One December night in 2023 our friend Carly Lennstrom brought her “Philance” (fiance named Phil) to our house for dinner. They were there to ask if we would host their wedding on our boat, and if Rob would be the officiant and perform the ceremony. Having known Carly since she was five years old, and also knowing just how much she loves Yohelah, we both without hesitation said “OF COURSE WE WILL!”. Once the wedding date got much closer I became more than a little nervous about all that could go wrong hosting 15 people for a wedding aboard, but it all turned out better than OK.
On a cold Junuary (what we call cold days in June in the Pacific NW) day last month they came aboard for the weekend and we took them to see where we planned to hold the ceremony. The reception was at Kiana Lodge in Suquamish, and this location was about 6 miles south in front of Illahee State Park.
They liked the location and toasted the upcoming event.
One day a big piece of white fabric showed up at my house from Amazon that I had not ordered. I know sometimes they just get things wrong, so I set it aside to deal with later. Then in a couple more days a big piece of blue fabric arrived. OH, right! Carly was sending me fabric to make flags. Of course we wanted to Dress Ship with wedding colors. So I got busy sewing.
I learned that for a 40′ boat, our flags should be seventeen inches “On The Fly” (the end that attaches the flag to the hoist). So I ordered some flag tape from Sailrite and cut out 36 flags and stitched them up, hoping they would look ok on the boat.
This is my first fitting on the boat at our marina in Eagle Harbor, and everyone told me they loved how the flags turned out!
There were events three days in a row. This was the night before the wedding at the resort near the reception venue where Phil’s family from the midwest was staying. It was a lovely welcome dinner outside on a beautiful Pacific NW night.
The morning of the wedding was not without a few hiccups. We had left Yohelah at the Port of Poulsbo and when we got there to put the greenery on the boat, Rob realized he had left behind the backpack that had the script for the wedding. Luckily our friend Deborah Bach was home on the island and went to the house and brought the backpack to us before we needed to head to the pickup point. This is the bride and groom on the beach with the photographer as we approached the dock.
Kiana Lodge has a nice dock where we picked up and dropped off the wedding party. There were 12 people plus us and the photographer. We were hoping for enough wind to sail one way or the other, but we also know that in the Port Orchard waterway between Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula, the wind is either really gusty or really spotty. That day it was spotty, and nowhere near strong enough to move our 32,000 pound boat.
So we motored. And unless Barbara Rogers (Yohelah’s original owner) corrects me, this would be the first time ever a bride drove the boat. It was about an hour down to the park, where we found the mooring bouy was already occupied, so we dropped an anchor.
As we approached the park, the marine layer burned off, and both the sun and the mountain came out. We had a lovely view of Mount Tahoma/Rainier, Rich Passage, and the ferries as they drove through. Part of the ceremony included dropping shells into the sea, but the second hiccup of the day was that no one brought those shells to the boat. Luckily I have a vase of shells we collected on our voyage around the Pacific, so Carly and Phil each picked a shell from Yohelah.
After the ceremony we had a toast to the bride and groom, and I shared some charcouterie cups I made for the event. We drank some wine and enjoyed the day. Then, the one picture I don’t have is of the ORCAS that showed up!!! It was magical. A pod had been spotted in Bremerton the day before, and sure enough, they swam right by us. What a fantastic treat for everyone aboard. There was even a ginormous male and a wee small one in the pod.
Our friends Joy and Jerry were aboard their boat Dromen and took this picture of us (Thanks Joy!). Then the Orcas were there in front of us, so even though we were running late getting back, we had to slow down and drive around them. No one had “Late Because of Orcas” on their bingo card that day, but that’s really what happened.
Rob and I dropped off the wedding party, then drove Yohelah back to the Port of Poulsbo and left her for the night. We got to Kiana in time for our dinner and before the toasts and dancing started.
And we all danced until they made us go home. It was a fantastic event, and everything was so perfect. Teresa and Mike Lennstrom, along with Phil’s parents Jim and Donna Homan were terriffic hosts. And everything on Yohelah went off not only without a problem, but with Orcas! The biggest compliments I received that day were after the ceremony when the mothers of the bride and groom both gave me hugs so big and thanked me so sincerely for helping to make such a perfect day. Honestly, it was our pleasure.
Here’s to Carly and Phil, wishing them a lifetime of Fair Winds and Following Seas.
