When Laura Kussman Gets Married You are a Happy Photographer
Instead of writing what I saw during the day, here’s what the bride saw:
You heard it here first, the U.S.A’s hottest marriage destination is: Orcas Island. Born 9,000 years ago on a dare from gradually melting glacial waters in NW Washington State, this place has everything: famous celebrity* photographers, a French patisserie who creates custom cakes de mariage, amorous, golden hour sailing charters, a homegrown, third generation antique jewlery dealer named Gemma, a veteran hair and makeup artist who specializes in that luminous Orcas Glow, a Scandinavian dress designer who competed on the reality fashion TV show Project Runway (yes, she is absolutely Making It Work), and perhaps most importantly, a universal reverence for ceremony.
And that barely scratches the surface. Top of mind when we think about the San Juan Islands as a wedding destination is inevitably the picturesque quality of scenery. We are drawn in by the siren. Lest we forget Orcas was listed as one of “52 Places to Go in 2019” by the New York Times. That’s Big Boy Print News, people. Orcas – an endearing word that elicits a feeling of culture and community – is both serene and exciting. Qualities which make it very easy to fall in love with. Sound romantic?
What enhances the experience of this place – a 57-square mile rock in the middle of the San Juan archipelago guarded by the Salish Sea – are the barriers to access which form a deeper sense of home to its residents. This is a fairly new phenomenon, that working people want to and are able to be on island full-time. The two primary industries in San Juan County are construction and hospitality. It’s no surprise in an isolated place where the two largest industries are in service to visitors, there is a strong maker economy and infectious creative collaborative spirit.
To emphasize this from the perspective of the wedding industry, we present exhibit A: the late-summer wedding of Mason and Laura. It’s a warm day at the only winery on Orcas Island. It’s the cusp of the autumn equinox, and the farmhouse tasting room provides a calming backdrop for the happy couple. Beyond that sit idylly the vineyard and Turtleback Mountain.
A team of local islanders have come together to provide services and run the show. If we were to turn the following description of them into a movie scene, the camera would follow the movements of each actor moving from one place to another in a collective, chronological narrative. The camera would stop to watch moments of shared collaboration, then follow the next actor as they move on to their next endeavor.
There are the very famous celebrity* photographers Whitney Chamberlin and Hallie Kathryn, who are early (everyone is), buzzing around, cracking pretty good jokes. We follow them as they begin photographing close ups of the bride’s wedding ring from Gemma Glasser, who grew up on Orcas Island and has recently moved home. It’s like they always say: a good photographer is like a good stripper. Exceptional entertainers skilled at reading the needs of a client on a case by case basis.
“They made us feel like real models, really in love and really at ease,” Laura said. “We didn’t realize how nice it could feel to just focus on each other, rather than the potential stresses of the day.”
Entering stage-left are co-owners of the local business Smörgasbord, championing the wedding aesthetic. Whitney Page is carefully designing floral arrangements with flowers direct from neighboring Waldron Island next to table sculptures by local woodworker Zach Whitridge. She stops to troubleshoot her concept for a foraged arbor with her business partner Melanie Trygg – that Scandinavian fashion designer we mentioned earlier – who has just finished helping Laura step into the wedding gown she designed. Trygg offers a hand creatively directing the aesthetic for the arbor, and we follow her to the wedding party tablescape she has crafted with local art by Aleph Geddis and items from their Eastsound vintage store. Orcas Events, a local party equipment rental company, has delivered the tables, chairs, dishes, flatware, glasses and linens.
Olivia Knoellinger from Cloud 9 Events is acting as wedding planner and day-of coordinator. Her attention to detail is what Laura and Mason call “a huge relief.” Knoellinger stops by the long, elegant table Trygg is finalizing to check in, grabs a couple boxes to store out of sight and retreats with her headset to check on the catering team. Orcas Island Catering has prepared cedar plank salmon with grilled asparagus and is working together nearby to set up a local oyster bar and hors d'oeuvres.
In the parking lot of Orcas Island Winery, just beyond the catering team, Liberté of Liberté Beauty has arrived in her horse drawn carriage. Was it a carriage? Or a Jeep? Doesn’t matter. She and her hair & makeup assistant unload their car and begin setting up their station, replete with personal touches like calming mists and quality skincare products. Laura and Mason opted for a smaller wedding, with makeup to be done on-site, so Liberté carefully creates an altar for beauty outside, which she has accounted for by bringing an umbrella to block the sun. Maybe it’s Maybeline, or maybe it’s Liberté Beauty.
Sweetcraft Bakeshop owner and pastry chef Lisa Fossen has done what needed to be done when she arrives and walks by the groom getting a skincare treatment to deliver her custom wedding cake. It’s multiple tiers, just like the couple wanted, and “perfect,” Laura shares.
They say the tone or foundation upon which something is built directly influences how it will endure. This is irrefutably true in relationships, and with weddings. On Orcas and in the San Juan Islands as a whole, its a boon having local wedding producers who are available to collaborate and concept not only with you but with each other. Each of these producers is a resident of the San Juan Islands full time, each of their businesses was born and bred from the spirit of the place and its present-day industries. Bleeding hearts who work in a traditional industry, but live relatively non-traditional lifestyles together. So get yourself a team who can do both. Orcas is the place where you really can have it all. Now is your chance!
*definitely neither famous nor a celebrity, but could be in a parallel universe