There’s a great 1/2-off sale on bridal gowns at Dena Marie Bridal in Roseville, MN.  Their sample sale will be on Saturday, July 19th from 10am - 4 pm. Their address is 2480 Fairview Avenue North (click here for map).
Here’s the details of the bridal gown sale:

Gowns from designers including Anjolique, Mikaella and Venus will be sold for 50 – 75 percent off retail price.  Over 150 gowns from sizes 4 -18 will by available during the sample sale.  No appointment is necessary. Additional sales and discounts available on customized merchandise, bridesmaids gowns and accessories.

For additional questions brides can contact Dena Marie Bridal directly at 651-633-4366 or www.dmbridal.net/upcomingevents.html
Home page - Rev. Tomkin Coleman

A soon-to-be bride writes in:

Good Afternoon, Rev. Coleman.

I’m hoping you may be able to answer a few questions for me…or point me in the right direction!

My fiancé and I are getting married this August and we have been discussing the ‘name change’ issue.  Let’s say I’m changing my name go Jane A. Smith Ctvrtlik (names have all been changed for this blog post!)  There will be no hyphen…just as it is written to the left.  My question is basically this:  Can I then legally use both or either last name?  For instance:

* Would I have to change my passport if it already states Jane A. Smith?
* Can I use ‘Smith’ at work and ‘Ctvrtlik’ personally?
* Can I sign legal documents using either last name?  Or both?
* If I have an airline ticket in ‘Smith’ would it be valid?  How about if it is just ‘Ctvrtlik’ on the ticket?

Any help or information would be great.  I’m having a hard time trying to get this answered.

Thank you.

“Jane A. Smith”…soon marrying Mr. Ctyrtlik

Good afternoon, Jane,

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

Great questions you’ve got there.  Now, I’m not a lawyer, but here is my understanding, in my years of experience:

Basically, Minnesota is a “common name” state - your name is whatever name you use.  Really.  The only work you ever have to go through is to change your documents.  It’s the documents that have to be changed…your name is whatever you use…”Jane Ctvrtlik” at home, “Jane Smith” at work, “The J-ster” to your friends…(that last one was facetious).

So, on your wedding day, your name changes to Jane A(fullmiddlename) Smith Ctvrtlik.  And this is what you put down on your marriage license application, and it’s what it will say on your marriage license.  You’ll then need to eventually change your other documents (driver’s license, passport, etc.), and once you get your new documents, then any plane tickets you buy should be in that name (”Jane A(fullmiddlename) Smith Ctvrtlik”).

But that’s just for those documents.  For anything else, whatever name you’re using, is your name.  So at work, go ahead and be Jane Smith.  If you sign something, go ahead and use Jane Smith.  Think of it like using your middle name for things…on super-legal stuff, any person would use their full name (including middle name), but in the vast majority of normal-usage stuff, they don’t use their middle name, or even their initial.

Does that make sense?

If you have any other questions, just let me know!

Warmly,

Rev. Tomkin Coleman

p.s.  Again, I’m a minister, not a lawyer,  so don’t take this as legal advice, but this is my understanding.

Home page - Rev. Tomkin Coleman, Minnesota Wedding Minister and Ceremony Officiant

What caterer did the minister who has designed and performed over 600 wedding ceremonies use? There are many amazing wedding caterers in the Twin Cities area, but the one my now-wife and I chose was TST Catering of St Paul, Minnesota. TST Catering was a great choice, perfect for our needs, and here’s why:

When my wife and I were planning our wedding this April, we wanted to make sure that:

-The food was delicious
-The food was all finger food - no utensils
-The people would be easy to work with
-The caterers would be willing to:
-Deliver the food
-Set everything up
-Serve everything
-Plus, have a bartender who would stay late into the night

We were planning for several days of parties, so the caterers would have to bring food on Sunday morning, too, which is an unusual time.

TST Catering of St Paul, Minnesota was extremely helpful with all our needs. They suggested their tangy and delicious homemade BBQ pork sandwiches, watermelon, pasta salad, and spicy Jo-Jo potatoes. People RAVED about the food, and we’re already planning to have them cater other parties for us so we can have more of that amazing BBQ pork! (Even the homemade sandwich buns were out of this world.)

We also had TST provide our wedding cake, which we hadn’t originally planned on, but since they were providing the rest of the catering, it made everything extremely simple. The wedding cake was a big hit and tasted wonderful (and was beautifully decorated).

And the brunch on Sunday morning was incredible—pastries, scones, muffins, fresh fruit, a wonderful egg dish, French toast, coffee, and juices.

On top of it all, everyone we talked to or worked with at TST was extremely friendly and helpful. Food is a major part of a wedding, and the staff at and food from TST Catering really added to our celebration. We highly recommend them!

Rev. Tomkin Coleman - Home page 

Interested in a photographer who is out of the ordinary, one with a contemporary, urban, photojournalistic style?

Ezra Moore is rock band photographer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. These photos here show his work with The Langers Ball, a modern Irish band in St Paul, Minnesota.

Ezra is expanding into select wedding ceremonies and receptions. If you have a Minnesota wedding reception that is non-conventional, hip, edgy, and are willing to let your photos be used in his work, then Ezra may be the man for you. For the next six months, Ezra is running a special that is extremely reasonable - $1200 for before the ceremony, ceremony, formal bride and groom pictures, formal family portraits, engagement pics, and entire reception will be photo-documented.

Ezra Moore can be reached at 612-669-3972 or ezramas@gmail.com

Examples of Ezra’s wedding photos

When my now-wife, Julie, and I were planning our Minnesota wedding, she initially decided that she wouldn’t get wedding bouquets for herself or her maid of honor. They seemed unnecessary. Then we went to the Semple Mansion wedding fair in Minneapolis, MN. Julie spoke with a couple of the florists there and got some information, but she wasn’t too impressed with the quality (the prices were about $150).

Then she noticed a couple of funky-looking women at a table with some truly unusual bridal bouquets. When she went over to investigate, she realized that these were no ordinary bridal bouquets–they had out-of-the-ordinary colors and designs, with flowers we had never seen before. And then she noticed the price–all of the bouquets on display were under $60!

That very same week, my bride then made an appointment with Pazzobello Flowers in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Pazzobello is a cute little brightly painted store, and the woman she spoke with was very friendly, enthusiastic, and helpful. Julie said that she wanted to spend $100 on two bouquets for her weding. She told the woman that her wedding dress was nontraditional red and her nontraditional ring had an orange stone, so she wanted flowers that were red, orange, and pink. She said that she liked the unusual designs she had seen them display at the Semple Mansion wedding fair, and she wanted something along those lines.

Flash forward to the day before our wedding, when the wedding bouquets were delivered (the $8.50 delivery charge was totally worth it!). They were packaged neatly and safely, and Julie’s mouth dropped when she undid the paper and saw two absolutely stunning bouquets. They were exactly what she’d been hoping for. Both had an array of flowers in just the colors she had asked for. They wrapped the flowers with beautiful orange ribbon. Many people commented on how gorgeous the flowers were.

And to think that originally she wasn’t even planning to carry any! There are a lot of great Minnesota wedding flower shops out there, but personally, we can’t recommend Pazzobello flowers in Minneapolis, MN highly enough.