Elisha and Zack Olson Wedding Story
Wedding Date
Saturday, June 17, 2017
We started out the morning at Broadway Salon and Spa then headed to one of my bridesmaids homes to finish getting ready. It was sprinkling all morning and I was worried it would downpour while we were saying our I DO's so I made the decision to have our outdoor ceremony at the Pavilion (South 40 Events) moved inside the barn. We headed to the wedding venue in a extended cab gold Cadillac, compliments of my bridesmaids, which made me laugh. Once the wedding party arrived we took all of our professional group photography (wedding party, family, friends and of course US!). We had a our DJ play "Marry Me" by Train as we headed down the aisle. Our ordained minister took of through our I Do's and we wrote our own vows. Surprisingly, the strong man that he is. my future husband couldn't hold it together while saying his vows. That was one of the most special moments that I'll never forget. After our I Do's we headed on the party bus to downtown Bismarck where we took group photos and had a few cocktails. Once back at the venue it poured rain but shortly ended. We had a buffet style dinner compliments of the Woodhouse which was fantastic! It was simple and filling and everyone loved the laid back style of a buffet. Our best man and maid of honor did their speeches and my two best friends re-worked a rap about Zack and I! They had the crowd in tears laughing. Our first dance was actually a song that has been our song since we met, "Are you gonna kiss me or not" by Thompson Square which is the song Zack had playing when he proposed. The dance was a blast and everyone had a great time!
How We Met
We actually first met on a sandbar on the Missouri River. I was currently still in a relationship so nothing ever came of it. Once that relationship ended we ran into each other again through a group of mutual friends. We had an instant connection and the rest was history! We are so much a-like that I honestly believe we were meant to meet each other on the river that day.
Planning for Our Day
Planning came very easy to me since I've known what I have wanted for a long time. We were together about 5 years before we got engaged. I used a lot of Pinterest ideas and some ideas came from being in my friends weddings prior. I wanted to keep things cost effective. I also bought a lot of my jewelry, bridesmaids/groomsmen/parents gifts on Etsy. I like that everything on Etsy was hand crafted and generally reasonable. I made spreadsheets to keep my budget on track and made sure I had all my vendors and their information wrote down and handy.
Hint for Brides
Personally for me I wanted someone there to set up and tear down for the ceremony because I didn't want my family to miss out or be burdened by things like that so I am very happy I went that route.
Since we tried to cut costs in certain areas, I had my aunt's and grandma make bars/cookies instead of getting a cake or cupcakes and no one seemed to care that there weren't and cupcakes or cake and I didn't have a bunch of leftovers to take home.
Doing a buffet style menu instead of a plated menu really helped with staying on the budget and you get so much more so if you know your guests are going to be hungry go with the buffet plus the leftovers were great at the end of the night :)