Anyone who has made the scenic, 70-minute drive from Portland, Oregon, to Hood River already knows that the beauty of the Columbia Gorge is virtually unrivaled. It’s a bold claim, sure, but the visuals are that gorgeous.
Besides natural beauty though, what is it about the Hood River and Mt. Hood region that attracts brides and grooms from all over the world to make this area their wedding destination?
It’s a great question, so we asked one of our soon-to-be married couples why they were attracted to hold their wedding amidst the apple orchards and green hills beneath Mt. Hood (at Miller Farm Retreat) rather than, say, Portland.
They had a LOT of great feedback, so we’ll break up their response into a little series. Here’s the first section of the “Why We Are Getting Married In Hood River, Oregon” report!
Part I: The “Weekend Getaway” Proximity from Portland
Our first inclination was to do a destination wedding in Maui. We were deep into our online homework, creating lists of top wedding venues, designing our bachelor and bachelorette parties, visualizing our wedding ceremony and reception, guest lists and so on.
Then we informed our grandparents. Their grimaces said it all: the 6-hour flight was not going to suit neither their bodies nor their budgets. And that’s when it became clear that we’d be making major compromises to our guest list – compromises that were deal breakers for our idea of a perfect wedding.
Our hometown is Portland. Most of our friends, family and wedding guests would find it super convenient to attend a wedding venue in Portland. But we still wanted to create that “destination wedding” experience. Our collective experience attending a lot of out-of-state weddings reminded us that we relax more when it’s a destination wedding. We treat it like a vacation. We remove ourselves from our daily routines and find it easier to turn our focus on the celebration. We are more present! So, nothing against Portland, we just didn’t want a Portland wedding venue.
It didn’t take long for us to swing our entire destination wedding search energy over to Hood River, Oregon. It’s close enough to Portland that we could easily pop out there and meet with local wedding caterers, wedding florists and, of course, the best wedding venues in the Columbia Gorge. In our opinion, that wedding venue was without a doubt Bobbi and Steve’s Miller Farm Retreat. We feel like it showcases Mt. Hood, Hood River and the Columbia Gorge beautifully, and it’d be not only easy for our wedding guests to get there – it’d be enchantingly memorable.