Real Minnesota Wedding: Kris & Gary

How did the two of you meet? I was looking to purchase a car for my daughter. Gary had one listed I was interested in.

We chatted via phone and although I didn’t end up buying the car, he continued to call me every few weeks to ask if I had found anything. After a few months of that, he finally asked me out!

My sister designed our logo, invites, programs, place cards and save the dates. We wanted an elegant but inviting theme that could be carried throughout the event.

I especially liked my bouquet of cream calla lilies with dark purple centers. My flower girl’s posy bouquet was just the right size for her and our boutonnieres and corsages were tied with patterned ribbon over the stems.

It was a nice new element many had never seen before!

Describe the proposal. Our first date was at Houlihan’s so he decided to return to the place where it all started. He made a lovely, sincere proposal before dinner.

The funny part is, he had actually had the ring for over a year and had attempted to propose on two separate occasions but weather made him rethink it!

Between the two of us we have 8 children ranging from 12 years to 26. We had every one of them in the wedding, including our granddaughter and it was a wonderful way to ensure they all felt included and part of the fun.

I have to say that one of the most memorable moments was Isabella, our granddaughter and 2 year old flower girl, stealing the show when she walked up and started shooting pictures during the wedding ceremony.

She even had the wedding party say ‘Cheese!”. She was just enough distraction to not be intrusive, but kept the guests attention on the ceremony!

My Mom, sister, daughter and two nieces overtook the Wedding Shoppe on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. I had a general idea of what I was looking for but because this was a second marriage was not sure how formal I should go.

We decided that since we were going all out on the rest of the wedding, I had to do the dress too. I only needed to try on about 5 dresses to know that the very first one I had tried on was THE ONE.

For our flowers we wanted a ‘just picked’ garden feel so we used various purples, greens and creams to create a nice fresh look. All were hand tied which was gorgeous.

In general, we both loved the way all of our customized items turned out. If we had to pick a favorite though, I loved our wedding favor boxes- milk chocolate rectangles imprinted with our logo, wrapped in lavender foil, then a green paisley box with a silver thank you charm. They were so cute!

I also liked the gum drop we used for place card holders. It added the casualness and fun that we love. I think our guests’ favorite element was the photo booth! It was in use all night!

We also went overboard on wedding favors because we wanted our guests to be spoiled.

We had wedding favors with chocolates, take home treats from the dessert buffet and the photo booth pictures they were all able to take home.

We actually decided to forego a wedding cake in light of the dessert buffet!

We had dessert shooters, mini cupcakes, cake pops, brownie bites, cookies with our logo, mini whoopee pies, logoed bags with popcorn to take home.

It was a huge hit!

Our favorite details of the day was the dessert buffet and how we carried our logo throughout the entire day.

We are most thrilled to finally be married, but we loved every part of our wedding day.

We had all of the people who were important to us there to share our special day and there is not one thing I would have done differently!

Photography: Paige Winn Photography

Venue: Cedarhurst Mansion

Florist: I Do Flowers

Desserts: Shauna Younge Desserts

Wedding Coordinator: Fab-You-Lous Events (Kirsten Fisher)

DJ: Silver Sounds DJ

Photo Booth: VIP Photo Booths

Music: Il Dolce String Trio

Officiant: Rev. Derek Kiewatt