Beautiful Spring Wedding: Family Fun and Games
Photos by See Yourself Photography

"We love old architecture and retro styles but with modern touches - our 100-year old house is a mix of old and new stuff.
As soon as we walked into Events on 6th we knew it was the place for us - it almost felt like walking into our dream home!" - Tarah & Logan

Tarah and Logan were married on a beautiful spring day at Events on 6th in Tacoma, WA.  The happy couple exchanged vows June 12th, 2016 both to honor their June dating anniversary and also in anticipation of nice weather.  The day was partly cloudy and 70 degrees. “Wonderful!” exclaimed Tarah.

The 5pm ceremony was full of special touches important to the couple.  Tarah had a garter worn by her grandmother and mother at their weddings pinned to her dress, but added a deer charm to it.  “We are huge Harry Potter fans,” said Tarah, “Logan wore Harry Potter socks and I had Snape’s Patronus, the deer/Lily...if you know Harry Potter it makes sense LOL.”  The wedding party walked down the aisle to You’re My Best Friend from Queen, “one of our favorite bands, and it was our 'love letter' to our wedding party,” said Tarah.  She walked down the aisle with both her parents to Here Comes the Sun from the Beatles, a song meaningful to both the happy couple and to Tarah and her parents.  The officiant was a good friend from work who encouraged the couple to date in the first place.  Tarah and Logan chose another meaningful song to close the ceremony: Maps for the Getaway by Andrew McMahon.  “It fit the theme of Logan's proposal, and McMahon's music (and numerous bands) is what brought us together in the first place - we spent our first date talking all about music and the numerous shows we had both gone to around the Seattle area before we even knew each other,” said Tarah.

Tarah's dress was ivory with cap sleeves and a lace overlay from David's Bridal.  “I wasn’t planning on purchasing when I went in; I just wanted to try on styles to see what I liked since they had so many to choose from,” said Tarah, “and when I tried this one on it was perfect - it was the 3rd dress I tried!”  She had buttons added down the back and decided on a jeweled headband from Etsy instead of a veil.  “I took inspiration from that to find my jewelry - I wanted a stack of bangles and simple, but sparkly earrings.  My shoes were gold, sparkly, comfy (yay!) sandals from Nordstrom,” said Tarah.  Logan wore a navy suit and his groomsmen wore light grey suits.  To make it easier on the wedding party spread across the US, the bride chose a light teal at David's Bridal and had the girls choose the style they loved best in that color.  During the search, the color was discontinued, but the maid of honor's dress choice was beautiful in a darker teal.  “I encouraged her to get that one (since it was the prettiest dress she tried on) and had my bridesmaid stay in the original color. After seeing the 2 colors together, I loved it even more that they were in different colors - goes to show that sometimes you think you know what you want, but to have an open mind can lead you to an even better solution!” exclaimed Tarah.

Lady Bug Florist in Puyallup created the bouquets and boutonnieres. “Marilee was so sweet - she really listened and we spent about an hour talking about the style I envisioned;” said Tarah, “she took the brooches I wanted and made sure to include all of them in my bouquet, even putting them IN the flowers, which I hadn’t even considered! It was so cute!”

Tarah and Logan met at work, “a big fancy retailer that has headquarters in Seattle,” said Tarah; “we both worked (and still work) on the sales floor, had a mutual friend who was egging us on to date, and the rest is history!”  After 4 years of dating, Logan decided to propose.  “He worked in secret at night in our basement putting together a book and scavenger hunt,” said Tarah.  “The theme was 'Maps' since we both love to travel...he cut out maps of our favorite cities along with stories about us and clues to find the next map, hid them around our house (behind picture frames, under knickknacks on the shelf, etc).  One Saturday, he acted like he was on his way to work (I wasn’t working that day), left the house, then popped back in with a box saying 'hey, this was on the porch, you should open it...bye, off to work!'  Confused, I opened the box, found a book with a note and how to get started...which led me around the house for a good 45 minutes or so...to my last clue being hid in a book that had been hollowed out with a flash drive in it.  I then watched a video he made, telling me to go to the park by our house...where he was patiently waiting (after more than an hour for me!) and proposed.  I was completely shocked - I had NO idea he was planning this!” she exclaimed.

During the 1 year engagement the couple decided quickly on Events on 6th. “We love old architecture and retro styles but with modern touches - our entire house is a mix of old and new. As soon as Logan and I walked into Events on 6th we knew it was the place for us - it almost felt like walking into our dream home!” said Tarah.  “We loved the stained glass and pews in the chapel for that 'old church' feel, and also the lounge with the white leather couches, chandeliers, and string lights - it was very 'Mad Men' and modern, but still fit with the look of the chapel,” she added.  Price was also a factor for the couple. “We felt that the price was fair and reasonable, especially after getting sticker shock on what we would potentially have had to pay for a wedding in Seattle or Bellevue,” said Tarah.  Since the couple was planning via long distance, they were also happy to receive reminders for when things needed to be completed, different blueprints of how other events had set up tables in the reception hall, and also a map of the area for parking options.  “It was SO helpful to get those things,” said Tarah, “Lesley the venue manager was also amazing: any questions were answered within 24 hours, she was so organized and friendly and helpful.”

The happy couple worked together on the planning and decorations. Both were born and raised in the Seattle area, but were living in the Midwest for school and work, so the planning was long distance.  “It definitely made some things challenging, but our friends, families, and vendors were all so amazing at helping us,” said Tarah.  The colors were a mid-tone green, teal blue, coral, and light grey, and the theme was antique floral and games.  “We just wanted it to look fun, not stuffy but elegant, and have dark woods, white flowers, and color pops of green, blue, and coral to play off the concrete, dark wood, and white of Events on 6th,” said Tarah.  “For games, we knew most of our friends weren’t the dancing type (and neither were we) so we just wanted people to relax, eat, drink, and play,” said the happy bride.  “We had 3 giant wood games (Jenga, Connect 4, and Ker Plunk) all hand-made by my parents and a bunch of retro and current games for people to play at their tables after dinner,” she added.  The games ended up being part of both the bride's and groom's favorite moments of the wedding day.  While Logan's favorite was the first time he saw Tarah walking down the aisle, his close second was playing giant Jenga with the groomsmen before the ceremony.  Tarah said, “I loved watching our families get to know each other - there is a great pic of Tarah’s Grandma and Logan’s brother wearing hardhats playing Jenga.”

The reception hall was decked out for a celebration, with paper 'chandeliers' hanging from the ceiling and streamer wall-hangings of colorful circles accenting various areas. The dessert table held a variety of cake plates for the many Corina Bakery cheesecakes, Logan's favorite dessert. “Our taste-test with them was beautifully set up, they were super nice and organized, and the cheesecakes were delicious!” said Tarah. The cakes were chocolate raspberry, lemon blueberry, and chocolate peanut butter. Logan and Tarah had a small 6” plain New York style (Logan’s favorite) all to themselves.

Everyone enjoyed the buffet from Snuffin's: cheese tortellini in Alfredo sauce, chicken simmered in tomatoes and artichokes, Caesar salad, bread, and punch, beer, wine.  “It was delicious,” said Tarah, “and Snuffin's made everything so easy and wonderful.  I had one guest that had a gluten allergy, and when I asked if she could have a special dinner they said it wasn’t a problem, and she was served a plate by the staff during dinner.”  Before dinner, guests enjoyed cocktail hour with appetizers (bacon jalapeno tots, pistachio/blue cheese toasties, and caprese salad on a skewer) and drinks while the wedding party did pics.  “I had a lot of friends say how great the food was,” said Tarah, “and another thing I loved about Snuffins: they did a beautiful to-go basket for us to enjoy the next day filled with food from the party.”

During the reception Randy from Sounds Unlimited pleased the crowd with classic rock-n-roll and 80's music.  “Music has been a huge part of our relationship,” said Tarah, “so we actually created playlists on Spotify to figure out the 'theme' of the wedding...and with Randy, we were able to select specific songs and what we wanted played.  He put them in order to keep the flow going throughout the reception.  Watching my little nephews and niece dancing to Hall & Oats and Paul Simon was hysterical!”

Throughout the day, photographers Susan and Doug from See Yourself Photography captured all the beautiful moments.  Tarah and Susan had worked together over a decade ago, and after they both left that company they stayed in touch.  Susan and Doug are incredible professional photographers, and Tarah always envisioned Susan photographing her wedding even though she and Doug were in the Midwest.  “I was trying to figure out a way to ask Susan if she would be willing to travel to Seattle to photograph us, and how I would be able to save up the money to get her out there, but as fate would have it, Doug was relocated for work to Seattle in 2015, so it wasn’t even an issue!” said Tarah.

After a relaxing evening of food, games, and happy conversation, the day was complete.  The couple, their families, and their guests enjoyed a thoughtful day of special moments and a wonderful celebration, and Tarah and Logan look forward to a honeymoon after they've saved up a bit more.