The Midwest farmer's daughters

We were in the lovely state of Minnesota this past weekend and boy, oh boy, did we not stop moving! Planning a wedding is a serious amount of work, especially when you're doing it from miles and miles away. Despite the totally expected frustrating moments, (our rehearsal dinner venue informing us we could no longer have it there comes to mind) we still had a fantastic weekend filled with what Minnesota is known the least for: feminism.

As our weekend unfolded, we made a really great discovery: almost all of our venues are businesses owned and ran by women. I find this really exciting, because the Midwest is not exactly the place to go when you want to stand on your own two feet as a chick. Minneapolis is definitely progressive in many respects, but as soon as you escape that 60 mile radius around the city, you start noticing an ever-expanding smattering of pro-life signs and Christian billboards.

Here's the run down: our cupcake lady opened a bakery out of her own home. Our florist is a former resident of the Pacific Northwest who decided to follow her life-long dream of opening her own flower shop. (Side note: She's not only a vegetarian, but she rescues animals and her shop has pets crawling all over it.) The caterers we hired for our cocktail hour are two woman from Minneapolis who moved to the north woods to open an organic food share. Our rental company is owned by younger woman who just had a baby and her husband works for her. (She said she's kicked salespeople out before for asking to speak with her husband instead of her, even after telling them she was the owner.) Last but not least, the restaurant we're having the rehearsal dinner at is owned by a mother-daughter team. (You can blame them for the kitschy name of "The Lucky Moose.")

It has, indeed, been difficult at times to think about all of the money we're throwing into this celebration, especially in this here economy, but I feel honored in a way to be supporting these local women in their businesses. Inspiring indeed!