Culpepper Wedding on 8/4/18 at McCaw Hall / MoPOP in Seattle, Wa
Music licensed from –
Song Freedom – songfreedom.com
Anybody who has ever been to visit the Space Needle has surely at least seen McCaw Hall. Home to both the Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet, it is a classy venue for anything stage or theatrical, heck we even saw Conan O’Brien there once. But you probably would have never guessed it (nor did we) but you can even rent it out to host your own events—yes, that means your wedding.
The Culpeppers knew this, unlike a lot of other people, and boy did they pick an awesome place to hold their wedding. With a variety of rooms and areas to choose from, you can have your own “gala” of a wedding here and have their top of the line catering service dish you up some excellent food as well.
We were blessed with tons of sun at the beginning of the month, despite it being so flipping hot, so it was a wonderful August day for our soon-to-be-newlyweds. Stephen and Allyson got their morning started getting ready in McCaw Hall’s “press boxes” with their bridal parties. You could probably guess that the champagne and bubbly was flowing from the crack of dawn, but the spirits were already high regardless.
Once they were looking sharp and lovely, the bride and groom made their way outside…blindfolded…for their adorable first look near the iconic fountain. Getting a little silly feeling out for each other blindly, they couldn’t hardly contain themselves. Stripping off their shades, Steven turned to great his bride with such excitement you could almost taste it, though she almost immediately started to cry.
You can easily tell that these two are meant for each other. Their first look was just so sweet and fun to watch them walk around together and get even more silly. After everyone else joined in for photos it was time for the moment everyone was waiting for: the wedding itself!
In the gorgeous event space inside McCaw Hall, the two met at an altar surrounding by natural light and all whom they love. Though, it’s hard not to mention the groom’s entrance which, well, it takes the cake. Watch and you’ll understand.
With a series of funny, touching, and seriously sweet toasts and vows, you could tell these two were just ready for it to be over with and to be married! Well, after the officiant told them to, they kissed and boy were they married!
Heading over to MoPOP for their “La La Land” themed reception, these two really knew how to party. Rocking it out to their first dance, which looked like they had been practicing for since they had met (over 10 years ago…), it was enough to get everyone else into high gear for a roaring good time. With silly photos playing above of their illustrious pasts, the newlyweds seldom left each other’s sights as they laughed, giggled and had an all around marvelous time at their spectacular wedding.
Congrats again to Allyson and Stephen, and thank you for choosing Best Made Videos® to film your big day! It was a blast!
Comments? Questions? Go ahead and leave them below!
Venue – McCaw Hall / Museum of Pop Culture
Coordination – New Creations Wedding Design and Coordination
Photography – Jennifer Tai Photo Artistry
Videography – Best Made Videos
Florist – Diamond Events and Floral
Allyson and Stephen’s story in their own words:
How did you guys meet?
In high school through mutual friends—we went to different schools!
Tell us about the proposal!
It was our 10-year anniversary (Oct. 1) since we first started dating in high school, but we never really celebrated it, so the proposal was totally unexpected. Stephen said he wanted to take me to breakfast that Sunday morning, which is super weird for him to want to do. So we get ready and he ends up taking us NOT to all the cute brunch places around home, but to McDonald’s… Nothing wrong with that! Just weird that he seemed excited about it and talked it up.
Apparently there was a phase 2 after breakfast, and it was also a surprise. He said it had to do with the “theme of the day,” so I assumed fall was the theme, since I love the season. I guessed pumpkin patch, but we pulled up to our go-to movie theater. Again, nothing wrong with that… We LOVE the movies and go almost every week. But also again, it was just weird that we were going at 10am. And to watch “IT” the clown movie, which I’d already seen, but had been trying to persuade Stephen to watch.
Anyway, we’re in the theater and Stephen takes off to go to the bathroom. Both he and I hate watching previews and mostly always look down during that part. As I was looking down, I heard the theme song to “Drive” (the Ryan Gosling movie) playing, and I looked up to see the character with his scorpion jacket on screen. I immediately looked around to see where Stephen was because it’s one of his favorite movies and if there was a sequel, he’d want to know about it! But he wasn’t back yet.
The next trailer comes on, and there’s a baby on screen, and I look around for Stephen again because the baby looks like me and I wanted to validate that crazy coincidence with someone. The trailer goes on and now there’s another baby on screen… then these baby photos start flipping through the years getting older, and I realize it’s us—it’s me and Stephen throughout the years.
Long story short, Stephen made me a movie trailer! In it, he went around telling our immediate family about his plans to propose and the tagline was along the lines of, “This fall, he got the permission, now he just has to ask the question…” And he comes down the aisle—wearing the Drive movie jacket I had given him for his birthday (turns out it was him in the trailer!)—with the ring in hand. Popped the question, and I don’t remember 99% of the sweet stuff he said.
Why did you choose your venue?
Our love of movies and pop culture, and because we wanted a big enough space for a dance party.
What are you most excited to see in the video?
Us and our guests having fun! Our reactions to things—people say we’re pretty expressive sometimes.
Anything else?
Stephen’s going to be dancing down the aisle at the ceremony, so we’ll see how embarrassing that turns out. Kidding. Thanks!