The offbeat couple: Emma, Photographer & Greg, Marine Biologist

Date and location of wedding: The Administrator's House Yard at the Edgefield McMenamins in Troutdale, OR — August 14, 2014

Our offbeat wedding at a glance: When we first met online, one of the major things that drew us to one another was our love of Harry Potter. When we decided to get married, having a Harry Potter-themed wedding was a no-brainer; it was a tip of the (witch) hat to why we ended up together.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

Another absolute no-brainer for us was the venue. The Mcmenamins Edgefield Hotel is an old, poor farm out in Multnomah County that has been revamped into a hotel with a brewery, distillery, winery, spa, golf course and TEN different bars and restaurants on site. It's like Disneyland for adults with its Dr. Seuss meets Lemony Snicket aesthetic, whimsical paintings everywhere, and hidden courtyards. It was the perfect place to pretend we were in a wizarding wonderland. Their herb and vegetable garden provided the ingredients for our vegetarian pasta buffet, while the vineyard out front gave us the fantastic wine we got to enjoy at the reception. We couldn't have invented a more perfect setting if we'd tried.

Josh Lasko Photography
Josh Lasko Photography
Josh Lasko Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

I am majorly into crafting and sewing, so I knew that I was going to have to have my hands in every aspect of this wedding. I did so much from designing my wedding dress to making my rehearsal and reception dresses, designing and printing every piece of stationary right down to the drink tickets, making and collecting all of the decorations for the Hogwarts class-themed tables, creating more than half a dozen chalkboard signs that were hidden throughout the venue, and spending ten and a half hours creating my Harry Potter page bouquet and creating the feather quill boutonnieres.

Myles Katherine Photography

Greg had bioluminescent dinoflagellates cloned that we put in bottles as our favours. The list goes on all of the way from the beading on my veil down to the appliqués on my shoes. I spent innumerable hours scouring the internet for décor and supplies, and Greg and I spent a lot of time watching Game of Thrones re-runs whilst assembling everything. And it was totally worth it.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

Tell us about the ceremony:
We used our version of a Jewish processional with the groom walking down the aisle with his parents. We had already done a first look and had already been legally married for a few weeks, so seeing each other before the ceremony wasn't an issue. It was a nice way to make us equals in the ceremony: it wasn't ALL about the bride's “grand entrance” — he got to matter, too.

Myles Katherine Photography

My niece Dempsey was our flower girl and she threw the dried petals from all of the flowers Greg and I have ever given each other, which I had been saving over the years. Her little brother Royston carried the rings in a copy of The Half-Blood Prince that I hollowed out.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

Our processional song was “Neville's Waltz” and the recessional was “The Quidditch World Cup,” both from The Goblet of Fire soundtrack and performed live by my friends Clara Shandler and Meghan Van Cleave.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

My brother Adam officiated our non-religious ceremony. He always has a great anecdote to tell, and we knew he was going to have just the right feel that we wanted: relaxed and funny.

Myles Katherine Photography

He started by reading The Road Goes Ever, Ever On by J.R.R. Tolkien (A Magic: the Gathering Tournament the night before and this reading were the only other fandoms to make a guest appearance). We had a sand ceremony where we used sand from the beach at Greg's parents' house in Gloucester, MA where he grew up and sand from Wreck Beach in Vancouver, which is my coastal home.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

My favorite moment:
I will never forget coming back to our hotel room the night before the wedding to find Greg trying desperately to come up with his vows. Just like with everything in our relationship, we sat down together, and worked it all out. It made hearing him make those promises the next day that much more meaningful because we had come up with them together.

We got legally married at home in Vancouver, Canada a few weeks before the big shindig to avoid any border-crossing issues. My grandparents weren't going to be able to make it to our wedding in Oregon, so we decided last-minute to surprise them by getting legalled at a shower that my aunt threw for us instead of a few days before the wedding as we had originally planned. The tears in my grandmother's eyes were totally worth scrambling to find a marriage commissioner at the last minute.

Myles Katherine Photography

My funniest moment:
Our friend and Greg's groomsman Adam showed up wearing the tightest pants I have seen in my life. In combination with his bow tie and suspenders, it was pretty darned hilarious. You could practically see the last number he called when his phone was jammed inside his pocket.

Myles Katherine Photography

My two-year-old nephew Royston discovered the microphone and decided sporadically throughout the night to serenade us with his rendition of “Happy Birthday,” which consisted of him saying “Hah-pee burt-day!” repeatedly and then grinning like a little monkey. He was also our ring bearer, and his father (my brother) was our officiant. When my brother headed down the aisle, Royston went running after him. When we tried to call him to come back he yelled, “I need the rings!” thinking that his dad still had them. Little man took his job VERY seriously.

Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography
Myles Katherine Photography

What was the most important lesson you learned from your wedding?
Take your time. Because of our fairly small budget, I was constantly scouring the internet for the best deals. I would spend an entire day searching for JUST the right lanterns for our centrepieces, and then I would find the absolute best deals. And yes, I know, not everyone has the luxury of time to throw at their wedding, but I did and I'm so glad that I did.

Josh Lasko Photography

There's usually a solution to the problem. After the wedding, I was pretty stressed that we hadn't gotten enough pictures of just us together (as a photographer, that was pretty important to me). Instead of spending the rest of my life regretting it, after we got home from our honeymoon I called up a fellow photographer friend and asked if he would do a wedding portrait session for us. We got to wear our fancy duds again and now we have all of the photos we dreamed of.

Josh Lasko Photography

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Comments on This Harry Potter DIY wedding wins the internet today

  1. I’ve seen and loved many Harry Potter weddings before but I think this is easily my favorite. It’s beautiful and elegant and whimsical, and making me wish I’d worked more HP into my own wedding!

  2. I’m pretty sure this wins the internet everyday. I am in love with this wedding! If FH was more into Harry Potter, I would totally be stealing as much of this as I could. Absolutely beautiful and super nerdy at the same time! Congratulations!!

  3. Oh my gosh, I love EVERYTHING. This is an amazingly beautiful wedding and I love all of the little details, the centerpieces, the wands, book pages, signs, it’s amazing! Everything is perfect, congratulations!

  4. A really beautiful and magical wedding. I love everything! I’m amazed so much was diyed, I can’t believe it!

  5. I love EVERYTHING about this wedding! All the details are perfect. Congratulations!

  6. So many beautiful details, it makes my geeky Potternerd heart sing, but honestly… my eyes kept going back to how gorgeous Emma looks in her dress- so lovely!

  7. this wedding literally made me cry some seriously sappy fangirl tears, and gave me so many ideas for my future nuptials. I am going to show this to my boyfriend when he gets home from work today and show him the things I loved (all of it) and the ideas I would love to use for our wedding if we have one (we have already said if we get married, it will be a fandom themed wedding) really loved the wands as bouquets idea! that was my favorite thing of all! I’m so happy for you two, and many years of happiness and joy to you both! <3

  8. I am just absolutely obsessed with this wedding. It is SO stunning and wonderful.

  9. You definitely win the internet today! Love all of this. So beautiful and creative. Your wedding was unique and even from the pictures you really get a sense of you and your husband as a couple. Congratulations!

  10. LOVE this wedding… and then was even more excited to see Myles shot it!

  11. Added another venue to my list, haha. I can’t seem to pick just one! @_@;;; but I love all the nerdy touches and will show this to my FH tonight so we can begin stealing your ideas 🙂

  12. Win the Internet indeed. This is absolutely crazy and mind boggling to me that they pulled off so much thoughtful attention to detail and awesomeness on a limited budget. I’m thinking of how many DIY details I dreamed & planned for my wedding that I just scrapped and said “screw it” to out of sheer exhaustion and stress as the day approached…wow. I’m stunned at Emma’s talent & fortitude. She’s clearly not only an artist, but one hell of project manager too. If they have kids, those kids’ birthday parties and Halloween costumes are probably going to be the envy of all their peers!

  13. This has got to be one of the classiest Harry Potter themed weddings I’ve seen since *cough cough* mine 😀 No but for realsies, this looks almost exactly like my wedding at Dancing Deer Mountain in Eugene, Oregon.

  14. But what about those lanterns? I am 23 days away from my wedding and I would throw all my elaborate stuff out to do what you guys did with your centerpieces. PERFECTION. So clearly full of love and kindness and attention and details and sweetness. (But seriously, where did you find the lanterns?)

  15. Where did you find the Snitch??? I haven’t seen anything that doesn’t look toy-like before.

    • A store we have in Canada called Chapters – I think it’s the equivalent of Barnes and Nobles

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