2020 pantone color of the year wedding editorial at urban studios in downtown portland or

When Crystal Genes Photography reached out inquiring if I’d be on board to bring the Pantone 2020 color of the year to life in wedding form, of course I said yes!

Little did we know in February what 2020 would bring us. To say it’s been a wild ride has been the understatement of the century, but (to quote a favorite musical of mine) we “make like a nail and press on.”

Crystal had already looped in a few other vendors, so I set to work creating a celestial mood board with touches of astrology + tarot cards for us to bring to life. When we were able to get down to Urban Studio in Portland to do a walk through, I was excited at the prospect of getting to build something in their space. They’ve got a gorgeous foyer perfect for cocktail hour, and their event room is truly a blank canvas, which every Event Designer loves. One of my favorite things about Urban Studio is the ability to do completely custom lighting. Since they partnered with DThree Productions, I was able to have them create an aisle of stars leading to our altar, as well as wash a few of our walls in the color of the year.

For this tablescape, it was important to me to not only incorporate that vibrant blue, but uphold the vision I’d communicated with the team as well. We partnered with The Party Place on this shoot, which is always a blast. They have a ton of inventory, so the ability to create several different kinds of looks with what they’ve got available makes for us Planners feeling like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory, for real. I chose to use the cut glassware to show off all of the pretty facets of light. Star power, am I right?! Touches of copper and a silver napkin tied and set in a half-moon shape polished it off. Jennifer of Forest, Stone, and Sea was generous enough to lend us some crystals from her inventory to give it that astrological touch.

We did two different looks on the table — one with candle centerpieces, and one with a floral centerpiece by Flowers by Alana. On the altar side of things, Alana created an entire half-moon out of baby’s breath and suspended it from one of Urban Studio’s moveable walls. These walls can be configured in any shape you’d like, create dividers for the space, used as a photo booth or TikTok backdrop, or just be backed up against the wall to be out of the way. One of my favorite details from this shoot was our suspended text ‘to the stars’ that Modern Birch Co made especially for us!

For our invites, Trixy with Black Thistle Co really knocked it out of the park incorporating color, vibe, and our theme. Trixy creates invites completely from scratch, or you can choose to make small edits to her inventory she already has created. I really loved how she styled our flat lay here, and the suede tie around the invite really wowed me. Imagine getting something like that in the mail — such an interesting unveiling!

I cannot wait for you guys to see these photos! Please support the vendor team that worked on this shoot by giving their websites a visit, or their social media(s) a follow.

XO Ashley

Big thanks to our models Kristin and April Headley for their time and talents on this shoot. I loved getting to know them and hearing about their own wedding day.

I couldn’t resist sharing this one last photo of Kristin and April sharing a glance outside. You’d never know it was about 40 degrees on the streets of PDX!

That’s all for this shoot, but remember — love is love, black lives matter, don’t forget to vote, and wear your mask!

Production | NW Wedding Underground

Venue | Urban Studio PDX

Florist | Flowers by Alana

Cake | Sewell Sweets

HMUA | Glamology Makeup

AV | DThree PDX

Dress | Hayley Paige (Yoko Gown) via Brides for a Cause

Photographer | Crystal Genes Photography

Models | Kristin + April Headley

Crystals | Forest, Stone & Sea

Rentals | The Party Place

Sign | Modern Birch Co

Invites + Paper Goods | Black Thistle Co

Videographer | Casperson Productions