How much do we love this magical chuppah in the middle of the forest? SO MUCH. The epic setting of Carly and Daniel’s summer camp-themed Jewish wedding is nothing short of magical.
Portland-based Carly, a couples and family therapist, and Daniel, an analytics engineer (#foreverrubinyoung),wanted to spend a weekend showing off the splendor of the Pacific Northwest to their family and friends from out of town, and did they ever pick a perfect setting for it!
Photographer Chelsea Terry captured both the incredible scenery and the fun and emotion of this cool, laid-back day SO well.
We’re also kind of obsessed with Carly and Daniel’s adorable favors: camping-style mugs with the couple’s caricatures on them, and tiny bottles of hot sauce to honor their shared Arizona background — with custom labels reading “C & D’s heart melting hot sauce.” Awwwww!
Carly looked simply smashing in her gown by local Portland designer Elizabeth Dye, and we love that she rocked Bryr Clogs as her wedding shoes — it doesn’t get much more PNW than that! She’ll fill you in on the rest of the story…
How we met
Carly, the bride: We both grew up in Arizona but moved to Portland in 2006. We met in Portland in 2011 through mutual Arizona friends and struck up a friendship of our own, a lot of which was centered around the rock climbing gym.
After a couple of dates (that Carly didn’t realize were dates) it just clicked that there was something deeper than a friendship. The rest is history! We celebrated 7 years together in December!
Focus on the Pacific Northwest
We got married at Camp Angelos in Corbett, OR. It was really important to us to get to show off the beauty of the Pacific Northwest while having all our friends and family stuck with us for the weekend. Saturday we had about 100 people at the camp playing games all day and swimming in the Sandy River!
Summer Camp Vibes
We really embraced the summer camp vibe and tried to keep it fun and silly just like us! One of our best friends, who throws the greatest parties, stepped in as our wedding planner and rocked our worlds. We are so lucky! Also, having Daniel’s art instillation there was really special for us!
Wedding Weekend Invitations
This felt like one of those details that wasn’t worth the stress. They were cute though!
Hair + Makeup
Nikki White did my hair and makeup, along with my mom and mother in law. I was really stressed about finding someone to do that stuff. I went with Nikki because she did my friend’s hair and makeup for her wedding so I knew she would do an awesome job. She did not disappoint!
An Elizabeth Dye Dress
Elizabeth Dye is a Portland wedding dress designer who I have been following for a long time. I fell in love with this dress but wanted to keep looking. I went back to her shop for a sample sale (I am a Jew after all) and there it was!
Lowkey Accessories
I had some cool local flowers pinned in my hair but otherwise I kept it simple. I have cool hair so I wanted to let it be free!
Bridal Clogs
My shoes were Bryr Clogs. I danced in them all night long and still wear them all the time. Bonus that Bryr is a badass women-owned company in San Francisco.
The handsome groom
Daniel and I are both costume people so we had a blast picking out a fun jacket and bow tie for him! We did a first look, which I am SO grateful for. I cried the moment I saw him and it gave us both a chance to let the gravity of the day set in before everything started rolling.
Best Men
We decided we had too many special friendships to have wedding parties, but each of us have one brother who served as our best men.
Ceremony in the Woods
The setting of our ceremony was a beautiful clearing in the forest. It really spoke for itself. We both feel that sharing the vows we wrote for each other was our favorite part. There is nothing in the world like standing up in front of all your loved ones and pouring your heart out!
My godmother, who has known me my whole life, was our officiant. The ceremony was so personal and intimate. I had officiated her daughters Jew-ish wedding the month prior and it all felt so special!
A Stunning Ketubah
Our ketubah was designed by our dearest friends at Thirty Circles. They made us the most memorable and stunning piece of art we could have ever dreamed of!
Feel-good Music
We did a lot of listening to music together and dancing around our living room. Nothing had particular significance, we just went with what felt good.
Magical Forest Flowers
Diana Suarez from The Flower Club PDX did our flowers! She did such a beautiful job with the chuppah and really made it fit with the forest magic.
Photographer
We found Chelsea Terry on Instagram and really loved her vibe! She lives in Seattle while we’re in Portland so we skyped a couple of times before the wedding. She was with us all weekend and was so wonderful to work with!
The case of the disappearing cheesecake
We didn’t actually have a wedding cake! We had lots of little desserts, and were supposed to have a normal sized cheesecake but it apparently went missing, oops! We didn’t even realize we didn’t have a cake until the next day!
Installation art by the groom
We had a really special art instillation that was created by Daniel and Thirty Circles for a music festival last year. Our DJ, DJ Freaky Outty, set up in front of it. He rocked it all night!
Mugs and Hot Sauce
We got these amazing camping-style mugs made with our caricatures on them! We still have our friends sending us photos of them using the mugs constantly.
We also had tiny hot sauces, because we are both from Arizona and very into hot sauce. We made little custom labels for them that said “C & D’s heart melting hot sauce”.
Our hashtag
At the dinner, a bunch of my girlfriends surprised us with a silly song they wrote to the tune of ‘Forever Young’, since our hashtag was #foreverrubinyoung (My last name is Rubin and his is Young. Neither of us changed our names).
Oregon Coast Minimoon
We just took a couple days with our pup at the Oregon Coast. We will take a more official honeymoon next summer.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Don’t get caught up in the details. Be present and go with the flow. You don’t want to walk away dwelling on the things that didn’t go the way you planned, you want to remember the magic that DID happen!
Carly & Daniel’s little white book
Photography – Chelsea Terry
Venue – Camp Angelos
Bride’s dress – Elizabeth Dye
Bride’s shoes – Bryr Clogs
Hair + Makeup – Nikki White
Flowers – The Flower Club PDX
Ketubah and art installation – Thirty Circles
DJ – DJ Freaky Outty
Stationery – Taylor Eisenman
