BRIDAL VEIL, OR (KPTV) -
At 10-feet by 10-feet, 100 square feet of Oregon timber, the Bridal Veil Post Office is one of the smallest free-standing post offices in the United States.
The tiny building is special, not just to the few dozen remaining residents in the Columbia River Gorge town, but also to brides all over the world.
Brides from Oregon, England, Thailand and everywhere in between have chosen the little wooden shack to launch their marriage for the past 125 years. They love the special Bridal Veil postmark hand-canceled with love by Geri Canzler, the postmaster and only employee.
"It's pretty easy to tell the couples that are really going to make it for life. You see that look and connection that you recognize and it's for real. It's not TV. It's not the movies. It's a real human story every day through here," Canzler said.
Once upon a time, the tiny building was Bridal Veil's rail station, but that's back when there was a mill in town and when Bridal Veil was a metropolis by comparison, with a population of a few hundred.
Wendy Kreuder is getting married in September. She recently had her invitations sent out from the post office.
"It's a really cool place to have your address label come from," she said. "We wanted to come support it and it's just super cute."
Business from the Bridal Veil postmark keeps the branch up and running. Canzler spends the rest of her day filling the PO boxes of the few dozen people who still live around the town.
"It's kind of like a country store with the pot-belly stove. That's what the post office is," she said.
It's where townspeople find out whose dog is lost or when the Kiwanis will have their next pancake breakfast. The little building itself is considered by many to be a love letter to Oregon's beautiful past.
The post office will be holding a special event Saturday to celebrate its 125-year anniversary. A special anniversary postmark is also available.
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