our wedding reception was at aria in the north loop of minneapolis. the minute we toured this venue i knew it was the one. we wanted our wedding to be modern yet traditional and this restored warehouse was perfect.
aria is a complete blank canvas for a bride to do whatever she wants with. this is the best (but also worst) part because the choices are absolutely endless. at the end of the day, i choice the vendors that i connected with and who i trusted to execute my vision.
the 8 foot rectangle tables (covered in linens) were included with the fee from the venue, as well as the chairs. i was very specific in my vision to have all long tables (i told the event coordinator to, “just think harry potter, you know what i mean right?”) unfortunately they did not have enough rectangle tables, so i rented the extra farmhouse tables (not covered in linens). this was a blessing in disguise because the farmhouse tables were so beautiful and didn’t even need linens. the 8 strings of cafe lights were also rented from the venue.i had six over the dining tables and 2 over the dance floor. when the lights were dimmed for the dancing, it was pretty amazing! we also had five chandeliers over the head table, which were provided by phos events.
we were able to rent all of the linens from crave, our caterer. the tablecloths were ivory and the napkins black. my mom and i folded all of the napkins into little bowties. i wanted the menus and napkins to resemble a tux. i think it was a success! sarah glad from milestone paper company created the menus and name tents. she also created our beautiful invitations.
sadie’s floral created all of the floral arrangements, as well as the bouquets and boutonnieres. we used mainly roses and hydrangeas, but my bouquet was all peonies (which are my favorite!) i also loved all of the dark greenery we had on the tables, it was so beautiful!
tony and i saw an ice luge at a few weddings we had been to and really wanted to incorporate one into our wedding. i worked with ice occasions and they did an amazing job! our signature cocktail was a grapefruit vodka and all of the guests really loved pouring it through there before enjoying it! this ice luge was probably one of the cheapest items of our wedding and the biggest hit. i highly recommend having one!
tony and i really love donuts. like really love donuts. for our wedding we wanted to do something different, and thought, why not have donuts instead of wedding cake. angel food bakery made 18 dozen donuts for our wedding in tons of different flavors and displayed them absolutely beautifully. our family and friends could. not. get. enough. they were gone.
even though we love donuts, i still wanted to cut a cake on my wedding day. what can i say, i’m a bride! i asked angel food to make a really small wedding cake solely to have something to cut! i found the cute cake topper on etsy, which made it feel more personal. i also surprised tony with a guinness groom’s “cake” made of donuts. he loves guinness and was so surprised!
we ended up doing a lot of ‘diy’ for the wedding. i blame this on pinterest. i had my poor mom and sister painting, sewing, cutting, you name it! although it was a lot of work, it made the day feel really personal and special. the more weddings i go to, the more i appreciate anything a bride does to make the day feel different. pics of all of our diy projects below!
thanks again to justin graddy from graddy photography for the beautiful photos and curtis kennedy from better together cinematography for our video!