December 28, 2014

wedding 2.

First look photos on Seattle rooftop - cultivatedrambler.com

Oh, the first look! I was so nervous to see him! I had found this BEAUTIFUL photo of a couple taken on a “secret” rooftop garage in Seattle. The photographer wouldn’t share the location, so I did a bit of sleuthing and figured out where it was. Thanks Google Earth – hello Macy’s parking garage!

Close up first look wedding photography - cultivatedrambler.com

First look rooftop location in Seattle - cultivatedrambler.com

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the weather was crisp, clear, and WAY sunny, which washed everything out. Our photographers did their best, but that soft, dusky light that I was hoping for was not to be found. Oh well! I think we still got a few good ones! I’m going to keep this location in mind for another shoot down the road. I wanna capture us in that light!The second location for our bride and groom photos worked out much better. Out of all of the photos, I love these the most! Our smarty pants photographer scouted out some locations pre-wedding and found this gem of a place. The drama – I die. I’m so glad she went the extra mile for us. These are getting framed and going on the wall!

December 26, 2014

wedding 1.

Alexis Hotel, Seattle Wedding Photography

Please bear with me….I’ve got lots of photos to share and am going to break ’em up into a 5 parter if that’s cool with you guys 🙂 Wedding Post 1 is dedicated to the morning of the wedding as we were getting ready in different parts of our fair city.

My sister and I spent the night at the Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle. We had a lovely, spacious suite and my friends Penny and Megan (aka Pegan!) visited that morning for breakfast. Hair and makeup weren’t due to start until 11 a.m. so we had lots of time to kill – almost too much time if you ask me! My parents showed up right as our beauty regimes began and we were dressed and out the door in no time. Adam and his brother, Josh, spent the morning at our hizzle on S. Beacon Hill. I heard it was a very typical morning – they went out for brunch and hit the local gym. I love how our photographer captured these storyboard images of him. Swoon, that beard!

Blue and purple wedding tie - cultivatedrambler.com

Next up, the first look…

December 19, 2014

on the hunt.

Duck hunting, Family, Life, Um What?

Father/daughter time!

So occasionally, I hunt. I feel like I need to say this in a whisper though, as guns and killing animals isn’t always stuff people around here like to hear about. As much as I appreciate the liberal vibes of our dear city, I still feel like there is stigma attached with doing what I occasionally do. I tend to keep it on the DL even though I want to shout from the rooftops that I am a responsible gun owner and always eat what I catch/dig/shoot. So please don’t judge 🙂

The 4am wake up call is probably my least favorite thing about hunting, but I admit there’s this pure sense of calm seeing the sun rise quietly over a corn field. It seems like these days we are out in nature less and less and trudging through the fields and getting knee deep in mud grounds me a bit. It’s an emotional, deep feeling being out there…waiting, watching. I find that I’m way more in tune with my surroundings after a hunt. For the next week, my senses are magnified x10 – it’s kind of a super natural feeling.

When you do take that animal’s life, it’s a powerful, powerful experience. Excitement and sadness hit you all at once. You are thrilled that your practice has paid off but mourn the loss of life. It’s something that I internally debate all of the time. I hate seeing an animal suffer right in front of me but know that deep down, that’s the right thing to do – to do it myself. If I choose to eat this way, I need to be part of the process as much as I can. So I do. I roll up my sleeves, get my hands dirty and field dress those ducks. All in a days work.

The VIP duck blind.

The wait.

I think I need to work on my accuracy.

Stormy putting in work! Good dog.

Dinner for days.

December 17, 2014

honeymoon highlights 2

Honeymoon, Jamaica, Martha Brae River, Montego Bay, Sandals Resort, Wedding

So Mo Bay wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. It was really close to the airport, which is good when you are having to leave town, but bad when you are sitting on the beach trying to relax. After coming off of five days of quiet relaxation, this was a bit of a shock to the system. But then they showed us to our upgraded room and I was a little more OK with things 🙂 Give me 600 thread sheet counts and a luxury bathroom and this gal will be alright!

Highlights from Montego Bay:

Beautiful, deluxe room with gorge bathroom and uber comfy four post bed
Private island with cabanas that you can rent
Renting said cabana for the day and enjoying private butler service!
Lively grounds with exceptional people watching
Tubing down the Martha Brae River

Overall, our trip to Jamaica was a wonderful, relaxing ten days. It was the perfect end cap to our wedding celebration. Many thanks to those of you who contributed to our vacation with excursions, meals in town, spa treatments and other romantic touches. It was a trip of a lifetime that won’t be forgotten!

Sandals Resort Montego Bay Jamaica - cultivatedrambler.com

A room with a view!

Sandals Resort Montego Bay Jamaica Private Island - culitvatedrambler.com

The private island.

Newlyweds!

Maj activities.

Sandals Resort Montego Bay Jamaica Private Cabana - cultivatedrambler.com

Windblown.

Private cabana day!

Martha Brae River Tour Jamaica - cultivatedrambler.com

Our tubing guide, Dancer.

Touring the sugar plantation.

All day, every day.

December 13, 2014

honeymoon highlights 1

Couples Resort, Honeymoon, Jamaica, San Souci, Wedding

I’m going to try and not bore you with a thousand pics of us drinking on the beach (though we did a lot of that!) We spent 10 glorious days in Jamaica honeymooning right after our wedding. We decided to go the all inclusive route to give ourselves a mental break from having to make even more decisions. A wedding was bad enough!

We created a honeymoon registry (which I highly recommend) so we were able to get out of the resort a lot of check out the local scene. I was afraid to stay at one resort for the entire time, I mean, what if the food was horrible or the beach was crappy!? We’d be stuck! So we split up our time between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. I must say, I preferred Ocho Rios over Mo Bay. It had a more laid back vibe and was close to a lot of outdoor activities that we wanted to do.

Other highlights from Ocho Rios: