Local Wedding

It was very important to us to do as much business locally as we could for the wedding. And I am proud to say we did about 95% of our business that way. So here is the breakdown:

Bridal Wear:

Gown and head piece – Bridal Productions

Jewelry – All were gifts from Chad and purchased at Mark’s Jewelry in St. Lucas

Garders were ordered from KD Rae

Shoes were a custom order from Nike

Grooms Wear:

Tuxes were all ordered from Amundson’s.  And since my boys had grown since measuring they were more than accommodating in getting a size larger for us. 

I gave Chad and the boys matching tie pins with their initials on them which came from Hammel Jewelers.  Chad lost his but that is another story!  I also gave Chad a set of cuff links from Hammel Jewelers.

Bridal Party:

Dresses were ordered from Bridal Productions.  All fit nearly perfect except for the girl who lost a bunch of weight J

The tuxes were brown and as mentioned above they came from Amundson’s.  Becasue they were brown we got brown socks for everyone which we also got from Amundson’s.  And yes, I probably bought them about 6 months ago.

The gifts for the bridal party included:

                Personalized make up bags from KD Rae

                Jewelry from KD Rae

                Personalized shaver bags from KD Rae

                Bar glasses that were engraved at Nordic Lasers

                Eclips gift certificates

                Ball caps from the Ossian County Club

                For my boys an ITunes card from Sim’s TV & Electronics, and a Wal Mart gift card

Decorations:

Party Island were our go to girls.  Tammy and Jill are great.  They are there for set up and take down.  I wanted to use burlap on the tables and I was able to get rolls of it from Pinter’s Pumpkins and Gardens.  I also picked up some candle votives from KD Rae that were brown and green. We also used some hen and chicks on the tables.  Mason made some boxes out of old barn boards which we lined with burlap and placed the hen and chicks. The plants were raised in Calmar at Chad’s aunt’s house.  They were really fun and cheap!  Our name cards on the head and family tables were rocks from one of Wiltgen’s quarries that my sister in law Amy painted on.  Again fun but cheap.  They were fun projects that allowed us to put our signature touch on the day.

Catering:

Lynch BBQ did all of our catering and we also got some tables and chairs from them.  The meal was great.  We had pork loin, corn, mashed potatoes, pasta salad, and buns. 

The rest of the tables we needed came from Ness in Waukon.  He was a life saver.

The cake was ordered from Pinter’s Pumpkins and Gardens.  It was delicious.  Our cake serving set was purchased at KD Rae and our cake toper came from Hallmark.

We got all of our cups and napkins from the Bargain Outlet. You can order most any color you can imagine from them.  And the price is right. 

I found some green oval buckets from Happiness Is.  I wanted three of them and they were able to order more for me. Two pails were used for silverware at the head of the serving lines and the third one was used for snack mix.  The pails were green and I had Letterwerks add “The Wiltgen’s” in brown on them.  I got scoops for the snack mix from Ace Kitchen Place.

Printing:

I feel that all I need to say here is that the staff at Letterwerks rocks. We got our invitations (wedding and shower), thank yous (shower and wedding when we are ready), cups, koozies, and programs (all paper and photos), and our save the date magnets.  They work fast and they are great at design.

Registry:

We were registered at Ace Kitchen Place, JC Penney, The Perfect Edge, and Agora Arts.  The nice thing about these local stores is that they will call you with questions and even tell you if you need to come in and register for more!

The Bar:

The important stuff right? The beer was ordered from Barney’s which then came from local distributors.  The liquor was ordered from JR’s on the Rocks.  Pop came from 7Up.  Ice was from King’s Kubes.  And the Chamber ambassadors were our bar tenders.  We owe them so much for all their hard work.

Flowers:

The Country Garden did all the flowers.  They were exactly what I wanted and of course beautiful.  My bouquet included white gerberas and roses.  I had my grandma Courtney’s rosary and a necklace of her included in my arrangement.  I also purchased different types of ribbon from the Country Garden.

Random thoughts:

Our unity candle was a project.  The taper candles came from Vanberia.  We ordered a vase from KD Rae and I actually had a hard time finding a candle to fit it.  The solution was a candle from Ridgeway’s Country Star which was placed on top of coffee beans that came from Java John’s. 

I am sure I am forgetting stuff.  Feel free to ask us any questions.  I would challenge anyone receipt for receipt on costs.  I firmly believe everything you need is right here and you won’t be disappointed.