Wedding Blog

And We’re Going Get Married!!

Mr. Robin and I went to see a Cabaret (with Storm Large!) production at our venue last Thursday, and it was so fun to see it filled with so many people. It really helped us imagine that in a few short months, this space shall be filled with our closest friends and family. We sat in front of the red glass wall where we will say our vows and smiled big huge grins at each other.

(the red wall, picture by PCS)

The Portland Armory is actually the theater for Portland Center Stage. This has some great benefits, like the fact the lobby is open until 6pm for ticket sales on Saturdays so we don’t have to start paying until then, but they will let all of our vendors start setting up at 4pm. They are also really easygoing about the fact we want the reception to continue on until 11pm. And it is so insanely amazing looking that we almost don’t have to decorate a thing.

The building sat empty for years, across the street from Powell’s City of Books (the world’s largest independent bookstore) and the Henry Weinhard’s Brewery. But when the Brewery was turned into condos, shops and restaurants a few years ago, The Armory was too amazing of a building to sit lonely for long. It was remodeled by the theater company into a building that is both one of the oldest in all downtown and the greenest.

Seriously, rainwater flushes the toilets. Classic.

We really lucked out getting this venue. I am a planner, and since the setting of our wedding was the most important thing to me, I actually booked it from Mexico as we were traveling. I knew that I wanted to have something memorable - an elegant place that would reflect Mr. Robin and I and how much we love Portland. I also wanted to have the wedding by candlelight, so evening and the ability to burn things were a must for that element. I had my mom communicate with the different locations while I peppered her and them with emails from internet cafes around Mexico.

Initially I truly wanted a church, a beautiful amazing church. Something like the Old Laurelhurst Church, where the sanctuary drips with stained glass. Our church used to meet there before we outgrew it, and I could see myself meeting Mr. Robin at the end of their aisle. There is one thing I did not count on however, and that is church reception rooms - they look like a school cafeteria; not exactly what I had pictured. And the rules!! No candles, no chair rentals, NO BEER (that will just not fly for microbrew loving Portlanders like us!). I knew that it would take a lot of time, effort and research to transform that space into the reception that I had been envisioning - more than I probably had with my time/budget restraints. So the search was on.

I found the Armory on the Blum Floral website completely by accident. I never thought that I could get it - there were only four or five Saturdays in all of 2008 when the Armory didn’t have a show run, and only two in the space of time that fell within our 4 month limit. I happened to beg the event coordinator on just the right day - the day a bride changed her mind. I snapped up the cancellation without ever having set foot in the building from this picture alone:

(picture by Sidewalk Studios)

If you are going to plan a wedding in three months, I think that it’s worth it find a location with some impact to it. You will save some sanity if you don’t have to make a hundred decor decisions or spend a lot on rentals to transform a location into something beautiful and dream worthy.