I first met Kelsey and Jesse through my boyfriend, who has been friends with the couple since high school. When I found out Kelsey and Jesse had a wedding video, I honestly knew before even pressing the play button that it would be amazing. Jesse and Kelsey are both talented designers, so basically they know how to make everything really pretty, which is obviously a great skill to have when you're planning a wedding 😜. While it's clear from watching their amazing wedding video by Vuza Media that the whole day was beautiful, my favorite part is probably their first look, followed very closely by their epic Glam Doll Donuts spread at their reception. Watch their full film below and then read on for the insanely sweet story of #kelsplusjess.
The Love Story
Going through art school at UW-Stout, dipping in and out of mutual social circles and sitting next to one another in design history class, a simple friendship was struck. Graduation came, we both got jobs at different agencies in Minneapolis, and fell away from each others lives for a little over a year. Then, on a fateful Halloween night, our friends Parker and Annie invited us to a party in a packed, hot attic in Uptown. After a night of mingling and a bunny tattoo sketch-off, we decided to meet over a sushi dinner later that week. What followed were remarkable adventures together.
Being designers, we were both very hands on with all of the details for our wedding day. We designed everything from the save the dates, to the wedding stationary and website, to the centerpieces, flowers, ceremony backdrop and decor around the venue. Our catering was provided from Hola Arepa food truck, served with a fresh signature margarita on the side. Dessert was provided by our favorite donut shop, Glam Doll Donuts. We finished the night with a packed dance floor and memories to last a lifetime. —Kelsey.
The Wedding
What parts of the wedding were most important to you, and how did you plan for them?
Jesse: We picked 3 things that were most important for us: the food, the atmosphere, and the music. Our venue really determined our food and atmosphere situation, so we spent some time researching and touring different small locations in Minneapolis. We landed on 514 Studio because they provided a blank warehouse space for us to design. Planning out the look came down to us doing some extensive digging on Pinterest and elsewhere to figure out warm lighting, fun graphical elements (we’re both designers), and building a very detailed floorpan, not only for seating, but for location and set up of decor. The venue also gave us free reign on our food caterer, allowing us to get the Hola Arepa food truck. The challenge for the meal was planning how 170 people were going to get dinner at a similar time in the evening from the truck. We landed on progressively releasing tables like you would for a buffet, which worked quite smoothly.
You are obviously both really talented when it comes to art and design. What elements of your wedding did you have a hand in?
Jesse: We took on quite a bit of the visual execution ourselves; invite design and screen printing, center piece design and arrangement, wall lighting and display, donut display planning, and more. Pretty much everything besides the bouquets and greenery hung throughout the space was planned and executed on our end. It was a little intense looking back, but so worth it for how wonderful everything looked when it came together.
Your donut table is unreal. Your wedding vid has an amazing close-up shot of a donut with a drawing of you two on it that fills my heart with instant joy. What’s the story behind your dessert table?
Jesse: I’ve been designing and illustrating for Glam Doll Donuts since they got their start five years ago, and they have been a favorite spot for late date night desserts for Kels and I. I also proposed to Kels with a custom donut platter at Glam Doll, so they've always added that extra bit of sweetness to our relationship. We worked with Glam Doll to make the epic donut platter with some of our favorite flavors, and it all turned out great!
What is your favorite moment from your wedding video?
Jesse: Favorite moments from our wedding video is seeing the first look again, and then being able to relive all the fun everyone was having throughout the dance that night.
How did you find TJ Casey and Billy Bjork with Vuza Media, and what made you choose them?
Jesse: Kels’ sister had stumbled across Vuza Media’s and their awesome work while we were trying to decide if we could squeeze a wedding video into our budget. We fell in love with their style and after meeting with TJ we knew we’d regret not getting a professional wedding video done. This was early in Vuza Media’s wedding video work so we let them have some stylistic freedom and they were able to cut us a great deal.
What advice would you give a couple who is planning their wedding right now that no one gave you?
Jesse: The day moves really fast, so as you’re planning out the schedule for your photos, dances, meals, and whatever else, make sure to leave plenty of time for you and your partner to be able to spend a lot of time with all the people you love.
The Couple
Was there a moment you knew you were definitely falling in love?
Jesse: One thing we really bond over in our relationship is music, and one of our first concerts together was Jeremy Messersmith’s First Ave show for Heart Murmurs. We just had so much fun that night, just taking in the music, singing along, dancing, laughing. I think we had stars in our eyes after that night.
What do you think the ~secret sauce~ to your relationship is?
Jesse: I think our secret sauce is that we really can really listen and understand each other, both in our personal and professional lives. Being creative has played a lot into how we spend time with one another, and how we express ourselves to one another.
What is your favorite thing to do together on a random weeknight?
Jesse: Wake up late, head to a favorite local spot for brunch, and spend some time exploring the city: walking around the lakes, lounging around in the hammock, or going on a bike ride.
Name your three favorite things about living in Minneapolis.
Jesse: Easy. Minneapolis is a big city with a small town feel, we have a wonderful local music scene, and the food here is TO. DIE. FOR.
How would each of you define what love is?
Jesse: I think for each of us, love is having that someone who can be there to listen, support, laugh, cry and overall challenge you, through every stage of life.
What do you think is the most inspiring thing about each other?
Jesse: Kels inspires me to build all the special relationships in my life, giving them the time and care like the one we have together.
Kelsey: Jess inspires me to be spontaneous and explore the all excitement and surprise life has to offer.
If you were to guess, where will you be and what will you be doing when you celebrate your 10-year wedding anniversary?
Jesse:We love to travel so when we reach our 10-year anniversary, we’ll probably be going on an extended trip to somewhere in the world we have yet to explore. We’ll see when the time comes!
See the full vendor list for Kelsey and Jesse's wedding here.
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