Advice and tips
The Ceremony Rehearsal: Does Your Planner or Officiant Lead It?
The Ceremony Rehearsal: Does your planner or officiant lead it? Your wedding rehearsal is the first event to kick off your wedding weekend. It may seem like an easy task (you’re only gathering your loved ones, right?), but what should have been an exciting moment for...
4 Qualities Your Officiant Should Have
4 Qualities Your Officiant Should HaveFiguring out who the heck to officiate your wedding is one tough job, especially if you haven’t been to many weddings before or have any idea how a ceremony is supposed to work. Whether you’re asking your friend to officiate your...
3 Reasons Why You Need to Book Your Officiant Early
3 Reasons Why You Need to Book Your Officiant EarlyHave you ever been to a ceremony where you either fell asleep during the ceremony, raised your eyebrow in confusion, or had your eyes open wide in shock because of something the officiant said? Because I HAVE. I don’t...
The Quick Guide to Creating a Unique Unity Ceremony
The Quick Guide to Creating a Unique Unity CeremonyI love unity pieces in wedding ceremonies. Symbolizing our lives is a great way to think about where we are now, where we will go in the future, and who we might become. Though, I don’t like unity pieces just for the...
3 Reasons You Need Live Music and a Pro Officiant for Your Wedding
3 Reasons You Need Live Music and a Pro Officiant for Your WeddingEverybody’s been to a wedding ceremony they don’t remember. Maybe the processional had way too many folks in the wedding party, or the music played a little too late or a little too early, or the...
5 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Elope
5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't ElopeAs an officiant who also owns an elopement and small wedding planning company, it’s quite comical that I’m writing this. Or contradictory. However you want to view it. I started my elopement planning business long before COVID - two...
Vendors We Love
The Most Down-to-Earth Photographer: Thara Photo
If Tim hadn’t shown up with his camera equipment to Yajit and Maria’s wedding in the August of 2020, I would have thought he was a longtime friend of Yajit and Maria. He said “hello” and easily chatted away with Sarah and Sean, their couple-friend who gifted their...
The Inspirational Married Duo: Cameron and Tia Photography
Within seconds of arriving at Kendra and Nathan’s wedding, camera posing prompts echoed from the outdoor ceremony space at Pinewood. Weddings in 2020 were not loud, thanks to the relatively small size of them, and hearing someone cheerleading during a couple’s...
Your New Best Friend: Hailey from Essen Events
Every now and then, I like socializing by reaching out to fellow vendors to get to know them so it’s not super weird when I stalk their social profiles. I’m just kidding. I’m not that weird. Well….maybe I am. The first time I met Hailey, not only was I late for a...
Feel at Home with Eric Vest Photography
As we sat against floor-to-ceiling windows in a quaint suburban Minnesota Dunn Brothers, Melody from Events by Melody and I swapped stories about the craziest moments we’ve experienced at weddings. We’ve both worked in weddings long enough to have collected a solid...
Get Both Lady and the Vamp on Your Wedding Day with Lady Vamp Artistry
The first time I met Amber from Lady Vamp Artistry (though she probably doesn’t remember) was when I was officiating my friend Mary’s wedding. I’m pretty sure Mary had just started recently experimenting with red lipstick about a year before her wedding, but before...
Freakin’ Cool Weddings with Bre is Fun
Even after having been in the wedding business for many years, it wasn’t until a few years ago when I connected with Bre from Bre is Fun at the Neu Neu (previously 514 Studios) in Minneapolis during, obviously, a wedding. Most of the time, planners and coordinators...
Art That Inspired US
Art That Inspired Us – September 2020
I didn't post what we've been reading for the past few months because, like many others, I needed to take some time alone to process everything happening in the world and in my life. In the meantime, my reading has shifted significantly to stories about those...
Art That Inspired Us – May 2020
I swear May flew right on by, which is surprising as most of us in the world are still in quarantine. Thankfully, lots of my time was filled with consuming as many pages as I could and working my way through the Oscar nominees list from the past few years. BooksHappy...
Art That Inspired Us – April 2020
This month has been a busy month for booking elopements and thus, most of my influences this month are going to be a little more global. I’m also knee-deep in screenwriting and novel writing classes. So you’ll also notice more depth in the books and films I’ve been...
Art That Inspired Us – March 2020
I started this month in Chicago and was not supposed to end this month in not only an English-speaking country, but especially Chicago. Well, here I am, writing this from my apartment in Chicago. Isn't it crazy how life can throw massive curveballs at you, no matter...
Art That Inspired Us – February 2020
Engagement season is still going strong! I absolutely love all of the couples that are looking to bring on professional writers (aka us!) to work on their ceremonies. The only downside to this is that it has reduced the number of books I can read in a month. You’ll...
Art That Inspired Us This Month – January 2020
This has been the busiest engagement season I’ve ever had, which is a great problem and also reduces the amount of reading I can do. I try to meet a goal of 50 pages per day, which sounds harder than it is. I’m the kind of person that will search for pockets of time...
Feature Weddings
Brigette and Michael’s Beatles and Pizza Chicago Wedding Ceremony
"We wanted our ceremony to be unique, light hearted, but include our love story. Writing our own vows was important to us and we wanted our readings to be far from generic and really reflect us." -BrigetteBrigette and Michael have that classic “we met at work” kind of...
Kenya + Tyler’s Slightly Religious Ceremony
Some key elements to us were creating a ceremony that wasn't too religious, but had religious aspects to it. We also wanted something personalized to who we are as a couple. -Kenya Kenya and Tyler are two of the kindest, goofiest people I’ve ever met,...
Jena + Zach’s Cody, Wyoming Elopement
“We wanted the ceremony to be laid back with a mixture of humor and romance added in.” - JenaOh Jena and Zach. Where to begin? During a quiet moment of the pandemic, Jena and Zach booked me for their elopement in Wyoming. I will be the first to admit that if you had...
Andrea and Dylan’s Skyline St. Paul Wedding
“We knew going in to it that we didn’t want a religious ceremony, and we wanted it to be more fun and lighthearted rather than a very serious ceremony. We wanted something that would feel true to us and our relationship and not feel like it was something generic or...
English
French
Italian
Spanish