August 16, 2003
I loved my tea length dress, with just a splash of antique lace
peeking out of the bottom. It was perfect for a garden party and dancing.
I had hoped to be super organized and scan some pictures (yes, when we were married the film was not digital...crazy!) but alas, I am in Minnesota and I did not have my act together before I headed this way. But, I will share some fun details of our very special day.
We got married in the yard I grew up in. My mom is a ridiculous gardener (her gardens have been featured on tours) and the big yard on the river with her gardens as the backdrop was all I had ever wanted for my wedding day. I wanted to play off of the setting, so instead of having a florist arrange pristine bouquets and centerpieces, we ordered thousands of flowers, (with lots of variety, that you would actually find in a Minnesota garden) from wholesale and did all of the arrangements ourselves (we ladies all got together the day before the wedding to knock this out. How very pinterest-before-pinterest of us, huh!) the splashes of color were placed in Mason jars, old milk jugs, antiques, etc. It was perfect. It was us (well, that is a stretch as my husband did not care about the ridiculously cute milk jugs my mom and I found at a junk store...but whatevs!)
We couldn't decide what we wanted to serve for dinner, and after meeting with several caterers for tastings and menu selecting, we decided to really go for it and serve our favorite pizza and salad. It was a hit. Who doesn't love them some pizza? We served the pizza on big boards, propped up by big, industrial size cans of roasted tomatoes and roasted red peppers. We found the cans up in the UP of Michigan at a little Italian market, and hauled them back. They really did the trick in helping to create dimension on the tables so the pizza didn't fall flat (yes, it's just pizza...but I still wanted it to look fabulous).
We know I love cake...this is fact. Well, I knew I wanted to have lots of cake at the wedding, since I had this amazing antique plant stand (that basically looked like a conglomerate of vintage cake stands), so we found a baker who make us 8 different flavors of cake. They were so tasty, and truly everyone got to pick a favorite. We also did jars of all of our favorite candy all around, including one of my favorite ideas from the day: JARS OF RING POPS...so everyone, young and old, could pop on a 'wedding ring'!!!
Since I grew up on a river (as did Zac, just a different river...but still one that drains into the Mississippi- can you say meant to be??? haaa) and we both love canoeing and being on the water. To pay homage to this love we used a canoe as a big vessel to keep all of the drinks cool for the celebration. We moved the canoe out back near the rivers edge, and filled it with ice and cool drinks. It was lovely and gave a nod to something that is very important to us, being on the water.
With clothespins, we decorated a tree in the back yard with card stock printed, standard size, pictures of Zac and me from our 5 years of dating. All the fun adventures we had camping, skiing, traveling and just being...on display in the tree as a little walk down memory land (well, a 5 year lane)
As a parting gift to all of the friends and family that traveled near and far to spend this day celebrating with us, we sent them home with a box of donuts with a note attached, 'breakfast on us'...as it is a given that we also LOOOOVE DONUTS!!!
Oh boy, it was such a great day! I can transport back to that moment in a flash. My favorite place on earth, marrying my favorite person on earth. What a blessing that day was and what a continued blessing our life has been. I am thankful for him each and everyday. I am excited to zip to the airport to get him today, as he flies in from Colorado so we can celebrate!!!
Oh, did I mention that at 2am, 3 weeks before my wedding I decided that I needed a perm??? Oh, this is truth and I let my girlfriends do it! It was a disaster (ummm, who would have thunk it) and my mom was so unimpressed. Her exact words, 'next time you think you need a perm at 2am, please call me...' haaaaa. It all had to be cut off! All part of the memory of this wonderful time, 10 years ago!
