Weddings like this one make me happy. You know the ones – they’re laid-back, yet elegant, dripping with crafty details and sooo full of love, it puts an instant smile on your face. This is all of the above and then some with lush blooms from The Green Dandelion, a yummy + gorgeous cake from Mandy McLeod and a whole gallery of beautiful images from Margaret Austin Photography. See them here.
From The Bride…We had a long engagement, mainly because I felt so overwhelmed when considering all of the elements of wedding planning! I was never the girl who dreamed of her perfect wedding day and I quickly realized that it was important to not sweat the small stuff and to focus on marrying the love of my life. I searched far and wide for my wedding dress. The only parameters I had were that I wanted to feel comfortable and confident in it and I liked the idea of having an unconventiona gown. I looked all over Portland, my hometown in England and ended up finding my dream dress in an adorable salon in Berkeley, California. Emerald City Gowns was a breath of fresh air from the standard bridal salons, the owner created a relaxing and really fun vibe without overdoing it. I felt such a relief to find the dress and was pleasantly surprised that the other elements of my outfit worked together so well.
We had initially wanted a very small and simple ceremony but we came to realize that it would be an amazing opportunity for everyone to get together. Our parents hadn’t met, mine live in England, Scott’s are in Texas and Tennessee and our closest friends live in California. Just the fact that everyone wanted to travel to Portland to support our marriage solidified the choice to throw a huge party! The Colony was the first and last venue we looked at. The Colony’s style matched our own aesthetic and also helped to generate additional inspiration. There are two beautiful apartments upstairs and a cute trailer out back that we rented for two nights, which made it possible to be able to take our time setting up and have the wedding party spend the night. The Colony’s manager Jeremy is also the owner of the in-house catering company Field Day, he and his team were so supportive and lovely to work with and all of our guests had the highest praise for the food and bar service.
Being an artist I was able to DIY a lot. I designed the invitations, made the wedding signs and hand painted cocktail glasses for the favors, it was a lot of work but absolutely worth it. I also hung a few new paintings that I was working on when I should have been wedding planning! I found some sweet little rusty paint cans that our floral designer filled with flowers which was a lovely way to enhance the artistic decor. She did an exceptional job with all of the different elements of the floral design, including of course my gorgeous bouquet! Every vendor we worked with was seriously fantastic and went above and beyond my expectations. We didn’t need a traditional wedding, we just wanted a day that represented us and we are so fortunate to have an amazing group of friends who all contributed to help make that happen. Scott’s best man is a very talented musician and wrote us a beautiful song for our first dance. An artist friend hand carved our cake topper which we will cherish forever. My maid of honor is an incredible wedding photographer and she and I both agreed that we wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to take our pictures and I still can’t get over how she managed to so flawlessly capture everything and simultaneously support me emotionally. Words can’t even express how lucky we are to have such talented and creative friends and we are so grateful for all of the help we received from our family as well. I still get emotional when I think about how special it was to have everyone we love and both sides of our family in the same room. Our wedding proved to be the most special day of our lives, the whole celebration was so dreamy and magical and we couldn’t be happier!
Photography: Margaret Austin Photography | Floral Design: The Green Dandelion | Wedding Dress: Emerald City Gowns | Cake: Mandy McLeod | Catering: Field Day | Hair And Makeup: Cassandra Kennedy Beauty | DJ: Hunter Armstrong | Wedding Venue: The Colony | Cake Topper: Stan Peterson | Music: Denys Kozakis | Rentals: Something Borrowed Portland