Real Wedding: DJ & Janelle Part II

DJ and Janelle & their Real Minneapolis Wedding

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Ceremony: Father Hennepin Bluffs Park Minneapolis, MN. The park has everything we love about the city.. the water, the sky line, the greenery...

Reception: Jax Cafe in NE Minneapolis

Wedding Style: Simple, modern yet traditional~with vintage touches that included: antique car, old school trolley for transport, bird cage veil, and the  DJ played all vinyl records during the reception.

Photographer: La De Da Photography

Colors: Crisp and classic with just black and white. We let the bridesmaids choose their own knee length cocktail dresses in black satin and the groomsmen and ushers were asked to wear black suits. All of the attendants wore white flowers.

{click images to enlarge}

Pink For Erin: I chose to add just a touch of pink with my shoes and my flowers in honor of my cousin Erin who passed away in 2006. I have always felt grateful for Erin~ without her I may have never sent the message that sparked mine and DJ's relationship... Since she couldn't be with us on our wedding day I decided to pay tribute to her by making the only splash of color her favorite... pink.

The veil I wore was a tribute to my grandma Jan. She loved hats and all things sassy and glamorous. In my search for the perfect veil or head piece I ended up on etsy.com and came across the feathers and french veiling cage blusher by Ann Leslie Designs. Upon seeing it, I instantly thought of my grandma. I was confident that she would have loved it and that was all I needed to make the purchase.

DJ playing & singing the song he wrote KILLMEILOVEYOU He surprised me that day by playing with the accompaniment of the string quartet during our ceremony. We met in June the summer he released the album. Four years later we got married in the month of June and I was beyond elated to hear him sing that song at our wedding.

The Classic Car: One of my favorite photos of all time is a black and white of my grandparents in a classic car on their wedding day. Their photo was printed on glass and mounted on a plaque that hung in their living room. I recreated their picture for my brother and his wife when they got married nine years ago. So of course when it was my turn I wanted one too. DJ's dad just happens to own a vintage Oldsmobile and I asked if he would drive it to the hotel for pictures. I knew I wanted a picture of us in the car like my grandparents have but I never imagined we would get so many great shots with it. We really lucked out!

In addition to the pictures in the classic car, I also had the photographer recreate another old family picture. It was a formal portrait of my mom on her wedding day with her mother (my grandma). I have always been incredibly close to my mom and wanted a similar photo of the two of us on my wedding day. The symbolism of recreating the photo held extra meaning since we lost my grandma the summer before the wedding. I plan to frame both pictures side by side and hope to carry on the tradition if I have a daughter someday.

Invitations from MagnetStreet Weddings: Invites were definitely one of our harder decisions. We tossed around the idea of making our own before finally deciding on using Magnet Street. We knew we wanted to stick with our color scheme and we didn't want any extras, no hearts or flowers... We wanted them to be affordable but we didn't want that boring do it yourself box set look either. When we came across the New York design at Magnet Street we knew we had found what we were looking for. It was simple in design but had an elegant look to it. We were able to customize all of our enclosures just the way we wanted. Our favorite part was the Guest Info card with the map on the back. We created our map using Wedding Mapper. The white bands and monogrammed stickers tied everything together.

layered invitation

wedding mapper map

Thank You DJ & Janelle for sharing your love story & inspiration ...

and thank you Melissa {La De Da} for capturing their love story so beautifully!

WOW! There is so much inspiration with this beautiful wedding!  This is one of those celebrations where you cannot help but be swept with emotion and drawn in by the absolutes of style, charm, beauty and grace. I adore your thoughtfulness Janelle and how you've honored your loved ones, plus borrowed from the past to carry into the future.

We wish you both every kind of happiness! Congratulations.

Do visit Melissa's blog for an eyeful of candy from this wedding!