Wild Ones
Weddings in the Woods with Shasta Weddings…
Every love story has a beginning. “We met in St. Petersburg, Florida, and I was still in junior college at the time. John was a social worker getting ready to move back to the West Coast in search of property to start a group home or something for at-risk kids. That was 1973,” says Beth Brumer of Shasta Weddings, a private wedding venue that she owns and operates with her now-husband, John Powell.
Powell remembers the exact moment the pair crossed paths. “Beth came over to see my roommate about renting a room, and she brought a cake with her because it was around Valentine’s Day. The cake looked pretty good, but she looked better,” Powell says. From that point on, as Brumer puts it, “it was a done deal. We went out west, looking for a property for about three months, while living in our Volkswagen and camping all over. We got a dog named Pine Cone, and she did everything with us. Then, we finally found the property we wanted in either late summer or early fall, and we’ve owned it ever since.”
Fifty-two years later, Brumer and Powell are still married, and their sprawling mountain property located just south of Mount Shasta is affectionately known as “Pinegrila” (short for “pine-filled Shangri-La”). It has become a go-to wedding destination for adventurous couples looking to celebrate their special day with a weekend in the woods alongside family and friends. The grounds consist of a storybook village of several handmade retro-style cabins surrounded by hidden lakes and hiking trails. The cabins can accommodate shared rooms for up to 50 people, while space for tents and or other temporary glamping accommodations can accommodate upwards of another 50 or so. Weddings are capped at 150 people.
“Typically, a group comes in on Friday afternoon. They might take off for a few hours and go to our local swimming hole. They often have a rehearsal dinner. Then, Saturday morning after breakfast, they might go to another swimming hole or a hiking trail,” Brumer says. “Then, they come back for the afternoon wedding, which usually starts around four o’clock. After that, a BYO bar generally opens and the music starts. After the ceremony, we’ll light a campfire, and there will be dancing. Everyone goes to bed whatever time they want because there are no neighbors and no curfew. Sunday morning, people get up to drive to the airport or home, but they can always take a slow exit.”
Brumer and Powell are able to keep their rates affordable by volunteering their time and labor, with the profits reinvested directly into the venue for maintenance and improvements. Not only does hosting weddings give Brumer and Powell the chance to relive their own treasured experience of getting married in the forest, they also relish the fact that it brings people together in an impactful way. “Our real intent is to have the bride’s and groom’s families and friends meet each other over an extended weekend, because these are the people they’ll be talking about for the rest of their lives. Everything is here on the property, so there’s no real reason to leave. Everyone eats and enjoys time together, and the environment is extremely relaxed,” explains Powell.
Brumer and Powell have also made lifelong friends with many of the couples they’ve met. “Josh and Laurie were our first couple. They met taking flamenco dancing lessons, which I think is just the most romantic thing. Now they have a 24-year-old daughter. We also had one couple that was barely 21 when they got married, and now they’ve been married 11 years. It’s pretty exciting when you have that kind of diversity in the people that you get to serve and they become a part of your life. That’s important to us.”
As for any wisdom Brumer and Powell have acquired over the decades, they are hesitant to dish out too much advice. “I’m a counselor, and you never know a person well enough to start advising them when you meet them,” Powell says with a laugh. But Brumer is able to share some words to live by. “Be kind to each other, because life can get pretty hairy out there. And be open. Relationships over years and years do change, and sometimes you even discover new things. John did something the other day and I thought, ‘Are you kidding me? I’ve known you for more than 50 years and I didn’t know that.’ Anyway, I don’t know. When you get to a certain age, it’s pretty comforting to walk in the house and know you don’t have to be on guard anymore. When you’re home, you’re home, and it’s a safe place. It’s pretty nice.”•
Shasta Weddings • www.shastaweddings.com
