Intimate Fall Wedding In Northern Minnesota • Xsperience Photography

Minnesota in the Fall time can make for the prettiest and most fun intimate destination wedding setting! The changing leaves, 60-70 degree temps, hiking trails and lakes offer you and your guests plenty of adventure options pre and post wedding.

“Aaron proposed in November of 2019 after 2.5 years of dating. We had talked about weddings and wedding planning before the proposal, so once we were officially engaged the actual planning came swiftly and naturally. We had found our caterer, photographer, chosen our bridal party and officiant, decided on florals, guest list, etc.. It was a breeze and we didn’t understand why a common phrase around wedding planning was “Planning is stressful”.

Then COVID-19 came to the US and to Minnesota and I am sure like many other couples, our plans seemed to go out the window. We went back and forth for many months – proceed? elopement? postponement? change plans? backyard wedding?… Finally, as summer approached, we decided that we would have the wedding we had planned but would need to modify the guest list. Painfully, we decided to cut our guest list from about 115 to 60 – with ultimately 40 people attending and many “attending” virtually.
Even with these changes we were hopeful that we could still have the wedding of our dreams! And thankfully, many of the pre-covid plans we had were still able to be utilized and we began finalizing the smaller details for our extended wedding week/weekend! We still had our wedding at YMCA Camp Northern Lights, guests were still able to arrive on Wednesday (wedding on Saturday), we still had a whole week and weekend agenda for family and friends to come together, and we still had the most beautiful and meaningful wedding ceremony we could have ever hoped for. Some of our highlights include:

taking a group paddle on Bear Island Lake
the welcome party that was thrown in lieu of a rehearsal dinner – all guests were invited to share in food, drinks, games and laughter
our first look one hour before the ceremony
hearing each others vows (we each wrote our own and read them to each other for the first time during the wedding ceremony)
having our first meal together as husband and wife at our sweethearts table (being able to talk, cry, reminisce and enjoy together)
watching the talent share that we had in lieu of a dance
being surrounded by our friends and family for many days as we entered into the most special of unions

There is so much more that could be said about our wedding weekend. We are still reminiscing and going over all of the details and fun ourselves. We have so much to be grateful for. We truly loved every single moment!”

Photographer: Associate Liz Merten for Xsperience Photography | Venue: YMCA Camp Northern Lights | Flowers: Purchased from Costco – floral arrangements assembled by me and the bridesmaids | Wedding & Bridesmaid Dresses: The Wedding Shoppe , St. Paul, Minnesota