Saturday started with my little brother waking me up saying, “Tonia! Come on! We’re going to jump in the lake!”  Apparently we had all decided the night before {after a healthy amount of beer} that we were going to do a “polar bear plunge” in the morning.  I am positive that this sounded like a great idea at the time, but let me tell you that it was the last thing I wanted to do on the morning of my wedding!! 

Nevertheless, I dragged myself out of bed and met the other “plungers” {Mike, my brother, my godfather, my godsister and godbrother, and Mike’s bro and sis-inlaw} outside.  We all looked extremely regretful.  It was a very chilly fall morning, but we comforted each other with confident conversation about how the water temperature would surely be much warmer than the air.

Not so!  Alas, the water was friged.  I think it caused my heart to stop for a second!  We ran back to our cabins, feeling much more awake…and grateful to be alive.

After a quick breakfast, it was time to finish decorating the tent.  By the time I got over there, pumpkins were already being arranged with flowers {some were from an organic grower in WI and some were cut from my mom and dad’s garden as well as several friends’ gardens!}, and tables were already being set.  Everything was looking beautiful!!

With the tent well on its way to being finished, most of our guests spent the rest of the morning kayaking on the lake, walking in the woods, and playing bocce and other lawn games.

Now, most of the photos you’re about to see were taken by the totally rad Joe Dickie and his assistant Tony, of Generation Photography in the Twin Cities.  They exceeded our expectations from start to finish: answering our questions and emails promptly, showing up exactly on time, being professional and friendly, taking amazing images, staying longer than we had contracted them to, and then providing us with three entire DVD’s of EVERY image they took. 

Plus…just look at the pictures.  They’re candid, they’re vivid and well composed {without any of that trendy photoshopping that will probably be out of style in a few years}, and most importantly they tell the story of the whole day.  I’m not even kidding- I never saw Joe or Tony once during the entire ceremony.  I have no idea how they got the photos they did.  They were completely out of the way and discrete!  No loud clicking noises, distracting flashes, or dorky scurrying around.  Thank you, guys.  Thank you so much.

Remember when we painted these signs?

Poppy ordered custom bocce trophies with “Mike & Tonia’s Bocce Tournament” printed on them.  Our good friend Jared organized the game and kept track of the score for everyone.  The proud winners wore their medals the entire day.

Inside the cabin, the girls and I were already getting ready…

Helloooo!  Cutest Flower Girl of the Year Award!!  Emma is Mike’s second-cousin.  I think she looks like she could be his daughter.  Those big brown eyes.  Her tutu and crown were both from Etsy and she was pretty excited about them.

The girls looked so beautiful in their aubergine dresses.  My mom and her two close friends Barb and Nancy made all the hair accessories for the Bridesmaids, as well as all the corsages.

My Grandma June ties the best bows.  She’s a little famous for them in our family.  It was so special for me to have her there to tie my sash.  I loved my dress…it was comfortable all day long and made me feel beautiful.  The sash was made by hand by the ladies at Che Bella in St. Paul, which is also where I found my dress.

Meanwhile, the guys started getting ready as well…

The groom is:

A) Nervous

B) Excited

C) Very silly

D) All of the above

…And they were done getting ready in about 15 minutes, so they went outside to play shuffleboard.

Looking sharp!!  Left to right: John {Mike’s brother & Best Man}, Danny {my brother}, Dave {our roommate when we lived in Duluth & best friend}, Will {my youngest cousin & Ring-Bearer}, Mike {groom}, Nick {long-time friend}, and Chris {brother-in-law, married to Mike’s sister}

Those snazzy vests were handmade by a woman in our town.  My mom and I found the charcoal herringbone wool at Hancock Fabric.  They were an itty-bit too big on all the guys, so on Saturday morning my tireless aunt Cathy altered them so they fit each of the guys perfectly.  The guys got their gray wool pants at JC Penny…on sale for $25.

Mike’s suit was a major splurge.  It’s a designer piece, and it took us forever to find, but it was worth it.  The entire week before the wedding, I heard him say “Gosh, I didn’t think I could love a suit,” at least 30 times.  I didn’t think so either, sweetie!…But I’m so glad he looked and felt like a champ on our big day!!  So handsome.

And anyone who cares to argue that ring-bearers are “so last year”, obviously has never met my cousin.  Cutest. Dude. Ever.  Bow-tie found on Etsy, boutonniere made by our friend Maggie.

OMG, Dave! Don’t rip your pants!!  Oh, look…the groom is equally as athletic…

Finally the women are ready, too…here comes the bride!

We’re ready to do this thing!! Bring on the wedding!!

Wooooooooo!  That’s right, folks.  Finally.  I am so excited to share the stories and the photos from what was truly, truly the best weekend of our lives.  Every second of the whole experience was ridiculously fun, exciting, heart-warming, and memorable…but since I can’t possibly give you every single detail, I’m just going to do my best to share the moments that particularly struck me as “awesome” for one reason or another. 

Most of these photos were taken by family/friends.  They captured some pretty great moments.  Thank you to all of you who brought your cameras and shared your pictures with us afterwards!!  It has been so fun for Mike and me to see our wedding from so many different points of view.

So let’s start at the beginning, shall we?  The story really starts on Thursday, because our wedding wasn’t just one day of fun…it was a FESTIVAL!    Mike and I arrived at Dillman’s Resort on Thursday night after getting off work.  Our families were already in their cabins, which were conjoined {like a duplex}. 

A big U-Haul truck was parked out front, already un-packed.  My mom already had her “task charts” hung up on the cabin wall, the kitchen was full of groceries, and every spare inch of the living room was full of boxes of supplies.  Mike’s family was grilling steaks and potatoes for us on the back deck.  I LOVE OUR FAMILIES!!! 

We spent most of that evening filling paper bags with goodies like hot chocolate, mixed nuts, and tea for each of the guest cabins.  Then it was early-to-bed because we knew we’d be getting very little sleep the rest of the weekend.

Guests started to arrive right away on Friday.  It was so exciting to watch the cars pull in to the resort.  I kept looking around and thinking, “Hey! I know that person…” until finally my brain realized I was going to know everyone.  It was just a bit shocking to see so many people from different parts of our lives- childhood, high school, college, etc.- all hanging out together!

My Godmother, Mike and I walked around delivering the bags of goodies to all the different cabins.  It was a little rainy and chilly, but we were elated and having so much fun.

Later, Mike’s dad, my dad, and Mike got to work assembling the arbor down by the lake.  My dad and Mike made this arbor together earlier in the summer.  They painstakingly hand-scribed cedar logs, and joined them without the use of nails or screws {or as Mike would say, “the right way.”}  This beautiful monstrosity will stand in our garden for years to come.

The next task was to clean out the pumpkins {purchased at the farmer’s market}.  Thankfully we had a lot of willing helpers for this job because those decorative white pumpkins are really hard to scoop out!!   Not as soft as the normal orange ones, fyi for anyone planning a wedding with white pumpkins!

While the men scooped, the women fluffed.  Fluffed paper flowers, that is.  My mom, her five sisters, and I had spent an entire weekend during the summer folding {recycled} tissue-paper like accordions.  When you “fluff” the folded accordions, you get a beautiful tissue-paper flower.  We strung them all over the tent, along with the gigantic light bulb strands that my dad made for me…yes, he made them rather than buying them online at one of those wedding supply shops.  Go dad!*

*Actually, I call my dad “Poppy”, and he will henceforth be referred to as that on this blog because calling him “dad” feels weird.

Fluffing is not a task for the feint at heart…it took us hours to fluff over 200 flowers, with many people helping.  Luckily there was a level of instant-gratification because each flower comes out a little different, and they’re oh-so-pretty when they’re all strung together. 

Watching all the decorations we had spent months and months making come together at the hands of our guests- who were SO happy and willing to help- was totally overwhelming in the best way possible.  Everyone wanted to pitch in and make the tent look perfect for us, and it did.  I can’t begin to express how grateful and touched Mike and I were that people not only traveled to our wedding but also showed up with energy, ready to help.  Thankyouthankyouthankyou everyone!

In the afternoon, we rehearsed the ceremony down by the lake with our Pastor and wedding party.  It was quick and dirty…we didn’t run through it over and over again because we wanted the real thing to really feel special and not have a “just going through the motions” quality to it.  But it was fun to stand under the arbor with Mike and think, “the wedding’s tomorrow!!!! Holycrap!!!!”

And then, it was time to party!  Mike’s mom and dad organized a delicious BBQ dinner for us and all our guests on Friday night.  We wanted a typical Northwoods Wisconsin picnic, so our relatives from Chicago and the Twin Cities could get a taste for what I grew up with.  Bad to the Bone BBQ certainly delivered just that.  They were awesome, and kept the good food flowing until everyone was stuffed. 

Dinner was followed by a folk-dance under the tent.  Don’t know what a folk-dance is?  Go find out, immediately…preferably by showing up at one. Or check it out on Youtube.

Some of our closest friends are professional musicians and play for folk dances all over the Midwest.  They’re all from different bands {Duck for the Oyster, Hip Pocket, and Poor Benny}, but joined together into one big band for this occasion!  They ROCKED.  I saw people dancing whom I thought would NEVER dance.  You just can’t sit still when the fiddle is fiddlin’! 

…Poor little Emma, our flower girl, got stuck in the middle of a two-line-set and the bride and groom are sashaying towards her with amazing speed!!!  Aaaahg!  Get out of the way, Emma!

After the dance, a large group of our guests gathered at a bonfire.  Beer drinking and story telling and stomach-cramping laughter ensued.  Mike and I stayed at that fire waaaaay too late- at the cost of possibly looking less than perfect the next day- but I must say that those late hours around the fire were some of the very best of the whole weekend. 

Thus ends Friday.*  A perfect start to a perfect weekend.

*Although, Facebook later revealed that SOME people did not go to bed after the bonfire was over: