This couple found the perfect destination venue just one hour flight away...

Multicultural Oregon Forest Wedding – Christy Cassano – Bridal Veil Lakes – Indian and Kiwi Influence – Bridal Musings 1

Ever feel like you’ve researched and toured nearly every wedding venue in your home state? Finding them all lackluster or devastatingly booked? Today’s real wedding in Oregon’s lush forests reminds us that a destination wedding can be nearly as convenient as one at home…

Residing in the Bay Area, bride Joelei & groom Sameer were lacking inspiration in their monthslong California venue hunt. Yet, just over an hour away by plane, in the dreamy forested state of Oregon, they found the perfect place to hold their dream day. With the ease of travel from San Francisco to Portland, this destination wedding was about as convenient (and likely more affordable) as marrying in Socal!

Bridal Veil Lakes, near the waterfalls just outside Portland, served as a blank canvas for their multicultural wedding. Fusing their cultures together, the couple incorporated Pakistani flowers, New Zealand ferns & asked their families to wear traditional clothing. And in true Pacific Northwest tradition, the couple served grilled salmon for their wedding dinner, a must-have for an Oregon destination wedding!

Our Love Story

We met while both working for an accounting firm.

Proposal story: We booked a weekend getaway in Carmel, California. I had a feeling he might be proposing but he made it seem like nothing was planned when we arrived. So we wandered around the town somewhat aimlessly for the first half of the day. I knew we had a dinner reservation that first night, and he asked if I wanted to stop by the beach before dinner.

Once at the beach, he proposed! He had also hired a photographer so we got to do a mini engagement shoot right away. Once that was done, we headed to what I thought was our dinner reservation. Once we got there, I was immediately handed a glass of wine, so I thought “wow he must have let them know it was a special occasion”. Once I walked inside, 40 of our friends and family were there and yelled “Surprise!!”. Sameer had rented the place out, and organized the whole evening to be our engagement party. Many of our friends had also booked hotels in the area, so we were able to celebrate with them all night long. It was the most amazing weekend.

The Venue

We decided to have a destination wedding, after searching for months in California for the perfect venue that allowed for flexibility and was within our price range. After an unsuccessful search, we decided to expand our search to the Portland area as we had visited a few times and loved the food and thought it would still be feasible for many of our guests given it’s around an hour flight from SFO.

We chose Bridal Veil Lakes because the venue was stunning but also was like an open canvas that we could design any way that we wanted.

The Traditions

We wanted to incorporate both of our backgrounds in the wedding, so we encouraged our family members to wear traditional clothing. Sameer and his groomsmen wore traditional Pakistani attire.

Multicultural Oregon Forest Wedding – Christy Cassano – Bridal Veil Lakes – Indian and Kiwi Influence – Bridal Musings 2

The Photography & Videography

We interviewed a few photographers but ultimately decided to go with Christy Cassano because she showed us some photos she had done at Bridal Veil and they were gorgeous. She captured the lighting and colors and that venue perfectly so we had confidence that we would love the pictures she would take.

We took our videography recommendation from our planner, Shauna with J29 Events. We had originally decided not to hire a videographer in an effort to cut costs, but a few weeks before I changed my mind after speaking to my cousin who told me that she recently watched her wedding video with her daughter and how special that was. Luckily, Moving Pictures still had availability as it was so close to the wedding. We looked at their videos, and Shauna, who we had been working with in great detail for months at this point, spoke very highly of them. So it was a no-brainer.

Favorite Details

We combined a Pakistani flower and New Zealand fern into a symbol that was used throughout the wedding and on our invitations.

Our favorite moment (other than the ceremony) was the dancing. We chose a playlist filled with throwbacks from the 90s & early 2000s and our guests really got into it. We also played some Bollywood music and Sameer’s family and most of the guests really got into it as well.

Multicultural Oregon Forest Wedding – Christy Cassano – Bridal Veil Lakes – Indian and Kiwi Influence – Bridal Musings 3

Multicultural Oregon Forest Wedding – Christy Cassano – Bridal Veil Lakes – Indian and Kiwi Influence – Bridal Musings 4

Advice to Other Couples

You work so hard on all the planning for the months (sometimes years!) leading up to the big day. But on the wedding day, just enjoy and really try to soak it all in. Take a few moments during the day with your now-husband or wife to be alone and observe the day. It will go by so quickly.

The Honeymoon

We went to Hawaii two days after our wedding and it was perfect. We didn’t plan anything for the honeymoon other than the hotel and that was the best way for us. We loved just lounging on the beach and not keeping to a schedule after such an exhausting weekend.