Our Story!
Our journey in the wedding and event industry spans over 40 years, culminating in the creation of Lavender Owl Farm. This beautifully reimagined twenty-acre tree nursery in the heart of the north Willamette Valley, Oregon, is a testament to their passion for weddings and events and throwing the best parties!
We invite you to visit and take a stroll through the many varieties of trees that make our property unique, play a round of disc golf, or just sit and relax under under a tree!
The Lavender Owl farm is also our home so visits are by appointment only. Let us know if you'd like to pop in. We'd love to visit with you. ~Lesley and Rob
Our Family
It takes a village to create and manage so much property and keep it ready for weddings and events and we have many friends who pop in now and then and help with building, fixing and repairing, renovating, gardening, etc. It is exhausting, but we love it all! Learn more about our wedding 'Dream Team' and the property below.
Lesley
Lesley considers herself a Wedding and Event Specialist! Having managed and coordinated many weddings and large community events over the past 40+ years, her knowledge, experience, and stress-free approach to planning and organizing people and things make planning weddings a breeze! The Lavender Owl Wedding Venue is the latest in a long list of dreams and accomplishments.
Along with the everyday running of the property, gardens, and wedding world here, she is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church and has been performing ceremonies since 2008.
Rob
Starting in the wedding business many years ago Rob created wedding and event videos in his spare time. After meeting Lesley during an event, they began their lives together here in Oregon and started a full-time wedding video business and now a full-time wedding venue.
Rob is also an avid disc golf player, and part of our property is dedicated to his love of the sport. He just completed an 18-basket course on the farm, aptly named ‘The HOOT’. This private course is now open for play, group events, and tournaments.
Paula
Paula, one of five of our combined daughters, is also an important member of the team. As our Chaos Coordinator and sometimes bartender, she has extensive knowledge of how to pour a great beer, how to fix broken web pages and creates custom 3D items for cake toppers and table decor, etc.
Paula also loves to cook! Starting in 2025 Paula will be available as your private chef for our tiny weddings up to 20 people and also makes our small cutting cakes.
Paula has catered small events, office parties and manged a food truck for several years. We are excited to add her extra talents to the team.
Melissa
Melissa joined our team in 2020. Her passion for all things weddings started many years ago and she continues to work in this industry as a talented wedding floral designer and day-of coordinator.
Melissa helps many of our couples with the day-of coordinating services, floral design, Bar tending services and general assistance of all things wedding here on the property as well as private events off-site.
About The Farm
Our 20-acre private piece of paradise is a labor of love in the business of love! Like a great marriage, we are a work in progress and always sowing seeds, tending plants, growing trees, and building things! Once a thriving tree nursery, the trees have matured over the last twenty or so years to the beautiful specimens they now are. We no longer remove them for sale, we just take care of them and allow others to enjoy their beauty. So, other than our one chicken, we are more garden estate than a farm!.
We also love sharing the gardens and spaces. It has become a wonderful location to host parties, garden weddings, and special events.
Why Lavender Owl? We’d love the share that story with you one day, but as for Owls, we have identified several on the property and a treat to catch flying in the evenings, and a collection of owl gifts and finds tucked in nooks and crannies among the trees!
About the Lavender
While we are not technically a 'Lavender Farm' Lavender is Lesley’s favorite plant, color, essential oil, and scent, so it is fitting that there should be lavender on the farm! We are constantly planting lavender throughout the property for displays, wedding decor, and our favorite pollinators! Lavender borders the wedding garden and like with our many tree specimens, there are lots of ‘babies’ always growing from cuttings propagated from ‘mother’ plants that have been growing in Lesley’s gardens for many years!
We have plans for more lavender of all varieties as we landscape, create, and work on the land.
The Hoot Disc Golf
Becoming ever more popular among the local disc golf community is our private 9 tee, 18 basket disc golf course. Another project built out of love! Rob created this course to play with friends and now has many great reviews from many avid players. You can find more about the community of ‘Hootees’ and how to get an invite to play at theHOOTdg.com.
The property and home is nestled among the rolling hills and farmlands south of downtown Canby, Oregon, easily accessible from both Portland and Salem. The area offers stunning vistas, including views of Mt. Hood and the Cascade Mountains. Nearby attractions include Silver Falls, the Clackamas, Willamette, and Molalla Rivers, the Oregon Gardens, popular events and festivals, and numerous local garden centers.