Abby and Abby's Wedding in Hood River, Oregon
Romantic Spring Green 6 wedding vendors
5/28/2022 78 0
A&A
28 May, 2022
The story of our wedding
The vibe of our wedding came together throughout the planning process but we knew we wanted to keep it unique to us! We wanted it to feel dreamy, romantic, enchanting, vivacious, and elegant. The venue is absolutely stunning on its own so we really wanted to play off of the natural elements around the property, bringing in the greenery of the trees to feel authentic to the PNW. We chose a dusty light green for our bridesmaid colors & navy blue for our family color- keeping it very natural. The drizzle of the rain made it look extra dreamy and like it was straight out of a fairytale! Our guest count also helped us make the vibe more romantic and intimate as we were able to focus on ourselves and visit with our loved ones throughout the night.
We knew we wanted to have a destination wedding so I looked on The Knot for about 2 weeks at venues across the country and presented the best ones to Ab. Nothing was really speaking to us and then Ab looked on Instagram and found The Griffin House in less than 5 minutes & nothing else even compared! Since we were having guests from all over, we wanted to choose as many local options as possible to not only support the community but to give our guests a true Oregon experience. Luckily we were able to do that with our caterer, Reedville. Our cocktail hour featured all local produce and cheeses with a giant charcuterie table & we started seated service off with an Oregon Blue Salad which had all local fruit and was topped off with an “Oregon Strawberry Vinaigrette.” Our wedding cake from Papa Hayden’s had Marionberry filling, a true Oregon staple, & was absolutely delicious! We also had all local wine from WA & OR and my signature cocktail was inspired by one of our favorite restaurants in Portland, Jake’s Grill, featuring their Berry Punch.
Continue reading »The best part about having a destination wedding was making it a weekend-long event with out closest friends and family. We went up a week or so before and our guests started arriving in the middle of the week and we all got to hang out, go to dinners, and spend time together sightseeing. It really made our weekend so personal and we were able to focus more on each other on our actual wedding day since we had already visited with everyone before. All of our guests also mingled with each other the days before so at our reception, everyone danced and had a blast together like one big family! Everyone stayed at Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington (only a few minutes from Hood River) and the resort is just breathtaking. One of our favorite memories is doing zip lining at Skamania with about 20 of our closest family on the day of rehearsal dinner- everyone had so much fun!!!
Our vows to each other were the most memorable parts of the day as we both really impressed each other & made everyone, even our vendors, shed a tear! Ab was very nervous about her vows because I have a Bachelor’s degree in English so she knew she had to bring it! We played rock, paper, scissors to decide who went first- which was another detail that made it unique to us (that’s how we always decide things)! She went first and I followed. We both cried at our own and at each other’s because we poured our hearts out to one another in front of everyone we love. I think everyone could truly feel how deep our love is through our words & that really set the tone for the rest of the night- just fully in love!
We had a few big surprises that day and they made the moments truly magical. First was the rain & although everyone would’ve expected us to panic, we were oddly calm and just enjoyed the weather- we do love the rain on normal days!! PNW rain is more of a light mist/drizzle so since it wasn’t ceremony-ruining weather, we prepared for it to go throughout the day. We had clear umbrellas for all of our guests and that made for beautiful photos! The surprise came when I walked down the aisle- the rain stopped and the sun came out. My mom and aunt had been praying to my Grandma all morning asking her to be present at our ceremony from Heaven. Although I’m not religious, I felt in my heart that it was her giving us her blessing.
Another surprise that we will truly never forget was from our DJ. Before our grand exit, our DJ Robby asked our guests to grab our twinkle light sticks and create a circle on the dance floor with us in the middle. He announced that we would have one last special slow dance to Adele’s Make You Feel My Love. The song started off as normal and then we heard our voices reading our vows from the ceremony only hours before, line by line, over the instrumental bits of the song. Needless to say, everyone cried happy tears again, especially us, as we soaked in the last moments of our wedding. This was the most sentimental and magical experience ever & we will remember it always.
Abby and Abby's vendor team
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