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Camp Shier

I'm not entirely sure how to share such an incredible and momentous day with what seem like feeble words, so I'll supplement with ample photos and tidbits of thought.

When Zack and I reflect on our wedding, and the whole experience in general, we feel grateful that we did exactly what we wanted to do, within the parameters we established for ourselves. We took the opportunity to create a piece of art, if you will. Performance art, if you want to take it that far. We curated an experience for our guests and ourselves. Zack and I chose to focus on what was important, and do away with what was not. We wanted a whimsical, fun, colorful, event that showcased our personality and what we want our relationship to be like. We tossed out traditional aspects such as cutting the cake, bouquet toss, standard vows, waiting to see each other before the ceremony, bouquets + boutonnieres, all the fluff, etc etc etc. Instead of having just my dad walk me down the aisle, we had my mom join us and then had Zack and his parents walk down at the same time- we wanted this to be a picture of unity and equality. Instead of doing a "first look" or whatever its called these days, Zack and I got ready together in the morning, made breakfast, hung out, and then went our separate ways to hangout with our pals. We met up later and he helped me into my dress- again, a symbol of unity. We aimed for things to be low key and easy going, in order to spend as much quality time with each other and our people!

I took these images on my film camera the morning of the wedding:

 

I designed the invitations with a graphic I found on Zazzle, and I also printed through Zazzle. We were big on making it a weekend of celebration and wanted to give our guests ample information, but also chose to cut down on paper by using a website.

I purchased my dress at BHLDN, by Anthropologie! Their gowns are surprisingly affordable- I purchased my dress for $300 and hope to wear the top numerous times. The top and bottom are both "bridesmaids" pieces, which is why they were so cheap in comparison to the "average" cost of a wedding dress- $1,500! I also suggest checking out Brides for a Cause in Portland and Tacoma!

From the inside of our newspapers that Dorothy Huynh designed for us:

"Welcome to our wedding + our very own version of summer camp! While our wedding most obviously is celebrating the marriage between both of us, there is so much more to this day than our commitment to each other. We are here today because of love and we are here because of our community.

Our relationship began a year and a half ago, at The Oly Tap Room. But far before that, we began to understand aspects of love through various experiences. We saw the importance of relationship, the integral nature of vulnerability, and the hope of unconditional love. We have carried that into our relationship thus far, and desire to carry that into our marriage. We hope that every one of you feel as if you can cheer us on through that desire of ours! We did not simply invite you to our wedding, but invite you into our lives + marriage.

Every single one of you has impacted our life, rather very directly or more subtly. Whether you have been in our life for 25 years, or 2 months, we value your presence in our lives everyday. You have encouraged us, loved us, prayed for us, walked beside us during dark days and rejoiced alongside us on the bright days. We feel extremely blessed and grateful that you would travel to one of our favorite places to witness, and join in on, such an integral day in our lives.

When we imagined what our wedding weekend looked like, we desired to curate a space where many people come together, make memories, have fun, share a meal, tell stories, leave with new friends and a unique sense of camaraderie. Sounds a whole lot like summer camp, huh? In that moment, Camp Shier was born- as an ode to our love for the outdoors and our love of bringing people together. As you move through today, may your hearts be full of cheer, bellies filled with food + drink, and souls captivated by the power of love + friendship.

We are so thrilled you are here with us at Camp Shier. We love you dearly!

-Shelby + Zack"

I planted this flower garden in hopes that it would bloom before the wedding!!!

Two of our hens, Maple and Siggy :)

I bought that bracelet on my wrist in Nepal the week after Zack and I started dating. Someone asked me if I was going to wear it for the wedding, and I could not help but think how it is a bummer that weddings are seen as a time where you wear your nicest things, purchase new sparkly jewelry, accessories, etc. I have worn this bracelet everyday for a year and a half, why would I take it off now??? Instead, I found earrings from an awesome female artist that match it and that I would wear plenty of times in the future.

If you want to rent a bus for your event, check our First Student Charters! It's a rad, low cost, way to keep your people together while transporting them. And who doesn't like the nostalgia of being on a school bus with their best friends???

Zack and I attempted to keep our community, sustainability, and intentionality, at the forefront of our decision making.

COMMUNITY

From where our guests were sitting at dinner, to dedicated time for people to spend time together. Our group vows and to our attempted acknowledgement of the various important people in our lives through written words and also through spoken words. The school bus that took people from our ceremony to the reception. Facing our guests for the majority of our ceremony. We love our people and we feel so loved by them as well. We chose to have a marriage ceremony + reception for ourselves, but also for our friends + fam. This celebration was for them, too. We simply would not be where we are at without them!

I'll be honest, the most challenging part of our wedding process were thoughts and concerns around people. I lost sleep over what people would think, how they would react to some of our decisions, etc. Zack and I are both so relational and deeply care about the people in our lives. I think the proper term for this would be "people pleasers". Figuring out our guest list?? Ouch, that was painful. How do you profess to care about people and limit who you invite? I felt like a hypocrite. However, when it came down to it, we chose to include people who had encouraged, loved, and expressed desire to be in our lives over the past 1.5 years we have been together, and who we assume will continue to do so as we grow in our commitment to each other.

We also chose to support people in our local community as well. More on that below :)

One of my favorite ways that we incorporated our people into our ceremony was having our friends who were married/dating walk down the aisle with their significant other and/or family.

Our ceremony took place at the lake where Zack spent the majority of his life. His parents built a house on the lake and recently, Zack and a bunch of friends rented the house while his parents are living in Seattle. We feel so luck to have had our wedding in such a memorable place!!!

SUSTAINABILITY

We desired to attempt an environmentally friendly + waste free wedding, which was partially achieved in a few ways. Some decisions we made: Have our wedding party pick out their own clothes (with some suggestions :) ) which we hoped would allow them to wear the clothes again or they could wear something they already had(!), Zack and I picked out clothing + accessories that we would wear again, compostable plates, cups, etc., shopped for in season flowers from local farms in OR + WA, thrifted / borrowed 85% of the decor, used scrap wood from our home, provided food that was made next to our venue and beer made down the street, invitations printed on recycled paper + online resources + keeping printed materials to a minimum in the first place, didn't "register" for stuff we didn't absolutely need (okay yes I did register for a gold watering can, but it was from a local gift shop!!! Hehe), opted out of linens that would need to be washed, etc. etc. you get the point!!!! Weddings can be SO wasteful!! And don't get me wrong, we definitely produced waste... However, we tried very hard to eliminate the concept of mindless waste from the wedding. It definitely took effort, but I'm thrilled with how it turned out!

Floral arbor made by the phenomenal Fleurae in downtown Olympia

Zack's Mom made the fabric flags our of materials we found at Goodwill

Dorothy Huynh created and designed our fantastic newspaper programs. We wanted something unique, interactive, and fun to look at. She knocked it out of the park!!

We asked different friends to bring homemade cookies, and my step dad baked pies from blackberries he picked near our house!

Our friend Jordyn Wagner painted these STUNNING mountains for us. Each of these mountains represents a place where either Zack, Myself, or both of us, have spent time biking, hiking, climbing, camping, etc.

Zack and I desired to use our wedding as a way to invite our guests into a creative communion. A snip-it that Zack wrote and shared:

"Biologically a meal is necessary, we all are fortunate and grateful to eat multiple times a day. It is a point of connection, a reminder that we are sustained by the fruit of the earth, and that we don't sustain it. It is a point of connection between people. Just as we are reminded by our bodies hunger that we need nourishment to keep going, we can take a moment and nourish our relationships. In this, we have an opportunity to listen, be heard, provide support and be encouraged in the atmosphere of a meal.

We believe that communion is experienced as hope and love rising out of an event, in every story there is a meeting place, every event is an opportunity for connection. Jesus exemplified this often in his ministry. Sharing hope and loving the estranged, the outsider, the marginalized. Hope and love do not seem to become tangible from the outside to within or from above to below. But rather to arise in the context of people two or more, with a willingness to care for the other and love the other in a manner that is transparent and accepting rather than degrading or controlling.

This hope and love rising out of every event, is a connection with that which is undefinable, unnamed, uncontainable, spiritual, maybe even the divine/supernatural. This drawing of humanity collectively towards itself, person to person. It might be assuming but consider that interaction is a meeting place, and is an opportunity for communion to take place. Historically, communion began at a table of friends radically committed to seeing the other in a way of love and acceptance that opposed and threatened the status quo, so intensely that one of them would be executed. These friends broke bread and drank wine, daring to hope that the way of love would be worth the risk, that even in darkness love will prevail.

It is our desire that this evening, our gathering, this event in our story is experienced as a communion of sorts, of love rising up and out of an event in our story, celebrating each one of you here as you have intimately been apart of these our stories. Together, may we be encouraged, satisfied, eat and drink, connect with earth and one another. May you be filled tonight- with food, with wine and with love and hope."

Amanda, Zack's sister in law, gave us the idea of me dancing with Zack's dad and then having Zack dance with my mom!

INTENTIONALITY

Okay, writing this section makes me feel like I'm constantly tooting my own horn in the most obnoxious way. However, not mentioning our desire for intentionality would potentially result in other people not checking out these rad small businesses (mostly owned and/or operated by women!!) that we want to showcase. So at risk of sounding like a snob, here we go!

We chose our "vendors" for a variety of reasons, mostly coming down to the fact that we just simply love them and we appreciated their talent and art :)

Photographer:

I met Kami as we were both beginning our photography businesses. We met in Bellingham at a wedding and quickly became friends. I had the absolute pleasure of photographing her wedding in Kauai, a few years ago, and I was stoked she wanted to shoot ours in Olympia! Picking our photographer was probably top 5 most difficult aspects of wedding planning, as I agonized about hurting other peoples' feelings if I didn't ask them. We were also trying to stick to a fairly tight budget, even though photography was a priority! But when it came down to it, Zack and I chose Kami for a couple reasons, and you should too!

1. We wanted a photographer who we could be 100% ourselves around. The posed, pathetic, emotional, whacky, etc. This is totally Kami.

2. Her style is bright, fun, and journalistic. Just what we wanted.

Florals:

We sourced the flowers for the tables from the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, which is an absolutely MAGICAL place! We got a killer deal in flowers.

We also hired Fleurae to create a stunning arbor for our ceremony. Iana and Carissa are two phenomenal women who are just the best ever, we appreciate their creativity, passion, and kindness!

Art + Design:

Dorothy Huynh created and designed our fantastic newspaper programs. We wanted something unique, interactive, and fun to look at. She knocked it out of the park!!!

Jordyn Wagner painted the most lovely mountains for our tables. Each of the mountains she painted was a mountain that either Zack or I, or both of us together, had spent time around/on!!

I designed the invites + other simple signage. My friend Allison Glidden helped me with printing vinyl.

DJ:

Our friend Joel DJ'ed for us, and he absolutely KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK. We are soooo thrilled we hired him! I would highly recommend him to anyone who wants to dance all night!

Hair + Makeup:

Devyn Buma at Lonestar Salon! My treasured friend

Tessa Shier on the makeup! My sweet sister.

Jewelry + Accessories

-Wedding ring from Compass Rose (designed by Margaret Solow) + ring from my granny.

-Stacking ring from my friend Kelsey at Guista Jewels

-Earrings from We Dream in Colour.

-Zack's tie, Kind Design!

Shara Wolfe was an amazing bartender who greeted everyone with a smile :)

 

Film Photographs taken on Thursday + Friday: Gathering at Oly Taproom, Rehearsal dinner + gathering at Matchless Brewery!

Film photographs from Saturday!

 


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