PhDBride's reviews

This was Kyle’s friends’ present to us, a long weekend stay at the Foshay. I didn’t even know that places existed like this in Minneapolis. I guess his friends wanted to top off the high art theme of getting married at the Weisman Art Museums by giving us the opportunity to stay at the Foshay. We checked in on the Thursday night, spent all Friday lounging about the super trendy room, sipped on champagne, visited the rooftop Prohibition bar, and had a good night sleep on Saturday night before we left for Ireland. We had one meal at the hotel’s restaurant, Manny’s, which was really delicious. My favorite place was the lounge, where for the first time in my life I felt cool and trendy. The guests who were staying there were all ages, and everyone, staff and other guests alike, were really nice and friendly. It’s great to be able to indulge in the finer things in life once in a while, especially since I’m still a student.

We booked our flights to Ireland and our first night hotel through Travelocity. I’ve used the site before for other trips, and it’s an easy way of finding out the best deals. Kyle hadn’t booked his vacation time yet, and it just happened that the best deal was right after the wedding. He confirmed that he could get two weeks off and we booked the tickets through them. We compared rates with other sites, but found Travelocity to be the best deal. We had no problems with our flight or hotel.

I think the campus is really beautiful, and I knew right away that it would be a rather unique idea to have the reception on campus. There was quiet of bit of paperwork, we needed to become members of the club and pay a fee of about $200. Then the renting of the room was about $600. We picked the West Wing room over the Terrance, which would have been really nice, because we weren’t sure of the weather and didn’t want to have to worry about rain. Because we were renting a room through the U of M, we also needed to go with their caterers. The food was delicious, and really excellent quality. Kyle and his mother and I went to a tasting to see what we liked, and decided on a buffet menu that would suit both the vegetarian palettes and meat eaters. There is a lot of planning, and I’m happy that we were able to take care of the servers and the caterers and linens and dishes and coat check and all those things through one ‘company’. There are lots of fees, but it was worth it.

I know how to put on make-up, but I don’t know what to do with my hair. I usually just put it up in a bun and leave it at that. I wanted help with how I looked on the big day, so I got the number of Bridal Artistry through a co-worker who had just gotten married. I set up a consultation, and explained what I wanted and what my dress looked like. Because of the location, I wanted to look very clean and fresh, but something more fancy than the bun I normally have. The consultation was $80, but really helpful because they got to see my skin and hair, as well as my mother and best friend. They told me that my wedding party needed to be a minimum of three, so my best friend offered to get her make-up done for the day even though she wasn’t a bridesmaid, as did my mom. I think the biggest change and surprise of the day was how stunning my mother looked! She looked years younger, and so fresh! I had never seen her wear make-up, and since my wedding she’s been wearing eyeliner and a bit of blush. It was worth it!

Kyle and I are very simple people, so when the time came to talk about rings, it was easily decided that I didn’t need or want an engagement ring. We did want to get wedding bands, and we had the idea of Irish wedding bands. We were going to Ireland for our wedding right after the ceremony for two weeks, and thought that we could buy our rings there. I did some research, though, and found out about Irish on Grand. We visited it a few times, and Kyle was the one who really liked the an rí wedding band. There was a more narrow version of the same ring, which is what wanted for myself. We chose to get the rings in St-Paul because we felt like we were supporting the local Irish community while still buying art from Irish artists in Ireland.

My mother and I were the ones shopping for wedding invitations, and checked out a few stores in the St-Paul area. We knew right away that invitations would not be cheap, but that they could look really cheap, even when you spent a lot of money on them. I was really drawn to the vintage look of Dick and Janes ‘s cards and invitations. I also really liked working with Brian and Natalie. They loved where we were having the ceremony, and made some cute suggestions about what the invitations could look like. Under their suggestions, we also made small maps, because even though the city is easy to move through when you live here, knowing where to find parking and which bridge to take is a bit confusing. The invitation cards were perfect. My favorite part would be the save the date cards, which was a picture of a calendar. It was something unique and original that I just hadn’t seen before, and really loved. They really have so much to choose from, so much originality, that I think every bride should make them their first stop.

This was really funny! We arrived in Ireland and stayed at a hotel in Dublin for one night, figuring that we would have a better chance of finding a tour guide we liked in the city. Everyone suggested that we go with Paddywagon tours, mainly because they saw us as “nice, young Americans” and we didn’t need to be “throwing yer money away”. Their accents are hilarious. So we booked the 10 day All-Ireland Deluxe tour, and got on the bus the next day. It might have been a risk, but we were traveling with the nicest group of people, mostly older travelers and a family with three kids. The places we stayed at were nice, and we saw amazing things. I couldn’t have imagined a better way of seeing Ireland, and it was so wonderful that we were able to share that experience with so many wonderful people.

I had gotten the idea from looking through various bridal magazines that I wanted the centerpieces at the ceremony to be really tall glasses with simple flowers cascading down them. I decided that the flowers should be white, with maybe little accents of another color. I looked at lots of florists in St-Paul and Minneapolis, but I had a really good feeling from the staff at Appleblossoms, and I felt that they understood what I wanted. They looked at pictures of what the room looked like, looked at the magazine, and then showed me what they had in stock. They also made really good suggestions, mainly about the types of flowers that would be in season, and the general costs of certain flowers versus others. I was so happy working with them. They were right on time with the delivery, which was looked after by the manager at the club, and my bouquet, Kyle’s boutonnières and the centerpieces looked wonderful.

The Weisman Art Museum is perhaps one of the most unique places I have ever seen in my life, and also one of the most stunning. My family and I had originally talked about having the entire wedding ceremony at the museum, but the costs were almost $3000 more than having it at the campus club. We found out that we would be able to rent the Riverview Gallery for the reception, and we decided that it was a wonderful compromise. There was a wedding happening during the evening, so our setup was between 11 and 2pm, which was perfect. The gallery was naturally beautiful with skylights and high ceilings, and we didn’t want to clutter any of the space. Kyle and I also didn’t have a wedding party, so it was just the two of us and the minister in front of our friends. Our guests were able to mingle in the gallery before they went to the West Wing, and I think everyone really loved it.

The caterers could provide us with sheetcake or an assortment of desserts, but I sort of wanted a towering cake with the sugar frosting roses, something really traditional. We visited a few bakeries, but ultimately decided to go with Jessica’s because she is an artist and her cakes are original and beautiful. When she heard where our reception was being held, she made a few suggestions. We had a four-tier cake, with white on white icing designs and decorative silver mirrors. The cake looked beautiful, and we got lots of compliments for both the taste and how pretty it was.