North Dakota Weddings

Sometimes when you know what you want, a fast track to “I Do” makes complete sense. In this case, that fast track was six months from engagement to Mr. and Mrs and this wedding didn’t skip a single beat. From the light-filled images by Autumn Wilson Photography to the modern rustic details crafted by Sadie’s Couture Floral & Event Styling, there’s not a single teeny inch we don’t love. See so much more right here.

From the Bride… Adam and I got engaged in February and thought that there was no reason to wait and that we couldn’t put together a fabulous wedding in six months, so we set the date for August 25, 2012. He is from Winnipeg, Canada and I, from North Dakota. I starting planning immediately because of the shorter timeline and had the venue booked a few days after the engagement. It is amazing how big of a help Pinterest was in planning! So many great ideas. I had pinned a stunning Liancarlo dress onto my “dream wedding” board a couple weeks before getting engaged. My mom and I were in DC the weekend after getting engaged, and I bought that exact dress at a beautiful little place called Carine’s Bridal Atelier! I knew I wanted a modern rustic wedding, but my color scheme was actually decided the moment after Carine tied my dress up with a gorgeous satin taupe colored sash. Taupe, ivories, whites, burlap.

My mom and I were ordering things on ebay, Etsy and crafting websites for all the months leading up to the wedding and talking about ideas nearly every day. My parent’s house became a wedding warehouse. Everyone knows me to have a huge sweet tooth, so I knew I wanted a large sweets table at the wedding. My mom was in charge of the “candy bar” portion. I ordered wine boxes online (we love wine), stained them and had glass cut for the tops to use as cupcake and baked goods holders. I asked my mom, mother-in law, aunts and a couple bridesmaids to contribute a home made sweet for the table and labeled everything with little chalkboard signs. We had cupcakes, cake, cookies & milk, bars, mini pies, and tons of candy. Everyone raved about it!

The morning of the wedding, it was rainy and cloudy but by noon turned into a clear, sunny, perfect summer day for an outdoor ceremony and tent wedding! When I arrived at the country club, I was amazed at how everything turned out. Sadie, my floral and event designer, did a fabulous job with the mason jar bouquets (I have a soft spot for both mason jars and hydrangeas), harvest table centerpiece, and setting up all of other decor. My mom arranged for a horse and carriage to bring my dad, flower girls, ring bearers and I to the ceremony. My ring bearers carried a “Here comes the bride” sign by cousin made. My husband did not know about the horse and carriage and said that seeing me step out was his favorite part.

The entire day, ceremony and reception was perfect. We wanted to throw our guests one kick butt party and I think we did just that! I can’t get over how stunning our photos from Autumn of Autumn Wilson Photography turned out. I get to relive that day any time I want. From my prince of a husband, to the horse and carriage, white tent, and night filled with friends and family, it was truly a fairytale day that I will never forget.

Wedding Photography: Autumn Wilson Photography / Wedding Venue: Oxbow Country Club in Oxbow, North Dakota / Wedding Design, Planning + Floral Design: Sadie’s Couture Floral & Event Styling / Wedding Cake + Desserts: Fantasies in Frosting / Invitations: Janna Bergsted (design) + Two Rivers Printing (printing) / Wedding Dress: Liancarlo (Style 5809) via Carine’s Bridal Atelier / Bride’s Shoes: Nina / Bride’s Earrings + Bracelet: Nadri via Nordstrom / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Noir by Lazaro / Bridesmaids Robes: Kohl’s / Groom + Groomsmen’s Suits: Halberstadt’s

There is so much pretty in this museum wedding by Katie Lewis Photography, Inc., I am going to start off by saying you will need to spend some serious time today in the gallery. We usually save that advice for the end, but it needs to be front in center for this Fargo fête! The entire affair is full of perfectly pretty details that need to be seen, for example – how fun is their “make a masterpiece” guestbook? Just love it. See what I mean? There is so much more see, so be sure to set aside some time for the full gallery on your calendar today!

Click here to see the entire gallery of images!

From the Bride…After we got engaged, my head started spinning about what kind of wedding to have. We tossed around a destination wedding, intimate lakeside wedding and the big hotel ballroom wedding. Ultimately, we decided to have our reception in a historic agricultural warehouse, turned art museum, in the heart of downtown Fargo. After several pros and cons lists, it boiled down to – 1) wanting to accommodate as many family members and friends as possible 2) Having a wedding that reflected us.

The museum was significant for a few reasons. First, it is downtown Fargo…not a huge downtown, but a quaint, artistic area that is the backdrop for our lives. We met downtown, live downtown and for three years I worked and Ben went to school downtown. It felt fitting we would show our out-of-town guests where we spend our days. Also, the museum is kitty-corner to where we first met. He was a second-year architecture student and I worked for the university. I saw him walking to class one day and knew I wanted to meet him. Months later we spoke for the first time at a downtown bar. (About one year and  eight months later he proposed to me by setting up a scavenger hunt, strategically placing clues at meaningful locations. Many of the clues were downtown.) During the reception, it was cool to look out of the third-floor window and see the building where everything started. Lastly, Ben and I both love design. I have taken several interior design classes and he graduated in May with an architecture degree, so picking an architecturally interesting building seemed perfect for us.

For the look of the wedding we wanted it to be simple and timeless with vintage touches. We also tried to infuse our day with as many special family touches as possible. By our guest book, we displayed photos from our parents’ and grandparents’ weddings. The candy buffet offered homemade candy, including chocolate suckers and mints made by Ben’s mom and caramels made by his grandmother. My sister sewed the ring bearer pillows using special fabric from my Grandma Lil and buttons from my Grandma Eleanor. (Both are no longer with us, so it was special to have something small of theirs in our ceremony.) I also used a silver and blue pin from my Grandma Eleanor for my something blue, attached to my bouquet. The silver goblets at the head table were used at Ben’s parents wedding and Ben’s uncle sewed handkerchiefs with our names and wedding date on it. At our dance, we did an anniversary dance starting with Ben’s parents first song, “Can I have this dance.”

Our colors were light lavender (looks more blue in photos), cream and black, with touches of pink. I wanted the wedding to feel light and airy, like my favorite season – spring. The museum had some strict decorating policies – nothing hanging, nothing attached to walls, no candles. But we didn’t mind, because the building is so beautiful on its own with lots of natural light, beautiful wood floors and  exposed brick, we didn’t want to distract from it. But I do love candles and I’m not a fan of fake ones. So to still get a soft glow on some of the tables, I worked with my coworker who is a graphic designer (who also designed our save-the-dates, invitations and programs) to design a candle holder wrap out of vellum. It covered the plastic tea lights and tied into the rest of our printed pieces. One of Ben’s ideas was to have the guests create a painting together. We mixed some colors the night before the wedding and set out an easel, canvas and the paints for guests to make a mark. We ended up with a playful piece of art that will forever remind us of our day.

Reception Location: Plains Art Museum / Wedding Photography: Katie Lewis Photography, Inc. / Flowers: Hornbacher’s / Caterer: VIP Room / Wedding Cake: Nichole’s Fine Pastry / DJ: Robert Benda DJ / Jewelry: Royal Jewelers / Men’s Attire: Halberstadt’s Men Wear / Wedding Dress: The Bridal Shop / Graphic Designer: Janelle Kistner / Musicians: Dakota Rose String Quartet