Nicole and Karl’s Weekend Long Woodland Wedding From Ashley Hamilton Photography

Happy Monday everyone and how are you all today? I hope you all had a fab weekend. Mine was lovely, a good mix of time spent with my wonderful little family, aswell as with good friends, eating good food and having a lovely time. I have another jam packed week on the blog this week, starting off with this wonderful woodland wedding which has been sent into me by Ashley Hamilton Photography. It comes all the way from Oregon and is set in the most beautiful location. A weekend long wedding within a Tipi retreat, a wonderful back drop for the ceremony as well as the reception. With homemade outdoor games, great food, simple yet beautiful decoration and the cutest couple, this wedding is chilled relaxed and full of outdoor goodness. I just know you are going to love it!

‘It was the most memorable and special weekend of my life. Worth the wait.’

Karl and Nicole were married on August 3rd at Tipi Village Retreat, Marcola Oregon. ‘I was looking for a venue that didn’t feel like your typical “wedding factory”, rushing multiple weddings in and out per weekend. The fact that we could rent the entire retreat and have thirty of our closest friends and family stay for the weekend was a huge plus. Add on top of that the gorgeous surroundings and it was a done deal. We had 75 guests and it took a year and a half to plan the wedding’

How they met
I worked with Karl’s roommate. He introduced us on New Years Eve 2003. We brought in the New Year with a few friends and then I slept over on his couch (alone!!). The next day we went up to the mountain together and he taught me how to snowboard. We got married in our 10th year together.

The Proposal
He proposed to me on November 27th, my 28th birthday. We had been hoping to make a snowboarding trip that day but as usual in the Seattle area, it was all dependant on weather. When the day came I looked up the snow report and saw rain. I told him I wasn’t interested in snowboarding in the rain on my birthday. He seemed crushed. I came up with the idea to go race some indoor go-carts instead. After some racing, we had a nice lunch. He was holding it together pretty good. As soon as we got home he was insistent that we take a walk with our dog on some forest trails behind our house. Seemed strange and I wasn’t really in the mood but I went along with it. About ¾ through our walk he mentioned from behind that he had one more birthday present for me. When I turned around he was on one knee. I was completely shocked which was exactly how I wanted it after so many years

How did you allocate your budget
We ended up in the $10-15k range after all was said and done. The venue was the biggest expense since it included lodging and breakfast for about thirty people for the entire weekend. Because of this we were able to use it for our rehearsal dinner venue as well. They handled all of the food for the rehearsal as well as throughout the wedding day. The other notable expenses were table/chair/linen/dish rental as well as alcohol

Where did you splurge and where did you save
We definitely splurged on the venue. We also rented a live band. We were able to save a lot by having friends and family handle flowers, makeup and hair. All decorations were DIY

How did you choose your photographer
I am lucky enough that Ashley is my cousin so I had been watching her blog for a few years and falling in love with her style. After I got engaged I started searching for local photographers and found that I kept coming back to Ashley. So many of the wedding photos I was seeing seemed so staged and uncomfortable. The soft natural look was apparently harder to find than I thought! That is when I started to look into bringing Ashley from Florida to Oregon to photograph our special day. Thankfully the timing worked out perfectly and she was able to make the trip.

The Dress
I had my dress and veil custom made by www.victoriasbridalofseattle.com. There were MANY trips for fittings but in the end it was totally worth having a one of a kind dress that fit me like a glove. The bodice of the dress was made out of vintage cotton fabric. My shoes were purchased simply because orange wedges are surprisingly hard to find, the brand is Naturalizer. The necklace I wore was given to me by one of my Grandmas.

The Suit and Bridesmaids
No suits at this wedding!! Just some khaki shorts and a white button down shirt with suspenders. I put a tie on the groom to set him apart. Their comfort in the August heat was my main concern. They were all wearing BrewShoes. My bridesmaids got their dresses from Lands End. They were made of stretch cotton and both still wear the dress to this day!

Theme or Colour Scheme
No theme really besides complimenting the fantastic venue. The colours were orange, green and cream.

Flowers
Flowers were a dahlia wildflower mix from local farm stands.

Decoration
We had silk ribbon streamers from Of The Earth hanging from the tree we were married under. A few rows of chairs were surrounded by blankets on the grass for more ceremony seating. Custom chalk board signs were scattered about. We made giant yard jenga and cornhole boards with our monogram to keep guests busy. Centrepieces were a collection of mason jars in different sizes that were decorated in shabby chic mix matched fashion by all of my girlfriends.

Food
All of the food was to die for, starting with each morning breakfast. They serve fresh eggs from the chickens on site as well as fresh grown veggies. Ken who runs the venue with his partner cooks up pancakes with seasonal fruit sprinkled in on a giant outdoor cast iron skillet. Suzanne brings out a constant stream of other treats like cheese, avocado, honey, yogurt, potato hash, etc. Our rehearsal dinner was an authentic Spanish Paella with chicken and various seafood. For the wedding night they served up a wonderful mixed grill type meal. Meat included fresh salmon, steak and chicken with some fresh simple sides to go along. For alcohol we went with keg wine from Proletariat Wines and a keg of beer from Steelhead Brewing in Eugene

Wedding Cake
Wedding cake and cupcakes were made by another talented cousin of mine. The actual cake for cutting was carrot (favourite of my husband). The cupcakes were s’mores, chocolate peanut butter and toasted coconut. We also had a s’mores bar complete with your choice of graham crackers, toppings and home-made marshmallows.

Entertainment
We hired The Karaoke Kings which was a live karaoke band out of Portland Oregon. They also brought a singer along for when none of the guests wanted to take a shot. They had a wide variety on their play list and a lot of family and friends had a great time behind the microphone.

Buy or DIY your Stationery
I made my save the dates by hand and then decided to try Etsy for my invitations.

Personal or Handmade Touches
Pretty much everything about our wedding was DIY. The yard games we made were a huge hit.

Special Moments
The highlight of the day was relaxing with so many of our close friends and family around the fire after a long day.

Advice to other couples
Stay true to yourself and your fiancée during the planning process. So many people will have opinions or want a part of your day and it’s easy to lose sight of what is important. Invite who you want, do it when you want and where you want. In the end, all the small things don’t matter as much as you think they do. At the end of the day, you’ll be married and that’s what matters. Don’t get so wrapped up in things that you forget to enjoy the day and each other. Breath.

Biggest surprise
When my fiancée Karl got head butted in the behind by the neighbour’s goat while trying to get him off the property. We still joke about the goat wrestling.

Supplier Shout Outs

• Tables, chairs, linens, dishes, sound system for ceremony, dance floor – www.parties-to-go.com
• Venue – www.tipivillageretreat.com
• Karaoke Kings PDX Band – www.karaokekingspdx.com
• Dress – www.victoriasbridalofseattle.com
• Wine – www.proletariatwines.com
• Photography – www.ashleyhamiltonphotography.com

For more information on Ashley’s work please go to:

www.ashleyhamiltonphotography.com
www.ashleyhamiltonblog.com
[email protected]
07481 686262
FACEBOOK
T:@AshleyMaePhoto
I: @actuallythorne
PINTEREST 

I am based in Hampshire in the New Forest area. (I’m originally from Seattle Washington, but have been based in Florida for the past few years, and have recently moved to Southampton with my British husband.  My photographic style is a very subtle approach, using both digital and film, with inspiration pulled from traditional photography in conjunction with modern elements. It’s important to me that photos, particularly wedding photos, reflect the look and feel of the day they were taken on.