We have been waiting to post about this styled shoot since May! We had so many amazing clients last year (all the way up until December), that our focus was on tending to all of their details. Now that it's January - we just couldn't wait any longer to post about this amazing styled shoot that we had the pleasure of doing for the Click Chicks. If you've been following our blog for awhile, you might remember the one we did back in 2010 - the 1st Annual Summer Lovin' Workshop. In 2011, we did a Vaudeville shoot with Bunn Salarzon. This year (well, 2012), we wanted to capture the essence of Oregon. Not only do we love "All Things Oregon," but people from around the country - and internationally - are coming to Oregon to have their weddings because of it's beauty and versatility.
We setup a mock wedding at the Rogue Farms Hopyard in Independence. It was a beautiful setting by the river, with hazelnut trees, open fields, rows and rows of hops, not to mention AMAZING microbrews and root beer! Natascha, the woman who runs the show out there, was a dream to work with. She's casual, yet professional, and really cares about her clients. She wants everyone to have a great time, and it's SO EASY to have a great time out at "the farm" with her and her staff. The whole Stargazer Weddings crew had such an amazing time with both this styled shoot, as well as Michael and Melissa's wedding, that we'd love to do a LOT more weddings out there. We love everyone at Rogue Farms Hopyard! They're just so easy to work with, and their casual style puts everyone at ease. No high stress - which we love! The venue has a minimal charge to use their facility, and it comes with tables, chairs, bar, chickens, and pigs too! Oh, and don't forget about Sullivan and Atticus - the two main dogs of the show! This is a working farm, which only adds to it's character and charm. They have the "Hop n' Bed," which is a huge historic home that the bridal party can get ready in. They also rent out the Hop n' Bed on various weekends throughout the year for family reunions, birthday parties, you name it. There are lots of options at Rogue as well, which we love. You can have your ceremony in the open field, amongst an orchard, or in a very rustic barn. Same with the reception - take your pick of locations! Needless to say, we LOVE everything about the Rogue Farms Hopyard, and are already looking forward to having some more weddings and events out there in 2013!
Now, when deciding on the theme "All Things Oregon," we wanted to make sure that theme was throughout every little detail. And I mean EVERY detail. For colors, we chose various shades of green (in honor of Oregon's lush landscapes, tall trees, and abundance of vegetation), and gray (it's no secret we get a lot of rain, and hence rainclouds, here in Oregon)! The colors came together beautifully. Sue Hamilton of SHE Designs in Salem provided us will all of our wonderful rental items. The linens, some decor, lanterns, hooks for the aisleway, you name it. She has a large variety of amazing quality items! She also has an amazing eye for design!
For the floral arrangements, Denice of Distinctive Designs took our theme and ran with it. I never had any doubt that the flowers would be amazing, as Denice is one of the best. When she first showed up with the flowers, I was blown away. They were perfect! One of the centerpieces was made of lamb's ear, green raspberry leaves, lily of the valley, green lace leaf maple, all assembled in a twig rectangular basket lined with burlap. The taller centerpiece used white snapdragons, pussy willows, collard with lily of the valley blooms and greens, plumrose, and draping green grapes all in a beautiful silver vase. The bridal bouquet was all in white, astrometry, local tulips, and fragrant stock bound with natural grossgrain ribbon in tan with bind wire laced up the front. There was even a Fig Jewelry sterling silver keepsake! One of the bridesmaid's bouquets was made of precious lily of the valley and were bound by bind wire wrap. The other bouquet was white stock with wind wire. The boutonnieres also had two looks - one was of white tulip accented with white wax flower and natural leaves, and the other used lily of the valley with soft lambs ear and bind wire. The base of the tree arch were wrapped with burlap and accents with an assortment of white flowers (stock, alstro, wax flower, and tulips), and they were bound to the branches with moss and bind wire for a very natural effect. She even provided the REAL moss table runner!
For wedding favors, we had two items (who says you can only have one)! The first was burlap bags of Stumptown coffee beans as the guests were entering the ceremony area. Never heard of Stumptown before? Well check them out! They are an amazing local Portland company that pays their growers direct, and has the highest level of quality, customer care, and are opening up shop across the nation! The other wedding favor was Seeds of Life from The Magnolia Company. I loved these favors as well - they actually send you a seed, that is native to the area you wish to plant it! This is a gift that will give for years to come, and can also be a little piece of Oregon for your guests to take home with them! They come in adorable little boxes - one that you can personalize, pick the color of the box, pick the color of the ribbon, you can do what you like to match your event perfectly! They honestly had some of the best representatives, and best customer service - I can't thank their staff enough for helping us and donating the Seeds of Life to the event!
What kind of "wedding" would it be without wine?! Our friends from the north (State of Washington) at Maryhill Winery offered to make custom labels for our photoshoot! Working with them was so easy - and I loved that they were able to take our design developed by Ashley of AEL Design and print high quality labels. They offer this service to couples as well, and will help design a label for you, or you can provide your own design! They have lots of wines to choose from, and we were SO very thankful that they supplied us with some for our photoshoot! Tasted great too! Thanks Maryhill Winery! We incorporated the wine two ways at the photoshoot. Tristin (one of our coordinators) had her husband make a wine box for the "ceremony." Inside the box was a bottle of wine, and two hand written letters. Elissa and Malcolm (our model couple), each wrote a love letter to the other, and placed it in the box with the wine. During a real ceremony, they would nail the wine box shut, and then reopen it on their 10-year anniversary. I love this unique idea for a special ceremony within the ceremony! The other way we utilized the wine was on display in the reception hall. This way the custom labels that had been made could be showcased, as well as allowing guests to see what wine they were drinking. Again - we're all about "letting your details shine," so we don't want any detail of the wedding day to be overlooked by your guests either!
Since we really love wine here in Oregon - we wanted to choose a very unique guest book as well. What better than an actual table, made from a wine barrel, that guests could sign?! Rob from Raw Woodworks makes these breathtaking, gorgeous pieces of furniture from local wine barrels. Your guests can sign it with a permanent pen and then Rob will seal it so it's protected! This makes such an amazing conversation piece in your home, and he's developing some new and very exciting other wine furniture pieces for "guests books!"
With great wine, we needed great food. Willaby's Catering provided a wonderful meal of fresh local teriyaki glazed salmon bites, grilled and chilled Romaine salad with shaved asiago, orzo salad with raisins and local hazelnuts and vegetables. It was SO yummy. I have had cravings of those salmon bites ever since....my favorite salmon so far! The staff at Willaby's was amazing to work with, and created a gorgeous display of the food on glass blocks and wood planks to coincide with our "All Things Oregon" theme.
To round out all things culinary was some beautiful cakes by Marion of Myriad Cake Design. She volunteered numerous display cakes, as well as VERY, very decadent cake truffles! She had so many different designs, and carries out the attention to detail flawlessly. It's hard to pick a favorite - but I especially loved her mint cake truffles! You can't have just one!
The model couple, Elissa and Malcolm, are a real-life married couple. I love love, and you could tell how much these two loved each other! The bridesmaids were Elissa's sisters, so we had some family love as well! Thanks ladies (and gents) for volunteering! The ladies were beautified by the wonderful, talented, professional team at Face Body Beauty. We love working with this team because they help to create flawless beauty, and never "over do" it. They take each client and create the perfect look for them. Thanks ladies! The bride's dress and the suits were from The Bridal Gallery in Salem. Again, we LOVE sending our clients there because they take such great care of them, and carry quality items. Thanks Angie for lending us these items! Always love working with you!
It wouldn't be a party, even a "mock party," without music! A huge thank you to Kevin of NW Mobile DJ Service for providing all of the equipment, making announcements, and keeping the party going! Right before the photoshoot we had an open house at the venue, to allow their clients to get some ideas, meet the vendors, and network with other brides. Kevin did a great job, as always, of selecting the right music to set the tone and keep the energy level up - thanks Kevin!
All of this wouldn't have been possible without the wonderful ladies of Click Chicks, which has now been renamed to Photographers of Portland. We really appreciate the opportunity to do these workshops with you - it's always fun to get creative! The following list includes the photographers that provided pictures from the workshop to us, thank you SO so much for sending us some images to document this event! Without your talents, we wouldn't be able to share the talents and items of all the other wonderful, amazing vendors that participated in this workshop. Also, a huge thank you to the ladies on the Stargazer Weddings team for pulling out all the stops to make this workshop a success!
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