Real Wedding | Angela & Ryan

I love a formal wedding.  And the elegant black and white theme of Angela & Ryan’s wedding is simple, classic and beautiful.  But my favorite part?  The groom’s cakes in the shape of their two cute dogs!

Angela & Ryan |December 19th, 2009 |Saint Paul Minnesota

How he proposed
He proposed on Christmas Eve and surprised me with the engagement ring of my dreams!  It was wrapped up like an ordinary present- it set a high standard for holidays to come! (haha)

The ceremony
The Ceremony was held at The Minnesota History Center in Saint Paul, MN. It was a beautiful, grand, and historic building that we fell in love with at first sight. The building had three floors, the top of which was where the ceremony was initially held, with a drop back of the state capital. Dinner and the reception were held on the second floor and then we went back up to the third floor for the dance portion of the night. It was really nice not to have to travel to different locations for the various parts of the wedding (considering it was a winter wedding in Minnesota!)

The reception
Our reception was held in the same building down on the second floor. All levels were accessible via grand open stairways that were decorated with thousands of candles. It set a romantic mood. Our table covers were black satin and our chair covers were white satin with a black bow to match. White flowers arrangements in various sizes decorated each guest table.

We didn’t necessarily have a ‘theme’ per se- but we knew that we wanted to have an elegant, black and white, winter wedding and have a lot of fun with it! We couldn’t decide between cakes so ended up having three- a 5-tier traditional white cake (raspberry-cream yum!) and two dog cakes (Bailey’s chocolate and apple) made by the wonderful Penny Steele. Our favorite part was the big band, we had a blast dancing the night away.

The moment Angela will never forget
My sister made an embarrassing speech about me, which I won’t go into details about 😉 Thanks sis.

What made her wedding dress “The One”
I easily tried on hundreds of dresses, whew! I tried on almost every gown available in my home state and then did the same in Chicago and Paris. I’m a terrible decision maker- there were just too many beautiful gowns! I ended up choosing a dress from a cute little boutique called ‘Grace’ not far from where I live. They were the only place I could find that had Badgley Mischka gowns- which I love! I felt like a modern-day princess, it was perfect and incredibly comfortable. (This is all after I bought not one, but TWO, other dresses- neither of which ended up being ‘the one’ unfortunately!)

Advice for other brides
Plan, plan, plan your little hearts out but just remember that when your big day comes around, it’s now time for you to relax and ENJOY your big day with your husband! Let it all go and just have a good time!

Angela’s Wedding Dress: Badgley Mischka Mallory / Photography: Andrew Vick