Our Wedding

I have been looking forward to this post ever since we got engaged! It will be a lengthy post! I will be sharing all the details and vendor information. It sound cliché, but our day was everything I imagined, it was perfect!

We had our wedding reception at the Saint Paul College Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota. We chose to get ready together, but separate at the College Club along with my mom and cousin before we our ceremony at our church. The Saint Paul College Club has weddings down to a science. They were so easy to work with and made my vision happen so effortlessly. Everything about the venue was perfect. It was elegant and needed minimal decor as all the details are so stunning. I loved the history cozy vibe for a smaller winter wedding.

For my wedding shoes I wore a pair of Sarah Flint pumps. They were so comfortable. I kept them all day long and did not take them off until I got home late at night! They have built in arch support and a wider toe box. Sarah Flint’s entire wedding line is beautiful with an option for every season. You can my code SARAHFLINT-CCRACHEL3 for 15% off your purchase.

My wedding jewelry was very special to me as it was my something old, borrowed and blue. The something old and blue was the blue sapphire ring which was my maternal grandmothers original wedding setting from the 1940s! I also wore a bracelet that my paternal grandmother bought for me in Ireland when I was around 6 years old. I had kept it all these years and knew I had to wear it for my wedding. Both of these items were so special and both of my grandmas are no longer with us. For my something borrowed I wore my aunt’s pearl earrings.

I had my hair and makeup done at the College Club. During planning I had a difficult time finding a vendor that would come to me and complete hair and makeup for just me as I did not have a wedding party. I went with War Paint International. I am so happy that I did! They came onsite for hair and makeup on our wedding day and completed the trial at my home. I felt that their prices were fair and there was no wedding party minimum. War Paint was very easy to work with and communicated well. My original artisan fell ill and was not able to make it on my wedding day, but they quickly found a highly qualified artisan to send. As my getting ready outfit I wore a cozy ivory cashmere robe from Quince. I have talked about Quince here before and once again I was blown away by the quality of the robe for much less than other retailers. The robe was simple and elegant and perfect for a chilly morning. You can save $20 on your purchase at Quince here.

We can’t forget a photo of Jake! Jake wore these cool cuff links that his mom purchased for him several years ago for a special occasion. That special occasion happened to be his wedding.

One of my favorite parts of my wedding day was my dress. I had shopped online to get an idea of what I liked before I went wedding dress shopping in-store. The dress I chose was my favorite dress I saw when browsing online! I purchased my dress and veil from the Wedding Shoppe in Saint Paul and couldn’t be happier!

These above two photos are some of my favorite photos from the day.

Details are very important to me and I wanted to add many little details into our wedding day. I had my florist make 9 small arrangements in mercury glass votives that I have collected. I also ordered matchbooks for guests to take home. They were scattered across the tables during cocktail hour. Guests absolutely loved them and commented on how it has been years since they have seen a matchbook! I had matchbooks personalized from For Your Party.

For our guest book we had our engagement photos printed in a Chatbooks photo book. I set our fine tip sharpie markers and guest signed around the photos. It was so fun and guests enjoyed looking at the photos!

During cocktail hour we had butler passed hors d’oeuvres. Guests loved them! I thought we would have so many extra as several guests could not come last minute but it was the complete opposite!

For our dinner tables I had my florist make arrangements for half of the tables with greenery and candles for the other half. Not only did this help with cost but I also really loved the end result as it was not too busy. Jake and I decided to do a sweetheart table instead of a head table with our family. It was a great decision. We were able to eat dinner together and watch all of our guest enjoy their time.

I have a huge sweet tooth, so dessert was important to me haha. We had a dessert wall with treats from Buttercream Bakery and Nothing Bundt Cakes with wedding cake served later in the evening. I ordered take home boxes for guests to take treats home. I customized the boxes with thank you stickers from Etsy. The only downside with the dessert wall was the venue accidentally put them out too soon. Desserts were out during cocktail hour when they were supposed to come out after dinner. As a result guests loaded up on desserts before dinner and left others without any.

Of course we had to have a skunk and squirrel cake topper! All of our guests loved it. Early on in our wedding planning I knew I wanted a skunk and squirrel cake topper. I found this shop on Etsy that was able to custom make one!

I also wanted to mention Jake’s tux. We rented Jake’s tux from our local tailor 3in1. 3in1 is a small, family owned business. Jake was able to pick his tux up on the Thursday before our Saturday wedding and have it altered on the same day. They put extra thought into making Jake look his best and offered a variety of shirts, bow ties and pocket squares to choose from. They also did custom suits for my dad and bother. This may not sound like a big deal, but my bother is 6′ 10″ so he was having a very difficult time finding a suit in his price range as all suits for his size have to be custom. 3in1 made it happen and both suits looked great!

I am so happy with how all of our floral work turned out. We went with Florals by Claire. She has very fair prices and is so fun to work with. As you can probably guess from my previous blog posts, flowers were another important part of our wedding day. Claire made my vision happen and put up with all of my emails and changes! I asked her for a large bridal bouquet and boy did she deliver! I loved it!

Jake and I have never been a fan of wedding speeches. We had no speeches at our wedding. Instead we thanked guests at the start of dinner.

Our first dance was definitely something that we practiced a lot prior to our wedding. We surprised guests with a short mashup after our traditional first dance song. They were so surprised and cheered so loud! It really helped set the mood for the dance floor. We had so much fun with our first dance as you can see the expression on Jake’s face!

I cannot believe how great our wedding photos turned out! I have looked at all 800 of them on almost a daily basis since I received them back from our photographer Joan at Joan Brochman Photography. My family has worked with her in the past for family photos so I knew she was a natural choice for our wedding. Joan is so easy to work with and makes you feel super comfortable. Many of our guests commented after our wedding that they didn’t even know she was there!