H&H Weddings

These sweethearts had such a beautiful engagement session in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Now, they are telling us about planning their nuptials! De Nueva Photography was there to capture all the love!

From Ross...

Once the Minnesota marriage law changed in 2012, we knew we needed to put the planning in full throttle for a summer wedding in Minneapolis the following year.  

As for our big day, the most important thing for us both was food, drinks, and friends/family. We shared a belief that our wedding day is the opportunity to throw the most extravagant party of our lifetime, so we focused on making it just that. Jeremy was an amazing planner throughout the whole thing, thinking of every detail, making huge lists and timelines, and keeping us both on track. We divided and conquered the small stuff, and did all of the important things together.

One of easiest decisions for us during the planning process was deciding on two aisles instead of a center aisle. We didn't know the “gay-wedding” norms, but knew that with traditional weddings and one spouse at a time down the aisle, we wouldn't fit into a typical gender order. The other decision that was incredibly easy for us was choosing our groomsmaids. They each represent such a big part of our lives and we knew immediately that they would all be huge parts our big day. Fortunately, Jeremy and I both had the same number!  

The most fun part of the whole process was deciding on the different readings. Since neither of us is religious, we wanted something that reflected a more worldly and spiritual theme. We chose a Buddhist poem, an Irish blessing, a Christian passage, a Jewish Prayer and a Native American verse.  

Most people probably find picking a theme or venue to be one of the hardest parts of planning a wedding. For us, we found that creating a seating chart was one of the hardest. We had two very different families and groups of friends coming together from all over the country, representing a guest list as diverse as our selection of readings. We wanted to make sure that we had a real joining of “sides,” so we spent a lot of time talking through the seating arrangement.  

With so many resources available online, like Pinterest, and the abundance of wisdom in books and from friends, we didn't have anything come up unexpectedly (at least that we know about!). Our day-of planner, Jennifer Hagerman was absolutely fantastic and took all of the stress out of our big day. If there was anything that we overlooked, she definitely took care of it for us.  

In the weeks and months after our wedding, a lot of people have and continue to ask us, “how is married life?” We did get to fill out one customs form coming back into the US from our honeymoon instead of two separate ones – so that was a change. But I think Jeremy and I can both agree – there have been no surprises to married life. I guess when you boil it down, we had committed to spending the rest of our lives together years and years ago. The wedding just put it in writing. And hell, it was also a pretty good reason to throw the best party of our life!