Blog
Shannon and Dani both stumbled upon The Ruins during separate online searches for local Seattle wedding venues. They had never been but a few of the people in Shannon’s band, Dining Dead, had attended burlesque show there and really liked the venue. It was the first and only venue that they toured and they fell in love with it immediately! When asked specifically about the venue they said, "It has such a unique ambiance, and we felt like it captured our fun and colorful energy - both separately and as a couple. We loved the hand-painted murals, velvet furniture, and overall dark and moody vibe. And a bonus we liked was that it really didn't need much decorating with how much character was built-in to the space already."
"It has such a unique ambiance, and we felt like it captured our fun and colorful energy - both separately and as a couple."
Dani and Shannon's "theme" was witchy, moody, sparkly, colorful, and fun! They listed their dress code as “Spectacular!” and challenged their guests to upstage them and wear anything they’ve always wanted to wear but never had the chance or occasion. We love this idea!
"We just really wanted our wedding to feel like us, and to only do things that we wanted to and not worry about anyone else’s expectations. Since we are a queer couple, we wanted things to be non-traditional."
They chose wedding rituals and celebrations that felt special to them, like being walked down the aisle by their dogs and having their bestfriends officiate. Their overall goal was to throw a killer party to celebrate with friends and family they hadn't been able to see due to Covid. We think they really nailed that goal!
Dani and Shannon added one more detail to further personalize their day and surprise their guests with something they have probably never seen at a wedding (at least we haven't, and we have seen A LOT of weddings!).
Shannon tells it best:
"So Dani and I went to a Valentine’s Day event at Thorn Pokes Tattoo where you could draw a heart on your significant other and the artist would tattoo it on you and we just really liked the artist and were talking about getting married soon and they mentioned they’d always wanted to tattoo at a wedding so we asked them to come to our wedding and tattoo our guests and they said yes!
Our artist made a flash sheet of 4 designs based on the two of us, so we had a sparkle, a sheet ghost, an eye, and a heart that Dani and I each drew half of :) And we just paid the artist ahead of time and all of our guests were able to get a tattoo if they wanted one! The artist had folks sign up for a time and then did the tattoos throughout the evening. It was so fun and the majority of our guests got one!! They really were busy tattooing from like 6 to 11pm straight!
The plan had been for our Dani and I to go two weeks after our wedding and get all four of the designs tattooed on us, but unfortunately our artist was in a car accident and was recovering so we had to postpone. But she’s all healed up now and we are getting them this month - a nice 6-month anniversary treat.
It’s really fun that when we see our friends now, we see their tattoo from our wedding. And when we get all four tattoos, we will always match everyone who got a tattoo at our wedding and was there for our big day, which is so special."
How stinkin' cool is that??? 10/10 in our opinion.
When asked what their favorite memory was they said the moment that sticks out was their first dance. Shannon's band performed their first dance song, "Dreams" by the Cranberries. Neither one of them wanted to do a slow dance with everyone standing around watching so they had DJ Baby Van Beezly invite everyone out onto the dance floor with them. Shannon described it as "the most perfect and dreamy '90s movie finale kind of moment".
Vendor:
Photographer: Rove Coast Photography
Venue: The Ruins
Florals: Nadira Design
Videographer: Meas Media
Catering: Landmark Event Co.
Dessert: Sift & Gather
Attire: Rose Hill Workshop (Shannon); Thrifted (Dani)
Tattoo Artist: Emma Kates-Shaw, Thorn Pokes Tattoo
Tarot Card Reader: Kiki, Opulent Witch
Photobooth: 321 Foto
Band: Dining Dead (Shannon's band)
Live Painter: Orion Misciagna, Seattle Live Painter
Officiant: Erin & Clayton Marshall (our best friends)