Mt. Baker Rotary Building

Wedding Day

Wedding

Reception

Our Wedding

On a beautiful Friday afternoon toward the end of April, Kenta took me on a drive. He had a few things planned, and while I had an idea what might happen that afternoon, I didn't know when or how! We were supposed to be having dinner with a group of friends, and even had committed to bring part of the dinner. So while I was wondering how that would work out, I tried to sit back and enjoy the ride.But let me back up. First we got coffee, then a snack. Evidently we had some time to kill, and with my suggestions for coffee/snack, I helped figure that out. :) After that, we started driving. I had a feeling we would go towards the water, and that's indeed where we went. We drove along and around Birch Bay, and while I wondered if we would stop there, we kept going. Eventually I figured out that we were going out to Semiahmoo, a beautiful spit-bay area that we hadn't visited for a long time.In fact, we hadn't been there since before we actually started dating. One evening at the end of 2015, we went chasing Northern Lights. We didn't find them that night, but we did find out that I have a sense of humor, which was a really good thing for us.So we parked, and started walking along the beach. Kenta was positively giddy the whole time. It was incredibly adorable. I remember mentioning something to the effect of "I don't think we're going to find any northern lights today." We hugged, and I noticed that his heart was absolutely racing. We walked a few more steps, and then Kenta turned around, got on one knee, pulled something out of his pocket, and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes! Then there was some fumbling with the box, putting on the beautiful ring, laughing, crying, hugging… After a minute or two of that, two dear friends jumped out from behind the bushes with their camera. Kenta had thought of everything, and it was quite perfect. Funny thing is that he didn't know that our friend Megan was a professional photographer, but he just happened to ask her and her husband along for this adventure. After hugs, congratulations, and admiring the ring, and some more photos, we continued down the beach looking for the special spot where Kenta discovered that I wasn't as serious about life as he had initially thought.So that wintry evening over a year ago when we were chasing the northern lights… I was wearing totally unsuitable shoes for the adventure. They were cute, but had almost no tread. It was kind of frosty that night. So we walked on one side of the spit, bathed in the glow of the lights from White Rock, BC, and decided it was too bright on that side. There was also an almost full moon. We walked to the inland side of the spit to see what we could see there. We had to go down a little bank to get to the beach. I went down first, and attempted to run down. Normally if you can keep your feet going fast enough, you'll make it to the bottom of steep things. Not this night, however. I slipped and fell on the frosty grass and ended up on my backside at the bottom of the little bank. At which point I just had to start laughing! I wasn't hurt, thankfully. Evidently it was in this moment that Kenta realized that I had a sense of humor, and that's where he started falling for me.Eventually we did find that spot, quite a way down the beach. We took some more pictures there, and then decided it was high time we all go get some dinner.Kenta proposed exactly 100 days before our wedding.

The Proposal

Our Story

Details

Photos

Wedding Party

Registry

Q + A

Travel

Things to Do

Air Travel Suggestions

Flights

Our closest domestic hub is Seattle Tacoma International Airport (SEA). Flying into SEA is generally $100+ cheaper than flying directly into Bellingham (BLI). If you have a passport, you can also check flights to Vancouver International Airport (YVR). See section below for traveling from YVR to Bellingham.For our international guests, please check ticket prices for both Seattle (SEA) and Vancouver, BC (YVR). Sometimes flying into Vancouver is less expensive.

Getting from SeaTac to Bellingham

Rent a car from the rental services offered at SeaTacReserve and schedule a ride from the airport with the <a href="http://www.airporter.com/shuttle" target="_blank">Bellair airporter shuttle </a>**Airporter shuttle is our suggestion as it is less than $40/person vs $100+ extra per ticket flying into Bellingham Airport (direct flights to BLI are rare)Public/Bolt/Greyhound/Amtrak are available with more stops in between (only for the adventurous, we assume no responsibility for the success or hazards of using this option)Secure a ride from the Bellair or other bus stop to your destination in Bellingham **Car rentals are clustered at Iowa St or Bellingham airport **Hotels are primarily clustered around 3 regions in Bellingham: **Airport, Guide Meridian road, and Lakeway shopping area **There are multiple cab companies in town, and Uber is also an option here **We do have a bus system here with routes all around the county, but you will need to allow a lot of margin to use the WTA buses

Vancouver Arrivals

There is a shuttle bus from Vancouver to Bellingham<a href="https://www.ridebooker.com/transfers/yvr/bli/quick-shuttle">https://www.ridebooker.com/transfers/yvr/bli/quick-shuttle</a> Canadian car rentals work a little differently. If you're traveling on a US passport and planning on renting a car from Canada, please double check their passport and border crossing policies before renting.

Other Note

Logging onto travel websites on Tuesday or Wednesday will often yield the best prices. Clear your cookies and/or use an incognito browser so that the travel sites aren't seeing previous searches. This also helps the lowest prices show up.

Lodging Suggestions

There are many hotel/motel options in our area, ranging from budget-friendly to luxurious. Here are some suggestions:($$$) Ocean Views - Hotel Bellwether, Chrysalis Inn, Fairhaven Village Inn($-$$) Guide Meridian road - Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, etc.($-$$$) Lakeway Shopping Area - Four Points by Sheraton, Guesthouse Inn, Motel 6, Days Inn, etc. ****Avoid the sketchy little motels on Samish Way****($-$$) Airport area - La Quinta, Marriott, Hilton, Holiday Inn &amp; Suites (brand new, just opened a few months ago!), etc.($-$$) AirBnB/Craigslist vacation rentals are good regionally and can accommodate group rentalsMarijuana smell is the worst complaint we've heard about AirBnBs in this area. If that is a concern, double check with your host about their policies. Bellinghamsters are nice hippies.

Travel & Lodging

Planned Pot Luck

We are organizing a pot luck for our first meal as husband and wife. We will provide a huge pot of rice towards dinner, and the cake. :) We are asking for our local friends to volunteer to bring items that will make up the rest of dinner. We would suggest items like a large crock pot of chicken/beef/pork, or a large salad of some kind (pasta, potato, veggie), a casserole. Can you please email what you will bring to kvgumbert@gmail.com? Thank you for being a part of our celebration!

Vanessa & Kenta