Wedding updates: location, food, fun.

More updates, updates, updatey updates.

Did you realize the wedding industry is a crazy huge billions-of-dollars-a-year economy-in-and-of-itself? (I know, I know.) It’s insane, and it is that way because everything that even has the word *wedding* even remotely connected to it has a fee, registration, or inflated pricetag attached to it. (or all of the above.)

I have most ads blocked on my web browser, but some still get through. Since my status changed on facebook from “in a relationship” to “engaged”, ALL my facebook ads have changed to be engagement, bridal, or wedding related ads. Way to go, targeted marketing – but I’m still not clicking on you!

After some deliberation, we’ve settled on a location

Surprise! Renting places and things is incredibly expensive. We were thinking about getting married outside, and considered the Stone Arch Bridge or the creek by  Minnehaha Falls briefly. Minnehaha would be a beautiful location:

ahhh.

However, you can’t rent this area specifically from what I could find. Also, our family would have to deal with quite a few stairs to get down there. 110 steep stairs, to be exact.

Not gonna happen.

We want to do the ceremony someplace special, reasonably affordable, and at least moderately accessible. (Especially for our older relatives and folks coming in from out of town.)

The Q’arma Building – where Altered Esthetics is located – has an outside courtyard in addition to a few shared spaces indoors. It’s a beautiful older building and the owner has done a lot to improve it over the past few years. The gallery space has been used for events in the past in addition to our shows – but not yet for a wedding.

(A print my friend Adam did of the Q’arma building for an Ae fundraiser a few years ago.)

So… the gallery and the Q’arma building. It’s accessible, it’s affordable, it would be a great way to share that space with my family so they can see what I’ve been doing in MN… and the show that will be up at the time of the wedding:

Home: Whether it is a place we came from, a place we dream about, or a settling destination; artists react to immigration, homelessness, and what it means to have a sense of place in the world.

How perfect is that?

We’ll have to keep the guest list smaller as a result… but we’re excited about things settling into place. I brought it up at today’s board meeting to make sure everybody was okay with it and everybody seemed not just okay, but pretty excited too.  Ae it is.

Given the location, we know who we want to cater the wedding.

My friend Heidi is a super amazing lady. She was instrumental in the Arts Action Plan of the Northeast Arts District, without which Northeast Minneapolis (where we live) would not be nearly what it is today. (And as a result, Altered Esthetics would not be what it is today.)

She’s also the owner of Chowgirls Killer Catering, a Northeast Minneapolis catering company that focuses on locally and sustainably produced culinary awesomeness. MN Bride voted them the best small wedding caterer in 2010. They have also donated amazing foods regularly to the gallery for our fundraisers and openings, because they are that kind of awesome. As I watched her company grow I always had in the back of my head “Gee, if I ever throw a nice party or get married, it would be awesome to have Chowgirls cater it.”

Guess what? We are totally having a wedding party, and  Chowgirls is totally gonna cater it.

NOM.

I’m sure I will talk more about the menu as we flesh things out… after all, I heart food! And if we’re there partying late at night, we’ll just might order pizza too. mmmm pizza!

Last but not least – I picked a dress!

Just kidding. Still working on that one.

Until next time!

~J-me