Beautiful Aerie Ballroom Wedding

I’ve started writing this introduction four or five times. NOTHING I can say will tell you how excited I was to photograph this beautiful Aerie Ballroom Wedding. Friend, this was the LAST rescheduled wedding from 2020 and they’re FINALLY MARRIED!

Hi, I’m Markie, your PNW Wedding Photographer + Storyteller.

I’ve spent more than a decade quietly observing moments like these. When I photograph a wedding at the Aerie Ballroom, I’m not looking for perfection. I’m looking for meaning. For the way a hand squeezes just a little tighter. For the pause in someone’s voice before they say something that matters. For the unscripted laughter that happens when nerves and joy collide.

My approach is simple: I blend in. I pay attention. I let the day unfold naturally so that what you receive later isn’t a performance, but a memory that feels like you. And there’s something about the Aerie Ballroom that makes that kind of storytelling feel completely at home. Kaylynn and Eric’s day was built for exactly that.

Because you’re life’s greatest adventure

The Journey to Aerie Ballroom

The journey to Kaylynn + Eric’s wedding day wasn’t without some chaos. After all, their first date lasted three days due to a car parking itself inside Kaylynn’s apartment. (Yes, inside her apartment). Between the time they booked with me, and the time their wedding concluded, they went through three different venues. Chalk it all up to covid crazies and general 2020 madness.

When Kaylynn told me they finally secured a wedding venue and date, I was ecstatic for them. (Quick insider note: Ya’ll may remember their engagement session was the FIRST session Jake EVER shot with me.) I first met Kaylynn at Nicole + Kevin’s wedding in 2018. Being completely honest, I don’t remember if Eric was there or not. However, Kaylynn knew when they got married exactly who to call. Like always, I was stoked to have her book with me, because word of mouth referrals are my favorite!

And honestly? Aerie Ballroom was worth every detour it took to get there. This 1920s landmark sits right in the heart of historic downtown Centralia and has this incredible energy the moment you walk in with Venetian chandeliers hanging over hardwood floors, a soaring twenty-foot ceiling, and a formal balcony overlooking the ballroom. It’s the kind of space that makes you feel like something important is happening, which, for Kaylynn and Eric, it absolutely was. High-class vintage charm without the big city price tag and if you’ve ever tried to book a wedding venue in Seattle, you know exactly how refreshing that is.

Nightmare Before Christmas meets Deadpool

Jake and I are HUGE Tim Burton fans and happened to get Nightmare Before Christmas couple’s tattoos on our honeymoon. You can imagine my excitement when Kaylynn gave me the theme of their wedding day. “Nightmare Before Christmas meets Deadpool.” At first, this may sound a bit oddly mashed up, but they pulled it off beautifully! Kaylynn wore Nightmare Before Christmas kicks, while Eric gave nods to Deadpool with his bright red and black attire.

Their red and black theme tied everything together throughout their Aerie Ballroom wedding. From their adorable Deadpool and Sally cake toppers, to the handmade bouquets with different Nightmare Before Christmas scenes, everything came together beautifully! I was enthralled finding all the little details of their wedding. This is exactly the kind of couple I live for as a photographer; the ones who say “forget the rules, here’s who we actually are.” Every little detail told their story, and honestly? That’s what makes wedding photos timeless. Not the Pinterest-perfect tablescapes, but the them-ness of it all.

Centralia Wedding Day Portraits

One of the best parts of working with Kaylynn + Eric is they know how much I LOVE getting good portrait time. And friend, Centralia delivered.

We wandered the streets and found some pretty hidden gems. I’ll be real with you; I am never above walking into traffic for a great shot. (Don’t worry, Jake was spotting me and the truck totally saw me before he turned.) There’s something about downtown Centralia that just works for portraits. The brick walls, the historic storefronts, the way the late afternoon light bounces off everything makes it a photographer’s dream hiding in plain sight. I genuinely think people sleep on this town as a portrait location, and I am fully here to be its biggest advocate.

What I want you to understand about photographing Kaylynn and Eric specifically is that there was never a stiff or awkward moment between them. Some couples need a little coaxing to relax in front of the camera, which is totally normal, totally human, but these two? They looked at each other the same way whether I had a camera in their faces or not. That kind of love is easy to photograph because it doesn’t need direction. It just is.

As golden hour rolled around, I scurried them into the Aerie Ballroom Bar to catch those perfect rays of light. The 800 square foot bar space features an antique cherrywood back bar built in the 1800s, and when the sunset hits it just right, it looks like something out of a movie. I honestly could have photographed them in that bar all night. Light like that only happens for about twelve minutes and I was absolutely sprinting to make the most of every single second.

The Moments That Made My Heart Full

Here’s the thing about photographing a couple who has waited as long as Kaylynn and Eric did: it means there’s a different kind of weight to the day. A deeper exhale. After three venue changes, two postponements, and what felt like the entire universe conspiring against them, they finally got to stand in that ballroom and just be married. I felt it. I think everyone in that room felt it.

There’s a reason photographers talk about “being present” at weddings. On most days, I’m scanning the room, anticipating the next moment, thinking two steps ahead. But there were moments with these two where I just had to pause and take it in. Watching Kaylynn and Eric together, surrounded by the details they’d painstakingly chosen, in a venue that was so perfectly them was one of those moments where the job stopped feeling like a job.

Seeing the love between these two makes my heart sing. The Sally to his Deadpool. The Nightmare Before Christmas to his red-and-black chaos. They make sense together in a way that’s hard to put into words but very easy to put into photographs.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll have many adventures together, and maybe, just maybe… I’ll get to join them again in the future. These are the weddings I’ll be talking about for years, not because of the perfect lighting or the gorgeous venue (though both were very much present), but because of what it meant. The last rescheduled wedding from 2020. The couple who never gave up. The day that was worth every single moment of the wait.

Kaylynn + Eric, it was the honor of my life. Congratulations, finally and forever. 🖤