Warm spirits (and good beer) triumphed over chilly temperatures (and a wind-toppled log beam), and a lovely time was had by all. Don’t forget to check out my time-lapse video of the ceremony set to music by Journey, Elizabeth’s favorite band of all time.

The anticipation has been building for a while, and everyone is quite excited for U:Don to finally open. Outside of handling the website and the rest of the online presence, I also took part in some of their photography artwork, collaborating with Scott Pitts, food photographer extraordinaire, to create a pair of large-scale photomontages.

The original plan was to try to use all of these images and more in the large 8-foot-by-3-foot spaces (and thank you so much to Hal, Jaelithe, Doug and Yuko for their time and patience!), but in the end we distilled the idea down to using just two of the images, paired with some of the food photography. Whatever the outcome, it’s still pretty marvelous to see one’s work upon the wall of a new Seattle restaurant. It makes dining all the more pleasurable!

Japanese lesson: To give thanks and begin a meal in Japan, you say “itadakimasu” [phonetically, say: "ee-tah-dah-kee-mahss"]. I think I’ll be saying that quite a bit at U:Don.

The courthouse was otherwise closed for Veterans Day (11/11/11!), but we were ushered through security with a humorous patdown from the single guard, then it was up several floors to the judge’s modest chambers with a sunset view of Puget Sound and Smith Tower. With immediate family looking on, Cordula and Mike exchanged their vows. A happy wedding doesn’t need much more than that.

It’s probably obvious, but Jackie is both strong and talented. In between popping off my flash and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, I was watching many of the young guys bouldering struggling to lift themselves up or to maintain grips. But Jackie was like Spider-Woman as she wove her way quickly up each color-coded path, and there were times I had to ask her to move more slowly or to hold a position so I could photograph it.

These images are all in black and white, because I liked a bit of that gritty dramatic feel, especially on the photo where she’s posing like an Amazon warrior.

It was supremely difficult to narrow all of my favorites down to just 20 photos for this post (especially when five of them are essentially the kiss sequence!), but I hope these capture the essence of Amber and David’s happiness, the friends they shared it with, and their love for each other.

Luckily I know one amazing dancer, Rachel Randall, who you may remember from a couple of my panoramic images!

We decided that Seattle Center would have a high concentration of iconic Seattle landmarks, so on a bright and sunny day, she brought her friend Warren Woo and we ran around shooting them leaping and jumping and dancing. I don’t know that we spent enough time on any one shot to get that perfect floating-in-midair look, but we certainly had a lot of fun. Or at least I did. I was only directing!

With adults, you don’t notice as much how time institutes its changes. A pinch more gray, a couple extra pounds… Those changes aren’t usually so dramatic. Adult personalities are for the most part set, but kids can change so quickly. Zach, Garrett and Katy, I look forward to the next time I see you, hopefully sooner rather than later, if only to keep me from feeling any older!

And I suppose this is my chance to plug myself. Do your children need some portraits? Preserve those memories! They grow up so fast!