they all thought it was a legal wedding.

do it, Its fun. I loved the whole experience.

We spent about 2 grand for our 80-person reception. Our friends can really drink though.

Do it! You are actually in a pretty sweet position without realizing it. Weddings are a great way to bring family and friends together in a way that is more meaningful than just a summer party. Stories are shared, drunk bonding can happen, and it's a milestone.
Because you have already done the legal part you can skip the stress of The Downsides: commitment panic, expense panic, and family issues rising up from the deep past. I don't think you should feel bad about wanting to celebrate with your family and friends now that you have the opportunity to do so.

If you can afford it - go for it.

It sounds like you have bought hook, line, and sinker the whole "wedding" story that young girls are told is the MOST important moment of their entire life - but whatever, if you can afford to have the wedding without ruining your life its not that much for something that means this much to you.

Unless your friends are professional wedding photographers, I wouldn't use them.

Here's an idea: get the most basic package you can from a professional photographer, perhaps just the posed shots of the bridal party after the ceremony. Then ask your friends to take the candid shots of the reception. You might not have to hire your pro's for quite so many hours, which would save you money, and then you could let your friends use their talents as a fantastic wedding gift, or better yet, pay them.

Prepare to spend around $1500 for an outrageously boozy fun fully stocked bar. I am making assumptions to create a budget for you.

Like: 130 average drinkers with beer, wine and liquor for a 6 hour party. (This could be way more extreme that what you are thinking, but hey I'm a party planner so I LOVE A PARTY).

A Keg serves 164 -- 12 oz servings. Each keg of something delicious like Manny's from Georgetown Brewing Company would be $149 per keg.

Beer: $298

Word to the wise, in our experience, WE NEVER need two kegs. That is SO MUCH BEER. But we often get two just in case, cuz when you're a pro, you NEVER want to run out. But, if I were you I would seriously just get one keg.

61 bottles of wine aka 5 cases. 3 or 4 red and 1 or 2 white depending on what you are serving for dinner and the weather. You can incorporate champagne for toasts into the white wine calculation. You can go to Pete's or a wine wholesaler and get something decent for like $6 a bottle.I just called the awesome Pete's Grocery, they have tons of stuff in that range and need just one week to make special orders.

Wine: $360

16 to 32 bottles of liquor in fifths: gin (beefeater) vodka (smirnoff) whiskey/bourbon (jim beam) tequila (sauza hornitos or lunazal) rum (bacardi) triple sec. Washington State Liquor stores will accept returns on any unopened liquor.

Go to Cash and Carry to buy bar supplies:

tonic, soda, coke, 7 Up, OJ, Cranberry,

salt sugar lemons limes oranges olives cherries

bar towels: 1 per bartender plus 2 spare for each actual bar 2 corkscrews 2 knives and cutting board. shakers and muddlers

Then you can make martinis, manhattans, basic vodka/soda/tonics.

One 750ML bottle of liquor will get you 16-1.5oz servings. 4-5 drinks per person. Which is a HUGE amount would equal 35 bottles.

booze: $700

So there is a lot of estimation in this. But, hopefully it is helpful. Let me know if you have more questions.

Signature cocktails limit the price and really limit the drinking. You only buy what is in the cocktail. Like if you do:

Randy's Whisky on the Rocks and Renee's Cuba Libre

You only buy bottles of Woodford Reserve, ice, Bacardi, Coke and Limes. WAY CHEAPER. But also, much less boozy. You can always do a cute specialized signature cocktail before the ceremony and then FULL BAR at reception or just advertise the Signature Cocktail on the bar and have a full bar anway.

Just watched the video. Super rad dress.

I'm not familiar with the designer, but I think your best bet will be to have it custom made for you. You'll get a better fit that way too.

Locally, both Luly Yang and Cicada Bridal do custom work. I also know of an older woman one of my brides used to make dresses for all of her bridal party; Rita McIntosh 206.242.1027. She's reasonable, fast and charges by the hour.

I noticed that this question was all over the place on the interwebs, btw. If you're stuck on finding the designer, someone mentioned that the Little Big Town singer tweets at @LBTmusic and has a Facebook page. Two emails for the band listed are info@littlebigtown.com and support@littlebigtown.com. Would be worth trying that route if you haven't already.

Good luck!

We had about 200 or so folks at our wedding. Many of them hard drinking types. Even though we bought the liquor through a pal who owned a bar and so got some decent prices the total cost was about $2K. That included beer, wine (from a friend's vineyard and so also a good price), all sorts of liquor, cups, mixers, garnishes, etc. We had several cases of vodka, gin, bourbon, scotch, rye, irish, etc. as well as a few top shelf selections for the first few drinks...

A dress that I consider universally flattering, wearable, and overall badass is Vivien of Holloway's retro circle dresses: http://www.vivienofholloway.com/en/category/50s-halterneck-circle-dress/. Relatively inexpensive, lots of fabrics and colors, and easy to dress up/down.

Tom Waits' "I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You".

I love:
Whirling Turban (http://whirlingturban.com/)
and
Stop Staring (http://www.stopstaringclothing.com/),

and they're definitely reasonably priced for a dress you will definitely be able to wear again!

I truly believe photography is one of the things in your wedding that is worth whatever portion of your budget you can spend on it; however, if photographers are less important to you than music or food and beverage, then by all means, go with the friend. Word of warning: I would strongly suggest that these friends should have "wedding photography" experience and not just photography experience. Their expertise in the area will greatly improve your photos! If photos are something that you see as very important, then I would go ahead and splurge. Keep searching for photographers that might fall within your budget - price point does not necessarily reflect the quality of the photography, and finding a photographer that is closer to your budget but still a legitimate wedding photographer will leave you much happier with your photos than a friend who's passion is photography.

Yes. Yes. Absolutely yes. Seattle is home to a host of insanely talented wedding photographers. You'll get a lot of bang for your buck here, because competition is stiff. The terrible part about wedding photography isn't the day of, it's the editing and color correcting, etc. Even if your friend gives you great shots, will she also edit all the photos you want? Create a video out of them? Make high-quality archival prints? Also, do you really want to do that to your "friend?" I foolishly shot a friend's wedding once and will never do it again. A true friend would have just let me enjoy the ceremony, not work at it.

Other things you spend your budget on will not last nearly as long or have anywhere near the impact of quality photography.

We walked down the aisle to Pachelbel's "Canon," went back up it after the ceremony to the Grateful Dead's "Truckin'," and danced our first dance to Ben E. King's "Stand By Me." Worked for us (and we're still living happily ever after, 16 years on).