kitty08's reviews

Todd and his friends are pretty cool, and rather than bar hop they tend to do something more active like golf or go waterskiing. With Todd, they decided that it would be funny to take him to paintball because he is such a softy. Todd reports that the course was cool, they were all in a big field and they divided them into two groups. He says he was always pretty impressed with how realistic the paintball guns look, and not impressed with how painful getting hit with a paintball can be. Most of his friends wore camo gear, and he regrets wearing a white shirt.

Todd and I debated over how to spread the news of our wedding date to all our friends and family members. Save-the-date cards seem like a good idea, but it can be really costly to send out invites twice. Todd suggested we send out an email, which we did when we first got engaged, but then we found out that eweddings let you create a web page with all the information on it. It was a great idea! The web page was super cute and easy to use, and all of our busy friends were given almost a year notice to make plans. The thing I like best was that I was able to include extra information, like what fun things they could do in Minneapolis or Stratford. Also, we were able to provide a map of where the banquet hall is located, so that people driving there wouldn't get lost.

Todd's parent's offered to pay for the reception, with the catch that the reception would be held in their hometown on Stratford, WI. This place is about two hours away from the cities, but I thought that it would be a great chance for my Canadian friends to see Midwest nature. It was also a generous offer, because we wouldn't have been able to afford anything on our own in the city! The Country Banquet Hall does lots of weddings and receptions, so we were able to talk over most of the details over the phone with the manager, and then Todd's mother was an excellent help by speaking with the caterer and the florists. The big draw back was that many of our college friends and my family had to come a long distance, and there weren't any hotels nearby. Other than that, it was a perfect place!

Todd went here, got his suit with his dad and some friends. They looked good. Todd needed a suit, but I think most men in the Midwest know of this store and shop here.

I know that many people like making their own wedding invitations, but I am not Martha Stewart. I also knew that Todd wasn't going to help on this project, and after you calculate how much time you could spend on invitations, it just makes sense to have them done. We chose Paper Rock Scissors because they are a new business and I wanted to support them, and I felt really confident in Patty helping me create the best invitations possible. Once she understood the style that I wanted, she created a wonderful template for me. Because of the location, we printed up maps for the guests who were coming out of town. We also, at the last minute, opted for table cards just because of how helpful they can be. The invitations were beautiful yet trendy and unique. Everything was ready on time, and it was great working with them.

Because the wedding reception was taking place in Stratford, my mother-in-law took care of all the planning, including what flowers would be at the reception hall. I had special plans for my own bouquet. I love flowers, and I wanted my bouquet to be something that I would love, and just adore holding and looking at. We met the florist that we would work with from our local co-op, the Eastside Co-op, Artemisia. Kim works with organic and locally grown flowers, and she also has an amazing aesthetic style. I told her the color of my bridesmaids' dresses, and then the style of my wedding dress, and then what I wanted the bouquets to look like. It was amazing. The tricky part was transporting the flowers, and then finding a fridge big enough to hold them, but it was worth the effort. I received so many compliments on my bouquet! I only wished she could have done the rest of the flowers of the event!

Because I am Canadian, we thought it would be a cute idea to give all of our guests a small bottle of maple syrup with our names on it, and the wedding date. I would have liked to have gotten real Canadian maple syrup, but it's rather expensive. We wanted the favors to be cute little tokens. We ordered them from Favor Favor, in bulk with our details, and we were really happy that we received them according to the estimated delivery date. We placed the small bottle at the top of each place setting, which worked out fine.

Because my best friends/bridesmaids were in Ottawa and NYC, I went about picking out the bridesmaid's dresses with Todd's help. We visited several bridal stores in the Twin City area, but I felt the most confident with the staff at Macy's Bridal Salon in Minneapolis. The women who helped us were so professional, and I really appreciated their straightforward mannerisms. It was like I had three great aunts telling me what would work, and what wouldn't work. They didn't hesitate to ask me about the body shapes of my bridesmaids, and led me towards dress styles that would flatter their body types. They also wanted to know my budget, and only gave me dresses that fit in that budget. I was able to order the dresses with my bridesmaid's measurements, and the dresses fit well.

Todd and some co-workers were really helpful in planning my bridal shower. Todd figured that since everyone would be traveling far to be here, why not spend a day with my girlfriends and mom in a spa getting a message. This was on the Thursday before the wedding, and everyone was supposed to arrive before noon (only one flight was delayed). We went to the spa and it was wonderful! They had set up a small chill room for us to talk, and Todd had brought NA champagne and sushi for us (which was allowed). And they had these cute desserts for us. My favorite part was how this was the first message that my mother ever got, and she loved it! I loved seeing everyone so relaxed. I was so stressed about how people would feel about flying out here for my wedding, and this was a great way to get rid of all that stress. And feel beautiful!

This was the present for me from my co-workers once they found out that Todd and I were engaged. I think it was really sweet of them, because with my mother and friends so far away, it really helped me get into the spirit of the wedding. Some of my co-workers were also engaged at the time, so it was fun to be able to talk constructively about what I would want at my wedding. I would have to say that my favorite part was the fashion show. I loved seeing all the dresses, and because I knew nothing about weddings, it was a great help knowing that it would take at least 8 weeks (on a rush) to get a basic wedding dress ready. I spoke with many of the planners who were there, and they made me realize how much planning the day would involve, the costs, and the responsibility of the bride to be! I also was unaware of how big a business weddings are in the Midwest!