This wedding is so fun with its nautical theme and vintage touches. But what really makes me smile is the proposal. How romantic and sweet is it that Robbie was “bursting with the ring” and couldn’t wait to put it on Jaclyn’s finger. What a perfect way to start their journey towards their big day.
Jaclyn & Robbie |August 8th, 2009 | Lake Minnetonka,Excelsior, Minnesota
How he proposed
Robbie had been scheming his proposal for months with his parents help. Everything was in place for that Friday night. Ask my dad for my hand: check! Have my favorite dinner ingredients ready: check! Pick up ring: Check! But on the way home from the jewelry store Wednesday night he couldn’t wait til Friday. He came home from work and we made sandwiches for dinner and went upstairs to get ready to go to the gym. When I was on the phone he quietly put the ring on our French bulldogs collar, Pearl, and waiting for me to end my conversation. When I hung up the phone he came over to me and started talking sweet and got down on one knee… I was so surprised I thought it could have been a cruel joke. By this time I still hadn’t seen the ring so with out that major investment confirmation I wasn’t sure he was serious. When I finally said yes he took the ring off Pearls collar and put it on my hand. It was so romantic and casual I couldn’t have asked for a more “us’ proposal.
The ceremony
We found an adorable white church with a steeple at the top of a hill overlooking the Lake Minnetonka. The inside was so fresh and light with a pale blue ceiling and large tea light chandeliers. The ceremony started at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and it started with a singer/acoustic guitarist playing some of our favorite John Mayer and David Grey love songs. Robbie and I wanted our ceremony to feel like a mini acoustic concert, not too traditional cause we wanted it to feel really personal and modern. It was by far my favorite part of the day.
One thing we did that I loved but wasn’t sure about at first was we faced the congregation during the ceremony. Seeing every ones faces smiling in support was really powerful and I’d highly recommend doing the same.
When it was time to exit the church we had handed out bells in little cotton bags to ring as we got into the convertible Corvette. We had the groomsmen adorn it with the traditional tin cans on the back and everyone waved us goodbye. We headed to the boat landing where a pontoon and the rest of the wedding party were waiting for us to take a boat cruise while our guests were enjoying cocktail hour.
The reception
We arrived at the reception site dockside with all of our guests outside waiting for us. As we de-boarded we mingled through the crowd and chit chatted with everyone instead of having a formal receiving line. I used old wood dock sections as signs to indicate where various important things were such as the Bar and Bean Bag Toss game.
The best part was the vintage inspired sunglasses I bought online at wholesale cost for favors. I had 80’s styles, retro, aviators and our guests had so much fun picking out the ones they wanted to wear the rest of the day. They all had their sunglasses on when we arrived.
I wanted to work with the décor of the venue so I guess you could say we had a “nautical theme”. My color pallet was mostly white with touches of red. For the centerpieces I used simple hurricane vases and wrapped them with rope to mimic the large dock pillars outside. Each vase had a simple arrangement of lemon leaf (very cheap) with a large 36” white balloon tied with bakers twine at each table. They were so impactful and reminded me of large buoys. Suspended mid string was the table numbers.
I bought cloth napkins from Ikea that had a red stripe on the bottom to give the tables a vintage look and filled black and white striped cupcake liners with trail mix. Half our guests were inside and half outside on the lawn in a white tent. We had about 200 guests.
I had vintage dessert plates I had gathered over our year and 8 month engagement from local Goodwill stores. I used some of those to make custom cake tiers to put the Hoho’s, licorice and dessert bars on.
How Jaclyn knew her wedding dress was “the one”
I went wedding dress shopping probably 6 times and tried on around 60 dresses. I thought I wanted a Greek goddess dress at first and ended up buying one used on EBay. But after much thought and a few episodes of “Say Yes to the Dress” I wanted to be a little more sexy and slinky on my wedding day so I started over. When I went to the boutique where I found my dress it was between “the one” and another gown. My mom and friend were sure that this dress was it but I wasn’t ready to let the other one go. We took pictures of me in both and when I looked back at those pictures in the bridal boutique that’s when I knew with out a doubt that this beautiful Elizabeth Fillmore dress was the dress of my dreams. It was light, sexy and comfortable. I didn’t want to take it off then or at the end of the night after the long hot day.
The moment she will never forget
Our wedding day was 95 degrees and humid. The forecast had predicted a big storm and the clouds were looking uneasy. So many of our plans depended on good weather. We all got our hair and makeup done at my house and when it was time to leave my bridesmaids and mom were loading up the cars with goods. I hadn’t been outside yet but I heard rumblings that it was steamy outside. With a little worry in my voice I asked one of my bridesmaids, “Is it really hot out there?” She looked at me and said, “It’s perfect.” That moment will be burned in my mind forever and get weepy just thinking about it.
Her advice for other brides
First and foremost, disregard any traditions that you feel aren’t “you” and try to make your wedding day your own. There are no rules! If you don’t want to carry a bouquet, don’t! If you like cowboy boots instead of heels, where boots! Anything goes when it comes to your day and try to ask other people’s opinions only when you truly want them.
