Parks & Wed

I'm so excited to share that I just started a YouTube series called "Parks and Wed" (note the subtle yet intentional P & W...PnW...PNW), where I explore permitted locations for weddings and elopements at public parks throughout Portland and the greater PNW.

The first episode I featured Washington Park's Hoyt Arboretum, which has four designated spots for permitted weddings:

1. The Stevens Pavilion

2. The Wedding Meadow

3. The Redwood Deck

4. The Stone Circle

I filmed each spot (I'm a noob on the gimbal...footage will definitely improve with time), and took some photos to showcase each location. With each location, I noted features of interest and details that are pertinent to someone planning a wedding. I created a rating scale that evaluated each spot based on the follow criteria:

Accessibility, Parking, Facilities, Noise Levels, Beauty, and overall Busyness. While spots may be beautiful for a ceremony or reception, it's important for all factors to be considered based on your needs and the needs of your guests. Comfort threshold for the aforementioned factors will vary for everyone, so by no means is my "score" a determinant of whether or not a spot will be perfect for you.

It's just a simple, standardized way for me to put all the important factors to consider out there - if only beauty matters to you, great, pick a 5-evergreen location! But if you prefer to have accessible paths and proximity to facilities for your ceremony/reception, then those factors will carry equal (if not more!) importance as the overall beauty.

I started the day at the Hoyt Arboretum visitor center parking lot, with a gentle sloped walk down a paved path to my first spot, The Stevens Pavilion. Overall, I rated this one the highest based on all the characteristics I'm using to score each spot.

You can watch the full video below for Episode 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_4yNXgrNUE

All graphics were done by me, so it's been a pretty busy launch week with getting the branding visuals, initial social media posts, initial YouTube video and shorts, and honestly getting into the swing of content creation. My husband has been incredibly supportive of my ideas, helping me come up with a task schedule as well as being on production staff (he hits record and helps me edit content with fantastic feedback/ideas). I'd say we make a pretty great team and I'm wicked excited to see where we go with this series!

Your support through subscribing, liking, commenting and following to help me grow this channel is beyond appreciated, and I can't wait to share more amazing public parks and hidden gems where you can have an outdoor wedding/elopement.