Sodo Park Barn Wedding

The venue for this Seattle wedding, Sodo Park, is truly the stuff dreams are made of. Romantic, twinkly lights, hanging votives, and ubiquitous references to the family’s history makes this one of our favorite intimate weddings. All captured by Stefano Choi, this wedding puts winter officially behind us in style.

From the bride, Abigail: Because Arnold and I are both Seattle transplants, we knew most of our guests would be coming from out of town, and so we wanted to host a wedding day that would be warmly welcoming and have a feeling of love and closeness. We kept coming back to the vision of a classic, nice dinner party with all the people who know us the best and love us the most.

In light of our goal to have a nice dinner party with our family and friends, we went for a classic, romantic and warm look for the wedding. We also wanted to incorporate ourselves into the wedding in different ways – including aspects of our respective family’s heritage and history. Arnold is Chinese-Korean-American, so we used accents of red (a traditional color for Chinese weddings) in various ways – the groomsmen ties, ribbons on the programs and guest favors, runners on the dinner tables.

Our florist/decorator used a palette of cream and pewter with some twinkles of gold and bronze. Because I had know for years that I wanted to wear my grandma’s 1940’s wedding dress, we naturally went carried that over to the rest of the wedding, and went for a classically vintage style. I also tried to incorporate other family pieces into the decor – such as my grandpa’s old farm lunchbox to hold cards of marriage advice from our guests.

Arnold and I have lived a number of places, and because we would have guests coming from all parts of the country, we used the various cities we had each lived as the table markers for dinner. Our favors were little jars of Starbucks coffee beans which I put together with my mom and sister (because Arnold and I both love coffee, and we live in Seattle). I also ordered menus which I used to double as namecards at the dinner table – my girlfriends helped me handwrite the guest names at the top of the menus.

Any advice for brides planning their weddings now? The best decision and best investment we made was to use a day-of-coordinator. Because of budget concerns, we didn’t decide to use a coordinator until just a few weeks before the wedding, but I am so glad we made that decision! Having somebody else working out timelines, keeping everybody on task, and making sure everything is running smoothly allowed us to just enjoy our wedding. Definitely the best investment we made, because of the priceless return we got of peace of mind.

See Also

An Alfresco Wedding at Artisan Acres Estate

From the photographer, Stefano Choi: Abby & Arnold’s wedding at Sodo Park in Seattle WA was a beautiful day filled with many DIY and vintage items. For instance, her wedding dress was her Grandmother’s dress from the 1940’s. The engagement ring was the same ring that Arnold’s father proposed to his mother with. The couple both spent a lot of time decorating their wedding around the history and heritage of both of their families. Sodo Park was a perfect venue for the couple because of the history that you could literally feel once you entered into the wooden framed structure. Colorful and bright on the outside, warm and inviting on the inside. This is what Abby and Arnold are.

Wedding Music:
Processional: “Dream,” Priscilla Anh
Recessional: “3 Little Birds,” Ziggy Marley
First Dance: “At Last,” Beyonce
Father-Daughter Dance: “What a Wonderful World,” Louis Armstrong

Wedding Vendors (Seattle, WA):

Wedding Venue: Sodo Park / Wedding Photographer: Stefano Choi Photography / Day-of Coordination: Laura Gram Simplicity Events / Wedding Flowers: Bella Signature Design / Wedding Dress: Vintage / Bride’s Jewelry: Vintage / Bride’s Chinese Wedding Dress: Pala Pala / Bride’s Reception Dress: Alex Evening from Macy’s / Bride’s Hair: Salon Armand / Makeup: Megan Bingham of Offwhite Makeup and Beauty / Groom’s Suit: Brooks Brothers / Groom’s Tie: Canali / Wedding Caterer: Herban Feast / Wedding Cake: Simply Desserts / Chinese Wedding Cakes: Mon Hei Bakery / Pastries: Metropolitan Market / DJ: Jake Edens (206.409.6461) / Videographers: One Track Films / Wedding Invitations: David’s Bridal