Intimate Wahclella Falls Wedding | Portland Wedding Videographer

Wahclella Falls Wedding

Travis and Bianca (from Texas) brought their closest friends from all over the world to the Pacific Northwest to have an intimate Wahclella Falls Wedding in the Columbia River Gorge. Top it off with a double rainbow.

From the Bride

How did you two meet?

Travis and I are a Tinder success story. I was just out of college and had just moved to Houston when I shallowly swiped left on him because he looked young in his picture. Fortunately, he popped back up, and I got a second chance! He was wildly handsome, a fellow Midwesterner, and we had so much in common, so I was smitten from the moment we chatted. We went on our first date on a Wednesday, our second that Friday, our third that Saturday, and I don’t remember a moment without him after that first date.

How did Travis propose?

I’m half Peruvian, so Travis came to visit Peru with me to meet my family and explore my favorite place, which was Machu Picchu (I say was because Wahclella Falls is now forever cemented as my favorite place on Earth). We were at Machu Picchu on one of the terraces with Huanyu Picchu in the background, and he asked someone to take a picture of us. When she was about to take the picture, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and I immediately said a very teary yes.

What did you envision your wedding being prior to planning?

I’d always envisioned having a small and intimate wedding, but I didn’t think that would be possible because we both have lot of family and friends, and we started with a guest list of three hundred that we cut down to fifty. I knew we wanted to get married outside and have a big party afterwards to celebrate with our favorite people.

What unique elements or DIY details did you include?

My best friend who’s seen our relationship grow from the beginning is the one who officiated our wedding. She knows us both so well as individuals and together, so the ceremony was special and catered exactly to our relationship and personalities.
The ceremony location was the most unconventional thing that we did. Wahclella Falls is my favorite waterfall on the Gorge, and we’d always loved that hike. We both love to be outdoors and couldn’t imagine a more beautiful backdrop, so we decided we’d hike in for our ceremony, and it was the perfect place. Shout out to Jess for helping to get me changed into my wedding dress in the middle of the trail!
Because our ceremony was so small and intimate, we wanted everyone to be included as a part of it. During the ceremony before exchanging rings, we passed our wedding rings around for each guest to hold and give their love so that we could start our marriage filled with the love and support of our most favorite people.
All of our tableware was collected by me and my mom over our two year engagement, so all of the place settings were unique.
My dad is a great beer brewer, so he and a friend of his brewed two kegs of beer for the wedding, which my mom named “I Do IPA” and “Proposal Pilsner”. They were huge hits and are still talked about by our guests over two years later.
Because hiking is one of our favorite things and because we had people travel from all over the world to attend our wedding, we wanted everyone to be able to experience the beauty that the Gorge has to offer. Instead of having a traditional rehearsal dinner to bring people together, we opted to hike Vista Ridge the day before our wedding, which was the perfect way for us to show our loved ones why we love the PNW so much.

What was your favorite moment?

My favorite moment of my wedding was our ceremony. Making a commitment to Travis in that moment gave me a feeling that I’ll never forget. Sharing our love surrounded by our fifty favorite people and in the middle of true, natural beauty only helped to enhance that experience. Travis and I wrote our vows, and he made me feel more loved in that moment than I’d ever felt before.

Tell us about your flowers, your gown, your favors, your cake, etc.

We wanted to source as locally as possible for as much as we could, so we got all of our flowers at the Vancouver Farmer’s Market. Our colors were green, pink, and white, and we had lilies, roses, and lots of greenery. All of our wine was from our favorite winery, Winderlea in Dundee, we had home brewed and local Portland beers, and Yazi vodka from Hood River Distillery for our specialty cocktails. Instead of doing a traditional wedding cake, we had several different smaller cakes and an assortment of cookies and brownies that were from another farmer’s market vendor. My dress was from BHLDN and was a beaded, corset top with a separate skirt, and I wore bronze, leather tennis shoes. I wore a chapel length veil and had my hair and makeup done by the incredible Jasmine at Blossom and Beauty.

Describe your wedding day in your own words.

Our wedding day was the greatest day of my life. It was a day filled with love, beauty, gratitude, and happiness. Our wedding day was representative of exactly who we are as individuals and as partners. We hiked, loved, and had a damn good party.

What is one piece of advice that you could give brides-to-be?

Your wedding day is about you and your husband to be - no one else. Do what makes you happy, and don’t stress about trying to please anyone other than yourselves. People who love you want you to be happy, so do what you want and not just what people expect from you. Don’t let the stress of planning detract from this incredible experience that you only get to have once in a lifetime. Savor every single second of your wedding day because it’ll go by in the blink of an eye, and you’ll wish that you could do it all over again.

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

Jess and Race were incredible through our entire wedding both on the day of and in planning. For anyone questioning whether or not to get a videographer, don’t miss out on having those memories that will last you a lifetime and beyond.