Navy & Gold Architectural Seattle Wedding

Call me biased (will always be a Seattle girl at heart!) but Pacific Northwest weddings are just the best. Dreamy blue scenes over the Puget Sound, a unique culture allowing one to be totally themselves, world-class seafood & hip design – Seattle couples are spoiled with wedding possibilities.

Jenna & Meridian absolutely took advantage of their new dynamic home city. The steely blues accented with glimmering gold in their geometric decor mimicked the late summer sun glittering off Elliot Bay. Having design backgrounds, the two sought an architectural feel, something easy to come by these days in the industrial playground of Seattle’s WithinSodo.

With an industrial chic space chosen, they (with the help of their fabulous planner) filled their venue & attire with geometric details from a gilded & navy wedding cake to Jenna’s gold headpiece. Jenna’s art-deco-inspired wedding dress fit naturally into the modern scene thanks to Wtoo by Watter‘s masterful art of modernizing vintage trends.

Our Love Story

Meridian and Jenna were introduced by a mutual friend during college at the University of Charleston in West Virginia. They both were in the Interior Architecture and Design program at UC and the flirting at the time consisted of oo-ing and ahhh-ing over each other’s project boards.

Or so they told themselves! They hit it off right away and starting dating when Jenna fully transferred to the University of Charleston. It truly was love from the start. For a year and more, their days were filled with laughter, road trips, and story sharing. Fast forward and the two had separated for several years. Meridian had relocated to Seattle for greener (and rainier) pastures and Jenna remained in Charleston. Neither was far from the other in their hearts.

After some time had passed and they each had separate life experiences, the universe brought them together again and proved that time and distance didn’t change their love. They knew right away that they wanted to be together. So, after a year of long-distance Skype calls and trading visits to the East and West coast, it was decided that Jenna would relocate to Seattle! This confirmed Meridian’s sales career.

The Proposal

In July of 2016, Meridian flew to Charleston, WV so they could drive across the country together. It was then that Meridian gave Jenna a surprise; a proposal! In front of Jenna’s favorite large mural in downtown Charleston, WV Meridian popped the question. Jenna squealed and jumped with excitement – followed closely by a resounding “YES!” The next day their journey across the country to Seattle began. Now they live their lives in Seattle and have been happily married since July 2018.

The Photography & Videography

Jenna has known Lauren for over a decade! She and Lauren connected about potentially having her and her husband Tyler (of Top Shelf Film Co.) come out and capture their wedding. The stars aligned and Lauren and Tyler were both available on our date and excitedly wanted to make the trip to the West Coast.

We could not be more thrilled with what they did – our photos and video bring tears to our eyes no matter how many times we look at them. Lauren and Tyler are a dynamic duo and we would work with them again in a heartbeat!

The Planning

The core of our wedding planning started with a list of words that we wanted to describe our day to both us and our guests. We wanted a day filled with love and laughter that would bring our family + friends together from all over the country to celebrate our union. Once we came up with the list of words we worked with our planner to find vendors and a location that would fit within that concept.

We wanted something with a strong geometrical and architectural feel (because of our design backgrounds) with warm gold and navy tones. Our planner was able to connect us with amazing vendors who could pull our ideas together in such a beautiful way!

Favorite Moments

One of Jenna’s favorite moment was the vows – We wrote our vows separately and until read aloud had no idea we had both used a special moment from our dating years. We broke down in tears (as did the guests!) It was so sweet that that moment meant so much to both of us and I’ll never forget it!

One of Meridian’s favorite moment was the first look – We had not seen each other since the night before and I was filled with anticipation and excitement all day! The second I saw her I couldn’t stop crying – she was so beautiful. I couldn’t wait to start celebrating with my best and love of my life.

Collectively one of Jenna & Meridian’s favorite memories is chatting with guests after dinner. People were gathered on the rooftop deck with the sunset behind them, sipping wine and having dessert, and we could see our families and friends (who had never met until wedding weekend) getting to know each other, laugh, and have a great time. It was overwhelming in the best way to have our loved ones there with us.

The Food

Because most of our guests were traveling to Seattle for our wedding we wanted their day to be just as special – and for us food really makes a huge impact on that. Our caterer, That Brown Girl Cooks!, blew it out of the park and we heard from everyone that it was the best food they’ve ever had at a wedding! We could not be more thankful to everyone that came together and made our day truly the best.

Advice to Other Couples

Have fun with the planning and being a fiancé – you only get to do this once so make it count! Figure out your priorities (like we did with our descriptive words) and what deserves the most time and attention. Keep an excel spreadsheet of your budget (or have a great planner like we did keep it for you) so you know exactly how you’re spending your money that way there are no surprises the day of.