Willie and Maya's Wedding in Minneapolis, Minnesota

The story of our wedding

Willie proposed to me on my birthday in 2021 and we decided to get married in 2022 so as to not clash with other family weddings. We wanted to get married on a holiday weekend to make it easier for guests to travel since most of his guests would be coming in from out of state. So we were able to have our wedding on a Sunday which makes it cheaper which was a bonus. I really wanted a non-traditional wedding which made it harder than expected to find a venue, but once we found the venue, it was pretty smooth sailing from there since I was a pretty low maintenance bride. We were having a cocktail reception with a "floating" ceremony. Meaning, we eased into the ceremony when it felt right, which was about an hour into the reception. There was no wedding party and our kids walked us down the aisle. And my dress was blue. I cannot begin to tell you how perfect it was. And I honestly can't tell you how glad I am that I didn't take anyone else's advise about what I should be doing because the wedding turned out pretty much exactly how I envisioned it and I was so happy with it. And my guests still had a good time. We had a kids area so the kids also had a good time. We had a photo booth. And a really special guestbook. We also did a ring warming and used a handmade bowl for it. My favorite moment was the ceremony. My brother was in charge of making sure the quests didn't get in the way of our entrance, the music and the rings. He did a great job of making it all work and my sister did the ceremony. She included quotes from our kids (who are 5yo old twins) and it made it so personal. My husbands vows were so special and my vows made our mom's cry so I assume mine were good as well. We jumped the broom and had a champagne toast. I definitely did not focus on what was expected or fashionable in planning or executing our wedding and as a result, we had a perfect, personal, beautiful wedding and I could not have been happier.