Nikola and Zachary’s ‘Pretty in Pastels’ Elegant Garden Party Wedding in Oregon by Taylor Denton Photography

Hello you lovely lot and welcome to another glorious Wednesday on the blog, we have all made it to he half way point of the week, so it’s all down hill from here! I have this ‘Pretty in Pastels’ wedding to share with you today. It comes from Oregon and features a classically beautiful wedding with a garden party theme. The venue in this wedding is so cute, the intimate use of space, coupled with the stunning blooms all make it picture perfect, coupled with Taylor Denton Photography’s stunning images, t really is a dream come true of a day.

Our wedding day was magical, everything we wanted and more. Our guests and vendors alike made the day fun and a breeze, which allowed us to relax and enjoy! 

Nikola and Zachary were married on 25th May 2025 at Blockhouse & Pomarius Orangery in Oregon.  ‘We knew we wanted to get married somewhere in Oregon or Washington. I am originally from Seattle, Washington. I brought Zach to the Pacific Northwest, where he fell in love with the mountains. After we got engaged, Blockhouse and the Pomarius Orangery were the first places my mom recommended looking into, as she regularly enjoyed visiting and knew they did events. This was the first and only venue we toured! We adored the orangery specifically, as it’s a lush indoor/outdoor space, perfect for a Spring wedding. When Zach and I first began wedding planning, we picked a few words to describe the vibe we wanted: romantic, whimsical, airy, and cozy. Blockhouse and the Pomarius Orangery gave us these feelings upon touring and certainly made all these dreams come true on our wedding day.  We had 72 guests and we spent around 8-9 months planning it.’

How they met
Zach and I met in 2015 while working at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. We fell into the same friend group but were not close. After finishing the Disney College Programs we were in, we each moved back to our home states to graduate with our Bachelor’s degrees. We stayed in touch and then in 2017, we both ended up moving back to Orlando. I picked Zach up from the airport the day he moved back and the rest is history!

The proposal
I know just how well Zach knows me because he planned the perfect proposal. Zach planned a trip for us with a surprise destination. When we got to the airport, I found out we were headed to Palm Springs, California. I had a hunch that this vacation would be a proposal trip but when I saw Palm Springs, I was surprised we were headed somewhere neither of us had been before. I pocketed the proposal consideration and leaned into the fun in the sun! When we arrived we stayed at Las Cactus, a small 1950s adults only motel. It was absolutely adorable. We stayed there for two nights and then Zach told me we were switching hotels. He showed me the next spot on his phone and I was excited that it looked like another cute spot and happened to be right next to the Trixie Motel (Trixie Mattel, famous drag queen). He said we’d stop at Trixie Motel to check out the gift shop and bar, which got me buzzing, as Trixie is my favorite drag queen and I loved watching her renovation show of the Trixie Motel! While in the lobby gift shop, while I was touching every single Trixie Cosmetics product I could reach, Zach loudly checked us into the Queen of Hearts room. I couldn’t believe it! This was definitely something I’d have considered outside of our budget at the time – a very special one night stay at the Trixie Motel!? Pinch me. I soon got butterflies, as the idea of a proposal crept back into my head and heart… We spent the day exploring the motel and sunbathing by and enjoying the gorgeous pool. We had dinner reservations at Copley’s on Palm Cannon. While I was getting ready for dinner, putting on my many rings I typically have on daily, Zach asked me to marry him at the Queen of Hearts room vanity. No need for blush that night, my cheeks had never been rosier! After some selfies, photos of the ring, and lots of kisses, we left for dinner. When we arrived, the hostess knew our names and congratulated us on our engagement! We were both taken aback, as neither of us had called ahead. As it turned out, Zach’s best friend, and later Best Man, had called the restaurant to let them know and have a bottle of bubbles waiting for us. How lucky are we?? (Let me know if you want photos)

How did you allocate your budget?
I had recently been promoted at work, which proved to really boost our budget for the wedding and honeymoon. To really get a feel for wedding budget decisions and later track our budget, we used Zola. We picked Zola solely because it’s our names squished together, but it proved to genuinely be supportive! After exploring vendor options, we decided on some priorities. Once we knew what we were willing to splurge on and save on, it got a lot easier to say ‘heck yes’ or ‘heck no’ along the way. We also aren’t shy about sharing that we had a lot of financial support from our families, which was extremely generous. They supported in the cost of our venue and rentals, which were two of our priciest budgets. We prioritized florals, my dress, Zach’s suit, and our rings. These were someone caution to the wind areas of the budget… As it turned out, we ended up being able to use our florals in multiple ways and spaces throughout the day and evening, making it an area of the budget that didn’t actually end up feeling like a big spend. Were florals expensive? Sure but they were gorgeous and exactly what we wanted. Worth every penny.

Where did you splurge and where did you save?
We splurged on our rings, my wedding dress, Zach’s suit, and our wedding party gifts. Zach had my engagement ring custom made in Seattle at Anueva Jewelry. He picked out the salt & pepper pear diamond, platinum metal, and unique setting based on insight I’d provided in the past. My wedding band was also from the same jeweler. We picked Zach’s wedding band because he wanted something relatively simple but unique. We shopped around and eventually sat down at Brilliant Earth where he picked out his platinum band. My wedding dress needed to make me look and feel beautiful and confident. I knew I would likely end up falling for a dress outside of our budget… and that’s exactly what happened. Oops! No regrets. After spending what we did on my wedding dress, I knew I wanted Zach to feel just as confident and well taken care of in his suit and suit shopping experience. We went custom for Zach through Hall Madden in Portland. When it came to wedding party gifts, we knew we wanted to make our friends and family feel just as loved on as they’d made us feel. My mom and I went to glassybaby and hand picked one for each person. What’s special about glassybaby is that each piece is hand-blown in the states and comes with a unique name. So we chose the glassybaby for each person based on the colors, design, and name.

We saved in a few areas… stationary/printing, my shoes, Zach’s tie, and our venue and table scape decor. My shoes I purchased secondhand, Zach’s tie was from Etsy, and I scouted out our venue and table scape decor overtime at as we planned. I bought a stationary design template off Etsy and edited the documents myself. I then ordered through Parabo Press, an online printing company that I’d used in the past for thick, matte photo prints for personal decor.

How did you choose your photographer?
When I began wedding planning and vendor searching, I was looking at Instagram and websites to get an idea of style and vibe. What we loved about Taylor was her style, of course, but also her commitment to inclusivity. We have family and guests under the LGBTQIA umbrella, so we wanted to ensure that all of our vendors were aligned on the values we hold dear. Taylor was also an easy “he’ll yes,” after our consultation call because of how at ease we felt. It was a no pressure situation that truly focused on us as a couple. We truly LOVED having Taylor as our engagement and wedding photographer.

The dress
My dress was a modern, ivory Martina Liana gown, ordered through True Society by The White Dress in Portland. While at True Society, the bridal stylist supporting me really understood what I was after. We quickly bonded after realizing we had the same birthday – making us each a Sagittarius. As soon as we realized, we giggled over knowing I needed a dress that didn’t look like every other dress I’d seen lately. I didn’t want white, body-tight, lace, or beading. I wanted ivory, buttons down my back, and something that felt timeless. My dress was the last one I tried on in my True Society session because it was presented hesitantly, due to it being outside of our budget. As you can imagine, upon putting on the dress and looking in the mirror, my mom and I were all in.

The suit and bridesmaids
Zach: Zach’s suit was custom made through Hall Madden in Portland. He wanted something he’d be able to wear again and he wanted to wear green. So, we had his 2 piece suit and shirt custom made. The designer also had Zach’s initials and our wedding date stitched on the inside of his jacket, which was a such a special touch.
Bridesmaids & Bridesman: As someone who has been a bridesmaid and who’s friends had been bridesmaids, I knew I wanted everyone to have the opportunity to feel just as gorgeous as I would that day and not need to spend an arm and leg to make that happen, unless they wanted to! So I presented each of them a colour with tone/shade preference and told them the styling needed to fit the semi-formal garden party theme. The original idea was also to have a similar fabric, satin slip-like. This however, wasn’t required and just a suggestion from some visions I’d had… Each of them were so thoughtful with their choices and everyone looked amazing on the big day! Knowing I had a bridesman in my bridal party, I wanted to make sure he felt uniquely styled to our bridal side of the wedding party, so instead of having him match the groomsmen, I asked that he wear a linen tan two piece suit.

Theme or colour scheme
Garden party! I genuinely had no idea how trendy this would quickly become but it was what we were into for Spring. We decided we wanted our wedding to be colorful but not distractingly bright or overwhelming – can you tell an extrovert married an introvert?? We went with a variety of muted pastels to seamlessly add some color to our lush, green-filled venue.

Flowers
Our florals were full of whimsy and colour! I had a variety of flowers used in our bouquets, boutonnieres, and venue florals.

Decoration
What was wonderful about our venue was that because it is a nursery, we needed very little decor to top it off. The space was filled with a variety of plants outside of, lining, and hanging in the orangery.
Dinner table scape: pink satin napkins, drinking glasses, dinner plates, and cutlery, strands of pearls, ivory tapered candle sticks, and glass mix-and-match bud-vase florals. At our sweetheart table, we had a similar table scape that we added the ceremony florals to at the head of the orangery. In the Orangery’s patio space there were a couple of outdoor seating spaces. To bring them to life, my mom sewed several square, floral pillows. These spaces also had a few of our glass mix-and-match bud-vase florals. In the Orangery’s patio space we also had a table of dedication for our loved ones who have passed and could not be with us on our wedding day. The table had silver frames with our favourite photos of our family members, a few votives, and some of the bridesmaid’s bouquets as the florals. This space meant a lot to our families and even made it into one of the night’s speeches.

Food 
Due to the unique kitchen space, Blockhouse provided us with a list of caterers to choose from. We selected Vibrant Table based on their seasonal food and drink selection, great reviews, and they met our budget.

Wedding cake
Made by Alchemy Desserts in Portland. The retro three tier heart shaped wedding cake was a lemon sponge cake with lemon jelly filling and vanilla butter cream frosting. The retro cutting cake was a lavender sponge with marshmallow filling and buttercream frosting that read, “Just Married,” to add a little fun.

Entertainment
Our DJ was local legend, Jess the Ripper. Jesse was recommended to me by a coworker for a work event. I enjoyed my experience with Jesse so much that I showed his work to Zach and requested a meeting. What I loved about Jess was that he was committed to the same kind of ceremony to cocktail hour to reception, and dance party ambiance and vibes that we were after. I kept saying, “I want everyone to feel like they’re in a romcom!” We booked Jess and got to work on some playlists for further inspo. Jess did all of our music for the day from the ceremony to cocktail hour to dinner and dancing.

Who supplied the stationery?
I bought a stationary design template off Etsy and edited the documents myself. I then ordered Save the Dates, Detail cards, Invitations, and our Thank You cards through Parabo Press, an online printing company that I’d used in the past for thick, matte photo prints for personal decor. I also ordered a personalized address stamp that matches the stationary design, so we used that throughout all of our mailing needs.

Where did you go on your honeymoon?
Two days after our wedding we ventured off to Japan where we explored Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Highlights of the trip: Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, Nishiki Market in Kyoto, Osaka food tour, and the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan. Our favorite romantic hotel stay was Hotel Kanra Kyoto. There was a bouquet of flowers waiting for us in our room upon arrival.

Personal touches
I’m a big croc girlie, so when asking my friends to join my bridal party they were gifted matching crocs that I decorated with wedding inspired charms and pearls. I had my own bridal crocs that I then wore to dress shopping, our food and drink tasting, to the bridal suite, and changed into them to leave our wedding to head back to the hotel.

Special moments
While in the bridal suite at Portland’s Woodlark Hotel, Zach’s mom gifted me a handkerchief that she had embroidered in blue, with a special message for me. We sat and she read it to me. Tears. It was such a sweet moment for the two of us to share. My half-sisters, Catie and Amelia, 10 year-old twins, were each gifted mini Polaroid cameras and a variety of film to help us capture the day. We ended up with bridal sweet hair and makeup photos, lots of guest book couples shots, silly moments, and some fun photos of the flowers and decor. These all now live in a white leather photo album. My sibling, Bridget, was my something blue and wore a floral blue satin dress. Their hair was Y2K inspired, as 90s babies this was a duh, and they looked gorgeous and I loved having them as a unique something blue. My brother, Brooks, walked me down the aisle. My siblings and I grew up in some non-traditional family dynamics, which really bonded us over the years. I was honored to ask that he walk me down the aisle and have this important role in our wedding ceremony. I wasn’t to be given away, I was being walked into a new chapter of life with love and support.

Advice for other couples
I’d like to recommend some advice that we got and followed with ease – While it can feel natural and fun, once you start talking plans with friends and family, there’s no going back. So take some time to enjoy and embrace your engagement during the days, weeks, and months after before you dive into planning. Similarly, when you do bring friends and family into the conversation, remember that this is your wedding. That means you get to be in the driver’s seat. Take the advice, suggestions, etc., with a grain of salt and trust your guts. This experience is so special and unique to each of us as individuals. Don’t let others impose on your story. I would also say that if you can afford a travel-filled destination honeymoon, GO! We were thrilled with our decision to travel to Japan instead of a beach resort style honeymoon. Would that have been great too? Of course. But getting to explore the city streets of a country neither of us had been to was so fun and rewarding.
Finally, have your planner/coordinator have your signature cocktails or a drink waiting for you right after the ceremony to have a quick cheers before rejoining the celebration. This and some of our cocktail hour food was waiting for us, which was a dream in the moment!

Biggest surprise 
Taylor, our wedding photographer, had a surprise gift for Zach and I before heading out for the evening. She pulled Zach and I aside and handed us a stack of mini Polaroid photos. Taylor had printed some of our photos from the day on mini Polaroid film for us! Instant tears. How incredibly special was it to have some of our wedding photos in our hands on our wedding day?? I’ve since framed each together in a floating glass frame. I think another surprise, a very pleasant surprise, was how seamless everything felt on our end as the couple. There were certainly some hiccups throughout the day but nothing was brought to us at a high enough level or sense of urgency that it felt like we had to take any action… our planner, coordinator, and vendors all got things taken care of, which allowed us to enjoy the day with ease. Nothing felt rushed or drawn out. The day simply overflowed with joy

Taylor Denton Photography

www.taylordentonphotography.com /  www.taylordentonphotography.com/blog / [email protected] / (262) 215-0344 / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / PINTEREST 

I am a Portland-based wedding and elopement photographer who specializes in capturing emotional, story-driven imagery with a relaxed, true-to-you approach. My work blends natural light with an editorial eye, focusing on candid connection, intentional moments, and the honest beauty of each couple’s relationship.