Greg Thompson Photography l Minneapolis, MN l 612.868.7617 l All images copyright l All rights reserved
My husband Matt and I met through my brother. They work together- both are Civil Engineers and both are named Matt. Yes, it can get really confusing at times. My husband is commonly referred to as Matt Two. I know, poor guy (I tell him he’s my #1)! I first met Matt when we played broomball with his co-workers. I just couldn’t get enough of all 6’6 of him in snow pants! Okay, so we weren’t looking our best, but we got over that. Once we started dating, we both knew pretty quickly that we found “the one”. He proposed on our one year anniversary- at my house (where I was planning on asking him to move in) and I was shocked! I still can’t believe my mom and sister-in-law kept this a secret from me! He said some wonderful things, got down on one knee and popped the question. It was perfect. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Planning
Throughout the planning process, we kept one thing in mind. We wanted to create a wedding where the guests would have as much fun (or more) than we would.
Everything was based around a wedding where we would want to be a guest. Choosing the date was pretty easy for us. We knew we wanted a spring/summer wedding so we chose June 7 th - the earlier the better. My dad was the one that pointed out that the date was 6/7/8. We had no idea, but we went with it! The guest list was fairly small- 160 people or so- just our closest family and friends.
My background is in Interior Design, so wedding décor was my heaven! I love the shabby/chic and rustic look. My mom and I had tons of fun shopping at antique stores and flea markets for many items. We found old wash bins to use as drink tubs. My mom spotted a beautiful garden cart that was perfect (after a coat of paint) for our cupcakes- too cute.
We wanted to have each person’s place card to be on individual champagne bottles, so we were ecstatic when we found an old miner’s table (supposedly used for cleaning dishes) that held the mini-champagne bottles and ice perfectly!
I am very lucky that my dad, Gary, is extremely handy. I often come up with these crazy ideas and my dad figures out how to implement them. Well, he outdid himself with our wedding!
Bleachers
I was trying to find a place to rent either benches or bleachers for the ceremony
when my dad said that his in-laws have made benches out of trees from their property before. Next thing I know, the entire Morris family has agreed to help my dad MAKE benches for our ceremony. I have a newfound respect for log furniture because it is a TON of work! First you cut down the trees- large ones for the bench part, small for legs. Then they have to be de-barked which involves a draw knife and gallons of elbow grease and sweat. Then they are dried for a long time, then they get sanded and the legs are pounded in the holes that were drilled into the bottoms and then they get 400 (or so) coats of stain/weather proofing. My dad and The Morris’ did the majority of the work, Matt and I only helped a little (and that seemed like a LOT). I can’t imagine how many hours my dad spent in his workshop on these babies. Papa Morris even welded a brand for us so they all got an M stamp with the date. They are gorgeous and many of the guests got to take one home. Is that a great wedding favor, or what?
Smores Table
I am a huge fan of smores, so I had this idea of a stand-up height smores table.
Once again, my dad came though and built a custom smores table for me. I found an old door that I wanted for the table top, and that’s about all the direction I gave him. He came up with a brilliant smores table using treadmill parts, a gas tank, and some logs. Did I tell you we call him MacGyver?
The day of the wedding was busy to say the least. Since the wedding is at the house, the only laborers are us. The day full of manual labor started at 5:30 a.m. Everything had to be done the morning of the wedding since it rained the night (and entire week) before the wedding. We had to put out linens, set the tables, set up the bar, etc. I finally started getting myself ready not even 2 hours before the ceremony. Luckily, we had lots of family and friends helping or it never would’ve been accomplished.
The ceremony was beautiful under an arch of peonies and roses.
The rain held out and we couldn’t have been happier! My favorite thing we did was take a group photo of everyone who was at the ceremony. We took a serious one and a funny one. I have them blown up and look at them every single day. It’s like playing “Where’s Waldo” with your family and friends. Love it- Makes me laugh every day.
We knew we wanted an outdoor and casual wedding so it was an easy decision to have it in my Mom/Step-Father’s backyard on Lake Minnetonka. It is a huge and gorgeous yard with tons of flowers on a quiet bay. Thankfully, my parents were totally on board because their property was completely over taken the weeks before and after the wedding. There were truck loads of people coming and going, delivering, setting up and taking down.
Megan's recomendations
Greg Thompson Photography- great photos that represent us as a couple perfectly. I adore the detail shots he took of all the things we spent months creating. Greg was wonderful to work with and I would recommend him to anyone! (Aww, shucks…. I didn’t make her say that– Greg)
Skyway Classic Events-most of our rentals came from here and they were wonderful to work with. Our rentals include: the tent, chandeliers, lit-up bar, tables, beautiful linens and more. By far the best place for rentals in my book!
(952) 346-0102
The Traveling Photo Booth- we had some much fun with this photo booth! Well worth the money. Our guests got a copy and we got a copy that was put into a book for the guest to sign as our “guest book.” Everyone loved it and got really into it!
www.thetravelingphotobooth.com
(612) 605-9203
Rev. Tomkin Coleman- Rev. Coleman was so wonderful. He listened to what we were looking for and completely customized the entire ceremony.
(612) 986-5528
Bachman’s- extremely helpful and knowledgeable. Our flowers and arch were perfect. Looked great for days after the wedding even after sitting in the hot sun all day.
(612) 861-7311
Custom Christmas Lighting- helped make the yard glow at night with thousands of twinkle lights. Gorgeous!
www.customchristmaslighting.com
(612) 695-5390
Jimmy Johnny’s- provided a huge trailer to use as a bathroom. The trailer we chose was much nicer than many restaurant bathrooms. Very impressive as far as restrooms go!
(651) 277-5914
Megan and Matt: a wedding on Lake Minnetonka