Seattle, I love you. I love your mountains and your water, your clouds and your drizzle. I love your five hour sunsets and the absolute bounty of ingredients you have in your backyard. I even have a place in my heart for your passive aggression, your inability to zipper merge, your lack of NBA team, and the fact that I can’t get any decent thai food delivered to West Seattle after 10pm. Laura and I keep talking about how life is just an ongoing collection of your choices, big and small. I grew up in Chicago, went to school in NYC, figured out a way to weasel my way into a French visa to live in Paris, came back to the States and moved to Austin, TX, fell in love with a pretty lady and chased her up to the PNW, and together, we’ve scooted through mountain tops in Thailand and made ourselves at home in the smoky streets of the Yucatàn. Time and time again, we’ve made the decision to sell everything, hit the road, and figure out what the next city has to teach us. I’ve had the great good fortune of living all over this blessed world (and not one second do I take it for granted) but I can’t even put into words just how good Seattle feels. Every direction you turn has water, mountains, history, and damn, the most bomb food you ever did taste. Call me a pleb, but any day of the week I’ll take the oysters and smoked salmon of Seattle over the baguettes et fromage of Paris, the brisket breakfast tacos of ATX, the deep dish pizza of Chicago, and the khao soi of Chiang Mai (okay, maybe not ANY day but at least like, two out of every three… So that’s still pretty good).
A wedding day is usually a celebration of one big fat choice — the decision to spend the rest of your oh-so-short-and-sweet life with one beloved human. Chadwick and Tom did it a little differently. They made their day a celebration of almost every decision they’ve ever made. They celebrated their favorite donuts at General Porpoise, Tom’s collection of fine china from his apartment on Capitol Hill, their favorite oyster and champagne spot — Westward, Seattle’s seafaring past by sailing across South Lake Union, and the classic feel of Bluebird ice cream. They ended the day saying their I dos at the Center for Wooden Boats during a ceremony co-officiated by pretty much their entire community of family and friends. They surrounded themselves with all of their favorite people, cruised around their favorite spots of this fine city, and declared that not only do they love each other eternally, but the collection of choices that made them who they are and this place, these people, this city, this life they now collectively lead, is the third in their marriage and deserves some attention and commemoration too. Take it from them — Make bold choices and life gets really really fun.
Chadwick and Tom, we love you guys so much. Thank you for giving a shit about every dang thing. Thank you for making audacious and courageous choices, not least of which is choosing each other.
Baileys out of the purse, coffee from the bar at General Porpoise.
Back at the homestead, where Tom was almost too nervous to drink champagne. Also, wouldn’t you just kill to live in this beautiful Capitol Hill condo?!
YO. Velvet florals for life.
“We love you, we love you, go get your man.”
Their hands. One set calm and collected, one set a wee bit nervous.
Waiting down by the water for Tom to appear… and a first look that still makes Laura cry.
If the pups didn’t make at least one appearance in this day of celebrating every last thing, then what even are we doing here?
Some private vows on a private boat. We didn’t say they weren’t bougie, mmmk.
Fambam waiting on the Westward dock, champagne in hand.
Next stop: Bluebird Ice Cream to meet up with the rest of the family, including a brand new addition.
Back to the Center for Wooden Boats to get this damn thing started.
Speeches. Beautiful food. Vows. Music. Repeat. All night. 
The Amazing Vendor Team
Rings: Dean Keppler
Wedding Planner: Dayo Vice, the magnificent
Food: Duos Catering
Florist: Brita Fisher
Venues:
Hey, we’ve heard of people having trouble finding LGBTQ friendly wedding photographers and that makes our hearts hurt real bad. Love is love is love is love is love and dammit, we’re so honored to be there to celebrate with y’all. So if you like what you see, check out this and this and this and this or this. It feels like life and death to us that your story gets told.
