Real wedding: Erik and Jenna, December 2008

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Today is Erik and my one year wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe a year has gone by since that amazing day. Our ceremony and reception was held at the University Club of St. Paul. It is a beautiful venue with a traditional feel. I loved the chandeliers the most.

Due to some luck, I ended up getting the Presidential Suite at the Crowne Plaza about a block away from our venue. This suite was huge, multiple rooms and could fit about 40 people (we had a breakfast and gift opening in it the next day). My gals and I got ready in the suite the morning of the wedding. We had hair and makeup people come to us, which was awesome and allowed us to hang around and sip Mimosas.

The other day some of my married friends and I were talking about what kind of brides we were on our wedding day. Some said they were happy brides, others were zen brides. I was an emotional bride, meaning, happy bride, anxiety attack bride, nervous bride, excited bride, ecstatic bride...you get the idea.

We got a great day weather-wise. You never really know what to expect and we had a 40 degree day. Unfortunately, North Dakota (where a lot of our guests were coming) had an ice storm and about 25 people couldn't make it. Oh well. That's what you get for having a winter wedding.

Everything else was perfect. I loved my hair and make-up, my photographer was a total sweetheart (and took amazing photos), the food was great...most of all, Erik was a totally happy groom, and he had the best smile on his face all day. I loved marrying him that day and feel so lucky a year later. He planned an awesome weekend for us to celebrate our anniversay and I will do a full post on that later this week.

Vendors can really help make your wedding day great. I loved my flowers (A Day in Provence), the cake was gorgeous (Queen of Cakes), the string quartet (Urthema) created created an awesome vibe during the ceremony and the placecards were gorgeous thanks to Lovely Scribbles.

Sorry about the photo overload, I have way too many favorites. All photos are credited to Sewell Photography.

I loved my Pronovias dress, from Mestads in Rochester.

Adorable, but painful shoes. They came off shortly after the ceremony.

I wore a faux fur wrap and a broach from Brides of France.

One of my favorite photos of my sister and I from that day.

Displaying nervous bride here.

All the handsome guys heading to the ceremony.

Seeing Erik for the first time that day.

My absolutely favorite picture from the day.

The cocktail hour was a lot of fun, we had butler passed hors d'oeurves, raspberries and champagne and lots of mingling. There was a huge fireplace and a self-playing grand piano.

The candle-lit aisle, I loved this. It created a warm glow.

Gorgeous centerpieces.

Again, nervous bride. Right before we walked down the aisle. I think my dad weas pretty nervous, too.

I walked down the aisle to the string quartet playing Kissing You, the theme song from Romeo and Juliet.

Red velvet cake. Yum.

Our first dance to Kissing You, the theme song from Romeo and Juliet.

Our placecard centerpiece with crystals.

Becoming relaxed bride. Time to party.

The pretty reception.