Where will YOU get married?

saintpaulJess

So we've been engaged for a week now.  I grew up in northern Minnesota.  FI grew up in southwestern Wisconsin.  Both of our parents are already finding places near where they live, thinking and hoping we might get married there.

We think we want to have our wedding in St. Paul, where we live now.  (If it matters, we're paying for the wedding ourselves.)

So where are you getting married and how did you decide?

lboerner88

Well we are getting married where we live now, but that is also where I grew up. I didn't want to have to plan a wedding from a different state. Plus my mom's company is doing our flowers (which is saving us a ton of money) and she couldn't really do that from a different state either. It was a pretty easy decision for us. Good luck deciding!

MrsMLRB

In the middle sounds like a good compromise. St. Paul would have a lot for guests to do to entertain themeselves and there will be a wide variety of hotels for them to stay at.

This is assuming that both sides would send equal guests. If your family was like 100 people in northern Minnesota and his family was 10 in southwestern Wisconsin, my vote might change to make everyone's life easier.

Veittobe

I think you will find a lot of benefit getting married where you live now.  It will be a lot easier for you to do all of the planning - especially since you are paying for it!  Maybe you can keep your family's opinions in mind and if they find a venue that you absolutely fall in love with, go for it.  

Good luck!  

shan87

We picked the City where we both grew up. I was torn between St. Paul (where I lived the last 5 yrs) and St. Cloud (where I grew up) ... FI, My Mom and FILs were all anti St. Paul. If you and your FI are on the same page of location I say GO FOR IT! Like pp said the middle is a good compromise. And as long as you are willing to have a back up plan of paying for it yourself you shouldn't have any problems.

For me it ended up being more I had more history.

ogrady88

We are getting married almost exactly where I grew up on our small farm in western Wisconsin.  FI is from the Bay Area in California.  We live in LA...so we are planning a wedding in WI, and an "at home" reception in San Francisco...I'm all about long distance planning

schmood

We got married in St. Paul where we both grew up at the church that I grew up in.   I however was living out of state until 2 weeks before the wedding.   It was tough to plan a wedding from a different state.   Every weekend that I was back was jam packed with wedding stuff because I had to get things done while I was in town.   I'm not saying that it can't be done, for the most part, things went off without a hitch.  Planning a wedding is stressful, but there is much more added stress when planning from afar.  Just my two cents.

beka0404

I grew up north of Mpls and FI grew up on the Iron Range, so we briefly considered splitting the distance and getting married in Duluth. But we ultimately decided that since we live near Mpls, that should be where we marry. In our case, our Range guests only have to drive 3.5 hours, so it's not a huge deal that we're essentially marrying in my hometown. In your case, there is a big difference between hometowns. For example, Cloquet and Milwaukee - that's a big drive in either direction. On the other hand, depending on your guest list dynamics, it might not be a big deal. (Not helpful advice, I know.) 

Unless you feel a sentimental pull to get married in either hometown, where you live now will probably be your easiest bet. Like PPs mentioned, lots of things for your guests to do, access to tons of vendors, and the ease of not having to plan from far away. But if I were you, I'd trust my gut instincts.

tpender13

I grew up on the Iron Range, and FI grew up in northwestern Iowa. Minneapolis is home to both of us now, and actually halfway between the two areas, so we didn't really consider having the wedding anywhere else.

SuperRNluvsChef

I grew up just south of the metro and FI grew up about an hour south of there.  We are getting married in the church my family has attended since we moved to MN and our reception will be in mpls.  The majority (bascially everybody but a couple) of FI's family lives in South Dakota but we just moved out of SD and there was really nothing of significance for us there.  Plus it's so much easier to plan when you live in the area!  I'd say go with St. Paul, I think you're guests will have a blast, as there is so much to do there!

I Want Cake

We're both in MN, but my parents live an hour north, and FI's mom lives 30 minutes south.  FMIL was pushing us to get married at the Chart House, because it's convenient for her, but we decided it wouldn't be fair to my family to have to drive way farther than FI's, so we're doing it in St. Paul.  This way, everyone has to drive, but nobody has to drive more than an hour.  FI's originally from Iowa and most of his extended family is in the Omaha/Council Bluffs or Kansas City area, but there's no way we'd do it down there, especially since his immediate family are here and every member of my family except maybe 3 people live in MN. 

TriSaratops10

I'm an Army brat, so have grown up all over - but FI grew up in Rochester, MN; because all of my grandparents are still alive but live in SD and aren't up to traveling by plane anymore Minneapolis seemed like a logical decision.   So we are planning a wedding from the DC area

tklund

I grew up in the Brainerd area, but moved a lot through school, ending up in a Fargo for abour 13 years.  FI is from the LaCrosse area.  We're getting married in the MSP area mostly because we live in the area, and it's pretty convenient for our families & guests to get to.  FI's family & friends have about a 2 hr drive, my family has about a 3 hr drive.  And our OOT guests have a major airport to fly into, making that a lot easier too.  FI's family is having their reunion right after our wedding, and I'm excited that most of his family will be at our wedding!  They're scattered across the US, so it'll be great to have all of them here at once!

saintpaulJess

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.  I think we will probably end up with Saint Paul.  It IS half-way between the two, I love where I live, and like most of you pointed out - the planning will be much easier.

EmilyCMN

I said other because we chose to get married in Two Harbors even though we are both from the Twin Cities. It isn't really by anyone but we just love the lake and the feeling up there so much that we just did it. I figure it is only a couple hours from the cities so it isn't an unreasonable distance and I am hoping people will use it as an excuse to get out of town for a couple days. The resort we chose has an amazing line-up for free/included amenities for guests that I think it will appeal to our very outdoor oriented families. Do what feels right, if people are going to come they will come regardless of where you have it (within reason of course).

maybe984

I spent my childhood in Ann Arbor, MI and my teenage years in Eau Claire, WI. My FI is from the Eau Claire area as well. I've been in the cities for 8 years now, and my FI about 4.

My mother pushed really hard to have the wedding in South Carolina, which is where her very large family is. She's the only one of her 10 siblings that moved north and stayed there. I just couldn't justify putting that much more energy into planning a long distance wedding to please 1/4 of our family.

So, since FI and I both have a fair amount of friends and family either in Eau Claire or the Twin Cities, we opted for Stillwater. It's close enough to the cities that we can still use Mpls-based vendors... but far enough East to please the WI-based crowd.

SSaltzman87

I'm planning on getting married in St. Paul as well, both my FI and I are from the western suburbs and I lived in St. Paul while I was in college. So I voted for near where we live now :-)

The vast majority of our family members are from MN, others are scattered around the country. Saint Paul definitely seems like the most logical place since there's so much to do, plus most hotels provide shuttles to and from the airport for OOT guests.

Enchanted616

I voted for where I grew up, but its also where we live now.

leggwilliams

FI and I both live in St. Cloud. His family lives here in St. Cloud, too, with the exception of a few members that live in the cities. My mom's side of the family lives in the twin cities. My dad's side all lives out of state. We chose to have our wedding in the cities as a middle ground for everyone.

Genevieve04

We are both from the twin cities. I am from the North side and he is from the South side. We got married in MPLS b/c we love MPLS! We live in St. Paul now.