wedding — Blog

Our wedding has been featured on Junebug Weddings! Check it out here!

And it has also been featured on Seattle Bride Magazines Spring/Summer 2020 issue! Click here!

From coworkers to life partners. Ben and I both met at Zulily in 2015. Here’s how we met:

Cynthia's Perspective:

I always thought of Ben as the "hot" guy in finance but I didn't think anything else of it. I didn’t ever think I would ever date someone from work. I worked in AP and he worked in Accounting and we never crossed paths until one day he sent me a work related email. I answered it, and then the conversations kept going for several months through emails; here's a few excerpts from those emails:
"I don’t think we’ve met but I’m Ben; I think there’s only like 6 AP specialists here that aren’t contractors, and I know all of them except for you but I know you’ve been here awhile now. Do you like it here so far?" - Ben
"Gonzaga plays UW tomorrow at 9am so I took the day off." - Ben
Eventually we talked about career paths, I told him I was interested in moving to Accounting and he offered to help me with my resume. We met in a random meeting room at work one day and he helped me with my "resume". No he really did though, but I think it was also just an excuse for him to talk to me in person.
Months later, it was zulily's annual Birthday Party at Benroya Hall, the biggest company party of the year. With some liquid courage in, we both ran into each other at the party and talked all night. Eventually we left together, and at first instead of calling an Uber he said "Well the C Line drops you off right in front of my place", I remember thinking to myself ohh no this guy is making me take the bus to his place, but we ended up calling an Uber. We just chatted all night until 2am and he dropped me off afterwards like a gentlemen and we've been inseparable ever since.

Ben’s Perspective:

Cynthia caught my eye one day when I was running to the printer to grab something. I knew I had never seen her before - because I would have remembered! Not only was she beautiful, but also a hard worker - I remember some nights when we were the only two in the finance area late at night. I wanted to approach her, but she was my co-worker, so I knew I had to be careful. Our duties rarely overlapped but eventually we were included on the same email chain. I took it as an opportunity to introduce myself and from there we would say hi to one another in the kitchen every so often and discuss basketball, weekend plans, and whatever else may be going on. One thing I learned about her was that she might want a new job elsewhere, so I told her I’d meet with her and help with her resume. That was our first one-on-one experience, and I felt something with her that I really hadn’t felt before. And this was just talking about work experience! Eventually we got to talking over drinks at the company party, and from there she agreed to go on a date with me. 'They' always say ‘You aren’t supposed to date co-workers’, but I wasn’t about to let that stop me! I quickly learned that Cynthia was more than just a cute girl. She was adventurous, funny, and had a very active social life. Everyone she worked with at zulily seemed to enjoy her, too. I had a work trip coming up that very next month, and I decided to invite her to go on a side trip that weekend in New York City. Even though Gonzaga got bounced out of the NCAA tournament while we were there, the trip was still unforgettable. From there on, I knew she was a keeper! Emailing Cynthia was the smartest decision I ever made!

A year and a half later, we planned a trip to London! Ben proposed in front of the Tower Bridge during sunset.

Our wedding was the perfect Summer Solstice weekend a.k.a Summer Solsmith (#SummerSolsmith)! We decided to tie the knot at JM Cellars in Woodinville with the perfect mix of tropical boho meets PNW vibes. We knew this was our wedding venue the moment we stepped foot onto the grounds; a small intimate tasting room for our closest friends and family. The day started off with a lot of girl time, getting our hair and makeup done and a lot of nerves building up! We wanted to do first look photos before the ceremony and these touching moments were captured by our amazing photographer, Gina Paulson.

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A beautiful blend of pnw vibes of greenery with a bohemian twist with macrame and pompous grass, a neon pink sign, acrylic signs, rose gold silverware and agate stone place cards; everything blended so well together. Having a wedding planner was the best decision I ever made! Miranda from Bridal Bliss killed it! She made all of my dreams come true, and made our special day stress free.

We celebrated the ceremony and said our “I do’s” on the lawn, our fur babies walked down the aisle as ring bearers, we ate dinner on the patio under string light, danced to Coldplay as our first dance, and brought it out on the dance floor with our family and friends! It seriously felt like I was living in a dream!

Before booking with our photographer, I knew I wanted anadventurous shoot out in the mountains! Gina mentioned she included a package with an adventure session and instantly I knew she was the photographer for us! We ventured off to Mount Rainier for a sunset shoot right after our mini moon. Ben and I were exhausted, we had flown out right after our wedding and headed to Montreal and New York and booked our photoshoot the day after we came back. The rain held out for this sunset hike on top of the hills, with gorgeous white flowers blooming on the mountaintop. Unfortunately, Mount Rainer was hidden behind the clouds, but we still got our epic sunset view. We quickly took our photos, dodged the rain, ran to the bottom, and captured sparkler photos under a rainbow!