“HaLee and Dave were married this September at Camp Taloali in Stayton, Oregon just outside of Salem. This venue was the perfect location, tucked away in the lush Oregon trees, to showcase all of their organic style and beautiful DIY details. The most stunning aspect of this wedding is that the couple grew every single one of the flowers at the wedding at their home and the bride made all the arrangements and her own bouquet herself! She even designed a chandelier that was hung from a tree at the reception, made entirely of flowers from her home garden. The rest of the details were all completely handmade by the couple or their family and so perfectly reflected their interests and personality. The ceremony took place under a beautiful canopy of trees just near the river, while the reception was held right outside the camp’s mess hall. It was a great mix of organic beauty and funky Oregon charm. The guests dined on food prepared by the couple’s family and ate pies that the bride baked herself. The couple chose to have no attendants but the love and support for these two was pouring out of every guests from the ceremony to the final dance. This beautiful wedding was one of my favorites from this past summer. Every detail was unique and the love these two share for each other shines through in each photo.” –

What is your favorite wedding day memory?

From the Bride: The speeches were a really special moment for me. My Dad gave the speech of the century and there was not a dry eye around. I also had a Fleetwood Mac song hidden in my playlist for my Mom and I to dance to, and we had so much fun when it came on!

From the Groom: Doing the first look was a very memorable part of the day for me. Lots of emotions and happiness, and we hadn’t even started the ceremony yet!

What did you DIY for your wedding?

Everything! For starters, I was miraculously able to pull off making 27 pies. I had Oregon blackberries picked from our back yard over the summer, strawberry rhubarb grown by some dear friends, peach pie that was from an orchard down the road from us and sour cherry that had been picked by my friend’s mother. My good friend helped me with the crust, my parents helped me construct many of the whole pies, David’s Dad’s girlfriend baked them all day long the day before and several friends lent us the beautiful pieces we displayed them with. The pies truly ended up becoming a symbol of what wonderful people that we are so lucky to have in our lives. It took a whole village but we pulled it off and they turned out to be some of the best pies we’d ever had.

Our good friends John and Jeremi, {John married us} built us the arch that we got married under and we put together the platforms that we stood on during the ceremony. We DIY’d our guestbook as well, making the double-sided and gold edged pages from scratch and using an Instax camera and stickers. The guests had so much fun with it and it’s seriously the best to flip back through it and get to see our guests pictures and sweet notes.

The biggest thing, of course, that we DIY’d was our flowers. We not only made our own centerpieces, boutonnieres and my bridal bouquet, but we also grew them. We are aspiring floral farmers, and I decided last year that I would try my hand at growing our own wedding day flowers over the summer. It turned out so much better than I could have hoped for, and we were able to bring down buckets and buckets of stunning blooms for our big day. Our venue location had a walk-in refrigerator and we were able to store them there to keep them fresh. The next morning I was able to spend a couple of hours with my cousin and a couple of wonderful friends making centerpieces, boutonnieres, as well as my bouquet and hair flowers. We had our farmer friends bring some of their own flowers as well in case we didn’t have enough, and we ended up having much more than we needed! By the end of the wedding we were able to send many guests home with pie and bouquets. It made me so happy to be able to do that!

Did you have a something old, new, borrowed and blue?

I didn’t! Although, combined David and I did. Our Something New we’re the new rose cuff links I bought and gave them to him at our first look. For our Something Old, his pocket square was my Great Grandmother’s handkerchief. Our Something Borrower was my Mother’s pearls. Lastly, our Something Blue was David’s beautiful blue floral tie my Mother and I found for him two days before the wedding. After months of searching, it turned out to be the best one of all!

Any advice for brides currently in the planning process?

Don’t hesitate to ask for help! I had several breakdowns over the pie-making process, not sure why I thought 27 pies would be easy, but I was determined. Without help from all of the people that were involved in those pies, I would not have been able to pull it off.

Most importantly, make your wedding about your LOVE! Love yourself, love your partner, love your community of supporters that are there on that day. All of the other details like playlists, catering and sound-system equipment {we had an issue on our big day} will not ultimately be what you remember. The whole reason you are getting married is because you love your partner and want to celebrate it, so pour your heart into that and do your best with the rest. Somebody told me “something WILL go wrong, so just plan for that emotionally and prepare yourself to just let it go.” Such good advice! -HaLee, the Bride

Event Credits

Photographer: Andrea Zajonc Photography // Venue: Camp Taloali // Florist: Bride + Groom // Catering: Sassy Onion // Invitations: Vistaprint // Engagement Ring: Point No Point Studio // Bride's Attire: BHLDN // Bride's Shoes: BCBGeneration // Groom's Attire: Nordstrom Rack // Groom's Shoes: Cole Haan