If you're on the hunt for a Portland wedding, something a little cool, a lot quirky, and utterly left of centre, this offbeat trailer park bash will be your kind of wedding.
Carrie and Trevor's fun-filled wedding was a weekend affair in The Sou’wester Vintage Trailer Resort, in Long Beach, Washington, two hours north of Portland.
Their intimate wedding day was filled with personal touches, all captured by the talented, Terra Rothman Photography.
From the retro trailer park backdrop to the vintage dress, along with mis-matched tableware, salvaged decor, and family-style food, this unique wedding is laced with charm and whimsy.
Whether you're looking for the weird or the wonderful for your own wedding, this gorgeous couple created plenty of both, and then some, for their special day…
Our Wedding in Three Words
Personal, Relaxed, Romantic
The Flowers
“We had White Anemones, Purple Millet, Eucalyptus leaves for the bouquets and buttonholes. Our dinner tables were decorated with driftwood from the local beaches, sprigs of Salal from the Sou’wester grounds, and white stones that my parents collected from the beaches where I grew up in San Diego.
The Photography
“We knew Terra through a friend and loved her other wedding photographs.”
Our Theme
“We didn’t have a color palette or overarching style, but the Sou’wester certainly lent a lovely old feel to the wedding that ended up matching well with our other simple, sightly beachy choices.
We are both designers and enjoyed the process of figuring out what felt natural and looked sweet.
We spent a week on-site before the wedding collected objects (oyster shells, driftwood) from the Long Beach Island and combined them with simple lighting to create spaces for playing, dancing, ceremony, dinner, etc.”
Our Ceremony
Friends Kate Chadwick (voice) and Doug Shepard (guitar) covered First Aid Kit’s song ‘Emmylou’ during our ceremony, this was one of my favorite moments of our wedding.
It’s a song Trevor and I both love and their version was so lovely.
The family and groom processional was, Wreckless Eric’s ‘Whole Wide World’ and for the bride's processional: Barbara Mason’s ‘Yes I’m Ready’ .
The Decor
“We did the decorations ourselves, with a huge amount of help of friends and family.
We used strings of lights to create little spaces in and around the Sou’wester.Our friends lent us some hand-made bunting that was strung up among the chairs for the ceremony. I painted signs to help people navigate the resort.
The Sou’wester already had a lot of special spaces and we just tried to enhance them with special lighting, seating, etc.
My sister made jars of blackberry jam for everybody as favors. We had Moscow Mule cocktails, a family style meal, and lemon and blueberry tarts for dessert.”
Our Favourite Moments
“We did all the planning ourselves so it was really a very personal event without some of the run-of-the-mill wedding stuff we wanted to avoid. We just wanted our friends to have a relaxed, fun time and that is exactly what happened.
Two things stand out as favorite moments/memories: Of the handful of single people who were at the wedding two couples found each other, for the weekend at least, which made us really happy. We hope that our weekend of love rubbed off on everybody.
All the guests were able to stay within a few blocks of the venue, so there was a summer-camp vibe within the whole crowd.
The other favorite time was the karaoke night we did on Friday, after our rehearsal dinner. There was a huge old dive-bar across the street from the Sou’wester called the Lamplighter Inn where everyone gathered to sing their hearts out… uncles singing alongside college buddies, everybody got down!”
How cool is this wedding? It looks like the most relaxed and romantic weekend, the kind of chilled-out wedding you'd just love to be a guest at. I love the idea that this wedding sparked some new romances too, how sweet?
And what an atmospheric place to tie the knot, I adore the clashing crockery, the hand-made touches and how about those Star Wars cake toppers? I'm a little bit obsessed with anemones at the minute too. Love, love, love!
Thanks so much to Carrie and Trevor for sharing their very special soiree with us, here's to many more years of offbeat living.
For more quirky real wedding inspiration see DIY Weddings + Unique Weddings
