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All photos by Tom Thornton Photography
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Jessica and Taylor were our 2018 Diamond Award Real Wedding of the Year winners!
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The couple held their ceremony in Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel. Taylor is a veteran, as are several of his family members.
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Talk about personalized: Jessica surprised Taylor with a pair of wedding-day socks featuring their cat, Aldo.
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Taylor's sister made the cake (peep mini Aldo the cat once again!).
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Sweet treat: Jessica and Taylor served donuts by Sssdude-Nutz, a food truck in Minneapolis.
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Adding to the brunch theme, the couple gave bags of coffee as wedding favors.
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The Loring String Quartet played during the first dance and throughout the reception.
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Since Jessica and Taylor aren't big fans of dancing, they decided to rent lawn games for entertainment.
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The happy couple ended the afternoon with a flower-petal-shower Pedicab sendoff.
In 2014, Jessica swiped right on Taylor’s Tinder bio for one main reason. “There was a cute dog in his photo,” she says. “We had nothing in common otherwise.”
As their relationship grew, though, they learned they agreed on plenty, such as their love for animals, the Twin Cities, local beer, and travel—which all came into play during their April 2018 wedding. Taylor had popped the question on the couple’s trip to Iceland in July 2017, after three years of dating. “We went on a waterfall hike, and he pretended like he was setting up the perfect picture of me looking at the scenery,” Jessica says. “Then I turned around and he was down on one knee.”
A few days later, with several hours to kill in the Iceland airport, Jessica and Taylor planned almost the entire wedding. “We love breakfast food, so we knew we wanted a brunch wedding, and neither of us are big dancers,” Jessica says. They landed on a late-morning ceremony at Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel (a nod to Taylor and his family’s military backgrounds) and an early-afternoon reception at Day Block Brewing, the first brewery they visited together. They served a build-your-own breakfast sandwich bar, complete with chocolate porter donuts from Sssdude-Nutz and a mimosa station, and gave bags of coffee as favors. And, much to the couple’s delight, there was no dance floor (though they did have a first dance)—though they did have a string quartet and lawn games like cornhole and giant Jenga. “I loved that we got to have fun at our own reception,” Taylor says. “Everything was easy and free-flowing, and all the little things built up to make a great day.”
Hiring day-of coordinators from Bloom Events made the day even easier. “We didn’t think we needed one, since the wedding wasn’t that big,” Jessica says. “But it was so nice to have them take care of the logistics.” The couple also didn’t originally put photography high on their priority list, but they say hiring Tom Thornton was one of the best moves they made.
The wedding ended by 4 p.m.—another highlight of the day for a couple who describes themselves as “not really night owls”—and, true to Jessica and Taylor’s laidback style, they kicked back at home with pizza and friends on their wedding night. Other friends and family members, some who had never been to the Twin Cities, hit the North Loop still in their wedding attire. “It was so great to see these random groups of people we love get together and fall in love with Minneapolis,” Jessica says.
Jessica and Taylor’s wedding was so gorgeous and personal that it earned our 2018 Diamond Award Wedding of the Year. But though they were excited to learn they won the award, they didn’t plan the wedding for hopes of publication: they did it for themselves. “During the wedding, I just had this overwhelming feeling that this was where I wanted to be,” Taylor says.
- Ceremony: Fort Snelling Memorial Chapel
- Officiant: Reverend Glen Herrington-Hall
- Ceremony pianist: Sharon Planer
- Reception and catering: Day Block Brewing
- Groom’s suit: Men’s Wearhouse
- Bride’s dress: a&bé bridal
- Photographer: Tom Thornton Photography
- Day-of coordinators: Michelle and Kate from Bloom Events
- Limo: Star Transportation
- Hair and makeup: Onsite Muse
- Desserts: Sssdude-Nutz Donuts
- Cake: Groom’s sister, Maren Scharf Turner
- Lawn games: Broadway Party & Tent Rental
- Music: Loring String Quartet
- Florist: Westerwisp
- Grand exit: Twin Town Pedicabs
