This Portland Wedding Had an Elevated Bohemian Vibe

Kerry and Caleb booked with Gather Events during the height of the pandemic. At the time, Kerry (who is a pharmacist) was working on the front lines and what they wanted the most was to have a gathering that not only celebrated their love but also surprised and delighted their guests after so many months of pandemic isolation. They opted for The Evergreen in Downtown Portland to act as a blank canvas for their joyful day. Kerry and Caleb have a very fun yet refined sense of style (which can be seen in their choice of wedding apparel), so when it came time to design, the planners and event designers took their romantic bohemian ideas and gave it a bit of an upgrade to reflect their refined taste!

Personal details were infused everywhere: Kerry lost both of her parents, so they served her mother’s favorite $400 champagne in an intimate gathering after the ceremony. Caleb loves carpentry so he made all the table signs in the wood that they’re named after, and their fur babies made an appearance on the bespoke cocktail napkins! Carlos Hernandez masterfully captured this magnificent wedding that we are so excited to share with you all!

All the Little Things

Letters and Dust created a fully stacked stationery suite with modern type font, arch details, and leather & silk elements. Kerry loves collecting stamps so she curated all the vintage stamps that were used on the invitations (something she now wants to do for friends’ future weddings). How cute!

This bride looks absolutely stunning in this off-the-shoulder gown by Sarah Seven! She was gracious enough to share with us how exactly she found the dress of her dreams:

“I decided to go to Minneapolis, MN to shop for my dress because I shopped during COVID and it was easier for me to travel (just one person) to meet family members there, as opposed to having 3-4 family members travel to Portland. I had fallen in love with my second cousin’s wedding dress, and asked her what the brand was – she told me but said, if you like my dress you can have it, but also check out the designer “Sarah Seven” – I almost bought one of her styles.

I did a little online research and absolutely fell head over heels for her designs. I narrowed my options to 3 and booked an appointment at The White Room in Minneapolis which carried her gowns. My family was a little nervous that I was so specific and had my mind set – I think they didn’t want me to be disappointed if I didn’t love any of them in person and didn’t have backups, so they encouraged me to make at least 1 other appointment. We did the other appointment first, I had a few dresses that were “ok” but was really excited to head to The White Room.

I’m the type of person that doesn’t mess around a bunch with trying on clothes – same goes here, the stylist insisted that I try a few other styles that were very different (big/pouffy, and slinky/beachy) but they were almost immediate no’s from me. As soon as I put the 3 gowns on that I had seen online, I was in love and it was a very hard decision between them! Sarah Seven does various “top halves” of dresses that have the same “bottom” of the dress – it was a little mix and match. I loved the bottom and the way it hugged and then flared. It’s hard to pick a dress when it’s not fitted to your body – shopping for wedding dresses is exhausting mentally to just envision spending so much money when you can’t see how the dress is going to fit you exactly and I only spent one day doing it!

Ultimately, I picked my dress because of the versatility of the straps – it can be worn with both shoulder straps, no shoulder straps, or asymmetrical with one – which is a look I loved. My cousin immediately said “that is SO you!” when she saw it. I never cried – I just felt so unbelievably confident and started walking all around the shop. I really thought throughout the wedding I might change up the straps for the ceremony/cocktail hour/reception to get 3 different looks in one dress, but when I put on the dress on the wedding day, the one shoulder felt the best and I felt the most confident, so I wore it liked that all night.

I absolutely loved my dress and that I was so insistent with my family. It was a tad over budget, but I have zero regrets and recommend this designer highly – the material is so high quality. I also highly recommend The White Room – the stylists are top notch and the alterations were amazing, it was worth commuting to Minneapolis for!”

We can’t get over this bride’s gorgeous pair of statement earrings by A.B. Ellie!

The groom looks dashing in this suit by Hall Madden!

Kerry shares with us her original inspiration for her and Caleb’s wedding:

“I love all things cozy and early fall, and nothing is more cozy to me than the warm orange color of terracotta – it really started right there with that color, it reminds me of the many sunsets we intentionally share together – we try to catch sunsets on the Oregon coast, when going out to dinner in August/September (our favorite time of year) and eating outside, or just heading to the bluff or a rooftop in Portland to watch the sunset. We had a great sunset on our first date.

When I first started showing Caleb some inspiration photos for weddings, we were both drawn to that color and the mild bohemian vibe that tended to go with it – the bohemian/romantic/chic vibe is also kind of how we are as a couple – down to earth, a little unconventional (who in Portland is normal! that’s boring), but also elegant and elevated – we love a fancy dinner now and then & love good wine and food.”

Wedding planner Katie with Gather Events shares design details that she curated after pinpointing the couple’s inspiration:
“When I first met with Kerry and Caleb, their design direction was very bohemian, but based on their attire and natural gravitation towards refined things, I suggested an elevated bohemian. I added blue into their color palette, bringing in an interesting twist that I hadn’t seen before. Kerry and Caleb wanted their guests to feel loved, cared for, and surprised at every turn.”

These bridesmaids stun in their mismatched BHLDN dresses!

The Venue

The bride and groom honored their late relatives who they held close to their hearts on their big day.

How cool is this guest sign-in! Everyone got to sign records next to their record player with custom signage!

How gorgeous is this?! Starflower translated the design concept beautifully into floral installations, centerpieces, and bouquets.

Because Kerry lost both of her parents, she has three uncles who stepped in, flew in for a site visit, and served as her true north through all of it.

Bride Kerry shared with us what she treasured most about her special day:

“There’s no single moment, but the feeling of love and the opportunity after so many months of being away from family, the opportunity to spend time with everyone in our lives who chose to celebrate our marriage with us is something I’ll never forget. I will also never forget hearing the music of the song I walked down the aisle to start to play, and the jitters I felt. I couldn’t look over the balcony without everyone seeing me, so I had to just trust my gut that everyone was waiting for me to come down the stairs with loving and excited eyes. I felt so incredible in my dress – it’s so important to love how you look [hair/makeup/dress] and rock that confidence.” 

The Moment of Truth

The couple worked closely with their officiant, who is a close family friend, to make the ceremony completely “them” – non-religious but spiritual. Which included a salt covenant (important to their ancestry), and the two wrote their own vows to one another!

“We both felt that our vows and our entire ceremony [written by Kerry + Teddy, the officiant – all the poems, interludes, etc] was very special and something we’ll never forget.”

“What I will treasure is the pure joy I felt the entire day – it seemed like everyone present, throughout the entire day, was showering us with so much love. It was the happiest day of my life.” – Caleb

“We picked processional and recessional songs that were important to us in our relationship (Vance Joy was our first concert, and during COVID Caleb picked me up from work almost every day with my favorite new Taylor Swift album queued up to play when I got in the car after very hard days of working with life/death COVID cases, for the recessional it has the phrase “all love everything” – something we regularly say to each other when meaning ‘don’t worry, nothing matters but love” we’ll just say “no worries, with you it’s just all love everything’)”.

Shout it from the rooftops…these two are husband and wife! How lucky are they to get to celebrate with Portland as their backdrop!?

Get the Party Started!

These two look ready for a night of fun and dancing ahead of them!

“The venue was intentionally chosen to be a type of blank slate with lots of light so that we could fill the space with things we liked & chose. For example, we both, but Caleb especially as a woodworker at heart, LOVED the chairs! Even the plates with the place settings were almost the exact same as the plates we have at home – when we picked them out it felt a little bit like we were having a lot of people over for an amazing dinner.”

Groom Caleb is a woodworker, so all of the tables were named a species of wood native to Oregon – Caleb also made the table signs of wood species himself, each sign standing on a slab of its own kind of wood!

“Food is also a way of showing love to one another and to our guests, and we really spent a lot of time making sure we picked absolutely delicious food and cake! We loved the family style serving, making sure our guests felt comfortable to try anything and everything – all the goodness Portland’s culinary scene and local farms have to offer. It was important to us that the caterer used locally sourced ingredients.”

Drinks, Sweets, and Nibbles!

We love a cameo! The cocktail napkins featured drawings of the couple’s fur babies, Harvey and Filbert!

Kerry and Caleb didn’t want guests to have to choose their dessert, so they had Sweetheart St. John’s prepare cake flights of all three flavors for each guest!

Cheers to the newlyweds!

This dancing queen switched up her look to something more comfortable! This embellished tuxedo dress is by Jay Godfrey. Looking for the perfect reception dress to suit your style? We’ve done the work for you!

The couple wanted to extend a huge thank you to everyone involved in making their big day so magical!

“I truly don’t think I could ever plan a wedding and organize it to the level that Katie did, Carlos was the most amazing photographer, our food, drinks, and cake were to die for, and the music got everyone on the dance floor all night. I’m sure I’m missing recognition, too. The day was about us, and we felt so much love from all of our friends and family that were there, but we also felt a lot of “love” from all of the amazing work that people put in for us that day. It is certainly not lost in our minds about how much went into pulling off such an amazing day. It takes a village, and we had an amazing one!”

The couple had Jacobsen Sea Salt packaged for each guest as a favor!

“It was an unforgettable day for Caleb & I… We keep wondering when we will have such a fun night ever again? It was so fun to have all of our loved ones in one place (after being apart for so long in COVID) and I know our life together and marriage will be great if we just keep having that much fun…. so far, we are!”

A huge congrats to the happy couple! All of us at GWS wish that the rest of your lives be full of love and laughter!