Wedding planning can be stressful. Crazy. And really fun! Since Tony and I have all of the big things out of the way- the venue (so tricky!), the guest list (eeeeek), the photographers and videographers, the officiants, florist and DJ, it’s now time for the fun details.

Part of me really wanted a destination wedding. We didn’t want to leave anyone out though and having all of our friends and family there on our day was really important to Tony. So we settled on a “kind of” destination wedding in Red WIng.

It’s a fun town to hang out in for a weekend, and it’s just far enough of away from our friends and family to give them a getaway without huge travel time or expenses.

Tony totally gets the credit for choosing the St. James for us. I very against a hotel wedding. I love to be different and a hotel seemed too “typical” for me. However, when I walked into the St. James and saw the breathtaking banquet room with huge windows overlooking the river valley, I couldn’t resist. As someone who grew up boating on the river, I wanted the river to have a big play in our day and the St. James was perfect for that!

When making our wedding budget, I wanted to invest in things that contributed to the guest’s experience so I put low priority on things like my dress and flowers and high priority on things like location and our DJ and of course our photographers.

It really surprised me though how fun it was picking out my dress and flowers! I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would. We had our flower appointment with Clementine Florist, and it was amazing! Allison is located right in the St. James so it is super convenient, and she has been so fun to work with.

I knew from the start that she was the right florist for me when I went into her shop and saw Birds of Paradise. They’re my favorite flower ever for their unique and tropical awesomeness, and I never dreamed that it would be possible to have them in my bouquet. However, each time I visit Allison’s shop, she has some waiting for me to take home.

In addition to picking out our flowers, we got to do our food tasting! This was so much fun! When we got to the hotel, we saw a customized sign welcoming Tony and I to our tasting. Dang. Now that’s a good way to impress the customers. I’m taking notes 🙂

We got to try delicious appetizers like cheesy asparagus phyllo rolls and asian pork belly sliders. For the entrees, I’ve my heart set on tacos since forever so of course we tried the southwest buffet option. We also tried the cheesy apple pork, delicious pasta that was served in an adorable little crock and yummy Mediterranean chicken.

As predicted, we ended up choosing the taco bar. I even have a neon “I love tacos” sign that I got from Target earlier this year that we can put out by the food. I know my wedding won’t be the classiest, most elegant event out there but it will be fun and unique and that’s what counts, right? Cheers and happy planning to all of my fellow brides out there!