In this post I’m going to talk about a lot of different things, so bear with me as I try to cover a lot of ground.
We did this by choosing less pricey locations – we chose an apple orchard and an event center in downtown Excelsior, Minnesota.
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We got ready at the Orchard, they have the cutest little pamper barns, one for the boys and one for the girls, so these pics here are a few of me just getting dressed and ready.
My mom actually made my wedding dress, so when we put it on after all of her hard work it was a really special moment. To me that moment didn’t just represent the hard work she put into the dress, it was a moment of thinking about all of the hard work she put into raising me, I’m not the best at telling her but I am so thankful for my mama.
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Having my mom sew my wedding dress was such a great gift. It made the dress that much sweeter, and it was a big financial gift. Wedding dresses can damage your bank account pretty badly, but there are other options than buying brand new! I know a lot of places have like bridal conventions or discount stores where you can buy nice dresses at a discounted price!
Also, I think that really intricate dresses can be really pretty, but simple, classic dresses can be both more cost effective and more timeless, meaning that maybe in the future you could gift it to your kids or a friend or something!!
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We chose not to have a videographer, while it would have been fun, it just wasn’t something that Jake and I were willing to spend money on. We did though, pick out a photographer that we trusted and loved the style of. Victoria at Aurora Pines Photography was an amazing photographer to work with. She did our engagement pictures, had a wedding preparation meeting, took our wedding pictures, and went above and beyond every step of the way. We totally lucked out, and I always say this, but we didn’t just find a photographer, we also found a friend :’)
I grew up right next door to Taylor, so we have so many fun memories camping in the backyard, building tunnels in the snow, playing our DS’s together because our rooms were just close enough that they were in reach and we could text over pictochat before we had phones. If there’s one person I know to call for a good time, it’s Tay.
Sydney and I grew up going to the same church. We weren’t always super close, but we became really close in high school when we saw each other all the time. We would have LOST marathons during sleepovers, sneak pounds of candy into the movies, go to local sports games, and drive around backroads just jamming to country music. If there’s one person I know that will have my back in a fight, it”s Syd.
Megan and I worked at Trout Lake Camps together in high school and college. We also got to be roommates at school and co-interns at church in Arizona at Redemption-Tempe. I can’t count the number of late night talks, visits to each other’s hometowns, dutch bros and gcbc dates, and of course eating chick-fil-a on the floor of our apartment instances. If there’s one person I know that will always pick up the phone and make time, it’s Megs.
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One thing I didn’t plan at all for either was snacks for the wedding party and family that were there all morning. We found things to eat, a bag of pretzels or some apples from the orchard, but I wish I would have had like a bunch of raw fruits and veggies for everyone to munch on before the ceremony!!! Also I’m a huge snacker so I don’t know why I didn’t think I would be fine without food… I hid an apple in my bouquet and in some photos you can see it lollll.
Another way we saved money was our rings, Jake definitely splurged on my engagement ring, but our wedding rings combined cost about $200. We like having cheap rings because we’re not afraid to get our hands dirty with them on or lose them! Maybe our kids will be sad that we don’t have rings to pass on or something but we can always buy more expensive rings on an anniversary or something.
From the left, we have my aunt Karin, in the back we have my sister Erica, her husband Jason, who stood in for Jake’s best man because Josiah is in the military and couldn’t make it, and then we have my parents, Karen and Paul. In the front on the left there is Maria, Jake’s mom, and Nana, Jake’s grandma. Next to them is my grandma, Margaret, and in between my dad and I is my sister Jillian. I’m holding Erica and Jason’s daughter, my niece, Isla. To the right of us is Marty, Jake’s dad, and his step-sister and her husband and their baby, Andrea, Kyle, and Jackson. Jake’s step-mom Connie is standing to the left of Megan and Dan, Jake’s sister and brother-in-law, who are standing on the far right.
I hope that all made sense haha.
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I know that right now it’s a really big trend to have a “no tech” wedding ceremony where phones aren’t allowed, but I love that so many people got to take their own pics and have their own memories captured. Like I think sometimes it’s so overwhelming, obviously on the internet, that everyone shares how they experience life or an event, but it’s so fun to see how the day went through the lens of someone’s phone!!!
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Minnesota is such a small-world too. For example one of my dad’s cousins is a doctor and some of Jake’s dad’s family are his patients!! So running into each other at a wedding must have been pretty strange haha. And one of my cousins went to college with a bunch of my friends and worked at a different camp with some of Jake’s friends so his worlds were colliding too. It’s just funny because Minnesota’s Minneapolis/Saint Paul area always seems so big but then stuff like that happens and it feels smaller!!
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We kind of went with an afternoon at an orchard kind of theme, so we had cards and games for everyone to play, because instead of a meal we had appetizers and drinks.
One trick I learned was not to warn my dad about a speech too far in advance because he’ll over-prepare, so I told him about it the day before and he gave the best speech about two people coming together and sacrificing their own preferences and opinions for their joint preferences and opinions, and building something beautiful together as a team.
Honestly at this point during our wedding everything was starting to become a blur. I couldn’t tell you any conversations that I had with friends and family, or who was where during what time and such. It was such a whirlwind of a day, and I loved it, but I’m glad its over haha.
Almost six months later I’m still not used to introducing myself as “Adriana Vanderzanden” or signing it. I think I might have actually signed my name as my maiden name on our certificate, but I really couldn’t tell you.
This is another thing that I loved about the photographer, I don’t know if we talked specifically about this, but she really tuned into social cues and things like that. She asked personal questions during our preparation meeting, but not invasive, just to get a feel for the dynamics of our family and friends. I think she asked if stepping out and taking pictures during the reception would be alright with us and it came as such a relief to me. I understand why people have portraits and things done while their guests are waiting for a break from everything for a little while, but we didn’t want to make people sit around and wait for us!
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We chose not to take an elaborate honeymoon for several reasons. Firstly, I didn’t want to fly anywhere, because I always associate that with exhaustion and vacation. We also didn’t want to spend a lot of money on our honeymoon, and we knew that anywhere we went we would just want to be alone together anyway, so we chose a spot on the Great Lakes that was cozy and secluded. It was about a six hour drive from the Twin Cities. We rented a cabin for a week, and just spent the time watching movies together, exploring in nature, eating really stinking good food, and biking around new small towns. Jake and I fell in love in the middle of nowhere in northern Minnesota, so I think it was fitting that we honeymooned in the middle of the woods on the water.
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The second pic above is my friends absolutely wrecking me with birdseed during our send off hahaha, I still have birdseed in my car and I don’t think I’ll ever get it all outttt but I thought it was hilarious.
Honestly from here we tried to go to Wendy’s to get chicken tenders but the one we went to didn’t have them so then we ended up going to Canes in the middle of the University of Minnesota campus and I didn’t want to go like viral on the internet for wearing my wedding dress in Canes so I sat in the car a few blocks away and Jake got it and then we went to our hotel which was super nice and ate Canes.
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Here’s her website:
https://aurorapinesphoto.wixsite.com/home
And if you have any other questions about our wedding or marriage or anything like that – feel free to comment!!
the woodsy wife - by adriana vanderzanden 
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