Intimate Government Cove Ceremony and Tendue Reception
I’ve always considered it one of the biggest compliments when fellow wedding industry members seek out to hire us! Taylor & Tricia are both wedding photographers from Redding, CA, and because the Portland area is near and dear to their hearts & love story, they decided they wanted to come here to exchange vows alongside 20 of their closest friends and family.
Originally, Tricia reached out to me because of my experience planning weddings & elopements on Government Cove. She & Taylor loved coming to hike around this spot early on in their relationship and they knew they wanted it to be the backdrop for their exchanging of vows. If you aren’t familiar with this gorgeous spot in the Columbia River Gorge, it’s just an exit after Cascade Locks. This is a popular spot for fishing, dynamic river & mountain views, and generally private because of its many nooks that people veer towards. In addition to its gorge-ous views, (haha - see what I did there?!) Government Cove tends to be very windy! Learning this during my first wedding at this site taught me to prepare in advance with logistics and design instead of constantly fighting with the wind on the wedding day.
Some of the details we made sure it incorporate that accompanied the location & its windy-ness are:
Tricia made sure to request a hair style that would play in the wind. Rebecca, the hair & makeup artist, left Tricia’s hair down in soft, yet controlled curls so that it could dance in the wind. If she had opted for an updo or anything more structured, it would’ve easily come undone within minutes.
Knowing the ceremony site, Tricia chose a Leanne Marshall gown, “Montana”, with a flowy, lightweight skirt that wowed us all as it was picked up in the wind & gave us so much movement on camera. It was seriously stunning.
It was a bit of a jaunt to get up to the ceremony site, so we had Taylor & Tricia’s friends and family gather around them in a standing circle. Because their wedding was so intimate, everyone had a chance to see each other all throughout the ceremony & didn’t miss a single moment. We also had the guests opt for outfits from a color palette requested in the invitation in effort to unify the small gathering even more.
Often times, more brides desire a ceremony backdrop in the form of an arch or arbor of some type. Because of how windy it is at the top of Government Cove, I requested a ground installation with sturdy foliage & blooms that could withstand the high velocity. We accented the ceremony site with silk ribbon flags that waved all throughout the time spent on site.
Finally, another detail we implemented that complemented the ceremony site was opting for a live musician to play pre-ceremony music & the processional song. Instead of fighting with the attempt of trying to get amplified music to be heard over the wind, Amy played a beautiful violin set that each guest enjoyed in the intimate setting.
After our time spent on Government Cove, all the guests loaded up onto the party bus & made their way back into Portland to continue the festivities with a catered reception at Tendue. Heartfelt toasts were shared, sweet first dances were witnessed, and everyone had their chance to congratulate the new married couple.
When it was time to cut the cake, Taylor & Tricia requested that I participate & make it a “family affair”, haha. Our bond over the previous year of planning & getting to know each other strengthened to a point where they insisted that it felt like family & it wouldn’t have been the same process without my help. While I hated being in the center of attention - the symbolism was beyond sweet, so I obliged. Don’t worry - they got a photo without me in it! Haha.
Photographer | Dawn Charles
Videographer | Derek Copenhaver
Venue | Tendue
Florists | Sea of Roses & Foraged Blooms
Gown | Leanne Marshall from The English Dept.
MUAH | Rebecca Bogdan
Paper Goods | Seek Paper Co.
Violinist | Amy Evans
Cake | Dream Cakes
Catering | Gabagool
Rentals | Vintage Meets Modern
Design, Planning, & Styling | Kamea Events
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