Maj & Anthony have been married for
We are so grateful to have been able to celebrate our wedding day surrounded by the love of our friends and family! Please scroll down for a photo recap of the day's events!
From the moment we started planning the wedding, we knew we wanted to accomplish two things: to personalize as many details as possible, and to make the day fun and memorable for our guests. Looking back, we think those were achieved!
We believe the invitations are what sets the tone for the wedding, so lots of effort went into creating something unique to set the stage for what was to come. As an avid papercrafts enthusiast, Maj took it upon herself to hand make just about every printed item for the wedding. The invitations were hand cut, envelopes manually printed, envelope liners individually glued, and the sets hand tied by Tony (the baker's twine they were tied with is a nod to Maj's great-grandfather Marinus Kristensen, who was a baker). We got lots of design help from our friend and graphic design professional Meghan Dougherty, who also designed the ubiquitous "Mooch Love" logo! Also personally made were the hanging menus, ceremony programs (with custom icons and a trivia crossword!), and book-shaped escort cards (did you notice the "mooch love" in the floral design?).
With Tony's love of books, it was a natural decision to go with a literary theme. The "guestbook" was a vintage card catalog, decorated with a folded page art "Mooch Love" book (which took Maj 8 hours to fold!), the corsages and boutonnieres were handmade from book pages by Maj and her mom, flower girl Ella showered the aisle with book cutout "petals," ring bearer Danny carried our rings down the aisle in a book cut out by Tony to hold the rings, and even Maj's nails were book themed! We tried to inject as many personal elements into the decor as we could - the vintage books on the tables were from Maj's parents collection of old Danish books; the pots for the succulent centerpieces were handmade by Maj's late grandfather Ove Kristensen, and hand-potted by Maj's mother Kirsten; the table numbers featured childhood photos of us; and the ceremony aisle was lined with wedding photos of our parents, grandparents, and even great-great grandparents! Before the ceremony, guests participated in a "ring warming," holding our wedding rings in their hands and making a wish for our future. Speaking of which, our wedding rings were custom created with purple box elder wood and meteorite inlays! The wedding favors reflect perhaps the most prominent personality trait we share, a love for humor and corny puns: tea from Maj's mother's tea shop (our love is tea-riffic), orange-chocolate bars (our love is sweet), matches (our love is a perfect match), and homemade hot sauce (our love is hot). Long nights spent cooking peppers and onions to fill the bottles of hot sauce, painting glass bottles for centerpieces (thanks to everyone who helped us collect 75 glass bottles!), sewing and dip dying Maj's wedding dresses (credit to Maj's sister Lin!), and many many more projects were well worth the effort to create a cozy, intimate experience on the day of our wedding. (A quick aside regarding the hot sauces - it is a Danish custom that if you enjoy a homemade treat, returning the empty container might get you a refill!)
The ceremony was perhaps the most important detail to us (after all, that was the reason everyone came!). We are so grateful to Maj's sister Lin who got ordained and officiated the ceremony beautifully. We also extend our gratitude to Lisa Frost-Goodall, our talented musician who learned to play the Jurassic Park theme song for us to walk down the aisle to! Our goal in writing the ceremony and our vows was to express the significance of the occasion, reflect our values, and to make it an intimate moment for all our guests (while not being too solemn or boring!). Once the ceremony was over, however, we transitioned to a more fun and lively mood, starting with a terrific entrance by our wedding party. Huge thanks to our family and friends for learning the dance to the reception entrance (which was inspired by a scene from our favorite TV show, The Office)!
After a round of heartfelt and funny speeches, it was time for our first dance as husband and wife. We hope we surprised and entertained our guests with our choreographed dance! We spent three months learning to waltz and swing dance, and had so much fun showing off our new ballroom skills. Later in the evening we had the traditional Danish Wedding Waltz, with all our guests surrounding us as we danced. Rather than individual mother-son/father-daughter dances, we chose to share the dance floor with all the other parents and children among our guests! We know not everyone loves dancing as much as we do, so we were sure to include other fun activities for our guests - the temporary tattoo station was a huge hit, and we hope everyone got a silhouette portrait from our amazing silhouettist Ruth Monsell (who came all the way from Maine to join us!). Just before the cake was cut, Maj's dynamic duo friends and bridesmaids extraordinaire Kirstie and Kelly hosted a shoe game to test how much we agree on various topics - we're happy to say we're on the same page about most things!
Of course, we know no one can dance on an empty stomach! The staff of Rock Island Lake Club was incredible in meeting all our requests and provided a wonderful and delicious assortment of food, which included many Italian staples and influences (anybody else still dreaming of that seafood display?). The wedding cake was a traditional Danish "kransekage" (marzipan wreath cake), which was guarded until cake cutting time by figurines of our feline companions Westley and Buttercup, who unfortunately were not able to attend the wedding. After the cake was cut, guests joined in for a Crown Royal toast (Tony's whiskey of choice).
As the day came to an end, it was time for the lavender seed sendoff. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank our friend Kandy who went to great lengths to procure Maj's dream car - a white Jeep Wrangler - for our getaway car (which was lovingly decorated by our bridesmaids and groomsmen). As we drove off into the sunset (literally!) we waved goodbye to our closest friends and family and felt all of your support as we begin our new married life together. We want to extend our deepest gratitude again to everyone who came to our wedding to support our marriage. We had an amazing time, and hope you all enjoyed celebrating the day with us as much as we did!
We'd like to thank everyone who helped make our wedding day a most memorable moment in our lives - we could not have pulled it off without your help and support. To Tony's parents Anthony and April, thank you for the gift of this beautiful wedding. To Maj's parents Kirsten and Per Ole, and godmother Nina (who flew in from Denmark to help with preparations), thank you so much for the countless hours of work in preparing and executing all the details of the day. To our sisters Donna and Lin, thank you for all your planning and coordinating. Thank you to our bridesmaids Kirstie and Kelly, best man Anthony Arma, and groomsmen Bryan, Jimmy, Vinny and Jason. To our sister's boyfriends (and perhaps future brothers-in-law?) Keith and Corrado, thank you for your patience in all the tasks you got roped into and for supporting us like your own family. Thank you to our amazing photography team, Lin and her second shooters Susan and Nicolette, and our videographer and dear friend Gianna (stay tuned for the wedding video!). And to all our guests, especially those from out of town who made the long drive or flight to be there, thank you so much for being part of our special day and surrounding us with love and support.
Thank you to everyone who used our hashtag to document the big day! You can view all the tagged photos here!
