Leslie was a dream!…read more My (now!) husband and I decided to have a pop-up wedding during a week-long visit to the Twin Cities. Searching Yelp, we found Leslie with Ceremonies by Positively Charmed days before hopping on a plane for our trip. While we weren't sure if Yelp was the best way to find the individual who would be reading our vows and pronouncing us husband and wife...we cannot say enough for how honored and blessed we are to have had Leslie guiding us into our marriage. With only five days notice, she still took the time to talk us through her process and provided us with a questionnaire that helped her get to know us but also gave us another opportunity to reflect on the gravity and beauty of the decision we were making. When the day arrived, it was as if she was already part of our family and understood the two of us and what marriage and this commitment meant to us. Not an eye remained dry through the ceremony. It had so much heart and depth, and truly reflected us. An intimate and sacred gathering. Leslie will ALWAYS be a part of the joy and delight of our wedding day.

As a wedding vendor, I have had the pleasure of working with Leslie of Positively Charmed several…read moretimes now. I absolutely love working with her! She is so sweet and down to earth, and gives the most touching ceremonies. I have heard raves from her clients and wedding guests too. I like her so much, I even hired her to preside over my mother's funeral. Do yourself a favor and contact Leslie for your wedding day!

Tom was great to work with! He has an incredible library of content to choose from, and was very…read moreamenable to making updates as we drafted our program. He was incredibly responsive and helpful during the whole process leading up to the wedding. On the wedding day, he was a great presence as he helped prepare us for the run of show, and during the real deal. We appreciated having a professional speaker officiate for us -- it really elevated our ceremony experience.

Tom was wonderful! Him and his website are both very helpful and informative when it comes to…read moreplanning a ceremony. He arrived on time, and did everything exactly as planned. He made the whole process very easy!

Not being religious and with my parent's backyard venue in mind, my husband and I wanted to hire an…read moreofficiant for our September 2012 wedding. We googled and compared reviews of local officiants. We wanted to hire someone that was affordable and able to direct a rehearsal. We got paired with Cara Tollefson through Minnesota Officiants. We had a sit down to meet Cara at a location that was convenient for the three of us. When we met Cara she gave us a lot of information and answered all of our many questions. We instantly got a good vibe from her. Although the cost of services was a little more than we had budgeted we recognized it was due to the fact that we wanted rehearsal time to be added in there. Cara didn't once pressure us to pay any kind of deposit but instead simply explained that if we wanted to pursue her services that we just needed to mail in a signed contract and a deposit. After we sent the deposit within the week she sent us a ceremony planner. This walked us through all the elements of the wedding with many options of each. With this planner we were able to pick and choose our readings, ritual, opening/closing remarks, etc. There was plenty flexibility to get as traditional or unique as we wanted. We opted for a simple and short non-denominatial ceremony. Cara was very responsive and helpful via email and even offered to meet in person as needed. Cara was absolutely fabulous!! The day before at the rehearsal we walked through everything and that was VERY helpful. I appreciate that she was willing to rehearse with us. She did a fabulous job of directing everyone. The ceremony felt so personal and everything she said was heartfelt. I'm sure she does a ton of weddings and it meant so much that she was genuinely happy and excited for us. She had an amazing energy and many people commented on what an wonderful job she did. Our wedding day was so special, it meant so much to have Cara there! I'm so happy we trusted our guts with our first meeting. She was absolutely fabulous and facilitated a beautiful and meaningful ceremony.

My wife and I were married at Mill City Museum this past August 2009 and we were fortunate enough…read moreto happen upon Jim Albani early enough in our planning process to secure his services for our wedding date. Our first meeting with Jim was at The Wilde Roast in NE (his recommendation) and we knew within five minutes that we wanted him to officiate our wedding ceremony. He was well-organized, amicably professional, and listened to our thoughts/concerns while providing great feed back. Exactly what we needed. We were looking for someone who seemed capable of delivering a seamless presentation. After only meeting a few times before our wedding day and without any prior rehearsal, Jim exceeded our highest expectations. He eliminated any and all worry from the entire process - allowing us to relax and focus on each other. Through thoughtful prepping and communication, he helped us to create a beautiful ceremony that accurately represented us as a couple and we couldn't be more happy with the results. Thanks Jim!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING - I FOUND YOUR…read moreWEDDING DAY OFFICIANT! Shawna Orwoll with Away We Go Weddings is one of my favorite humans. I stumbled across her webpage when met with the daunting task of finding our officiant. I loved her warm feeling and words on her page. I feel in love with her instantly. I read up on reviews and they also beamed endless positive and amazing reviews. It was clear that Shawna loves everything LOVE and warm fuzzy feelings. Within moments of connecting with her, it felt as though I was catching up with an old friend from years ago and no time had passed. We met up in person for champagne and snacks! We got to meet her husband and got to know her better too! We spent 2 hours all 4 of us just talking! HAHA! It was a fun memorable meeting that definitely didn't feel like a "meeting"! Shawna picks up details you don't realize you communicate. She really got to know us, chatted with us like we were close friends and she is just.... Real. She's so much fun and knows how and when to poke fun wand joke with people to loosen them up and get people giggling! Our rehearsal was actually a fun experience and she worked well in a time-crunch we had. She was graceful and kind while dodging the many questions shot at her by family and the wedding party at the rehearsal, which she would eventually answer, had the question askers just held their pants on for a minute! LOL And without giving too much away, just know that she shocked every one of us at the ceremony with the most epic reading and personalized ceremony!! I had tears of laughter!! I'm so thankful that she did that before we read our vows to each other because I was SO nervous and trembly for some reason, but that laughter loosened me up and it got out the jitters so I was able to speak clearly and didn't shake or stumble/cry when I read my vows. We had so many guests tell us how much they enjoyed our fun and light hearted wedding ceremony as opposed to other ceremonies that can sometimes feel stuffy and boring. Our guests felt involved in our ceremony, laughed with us and will never forget the unique ceremony that Shawna put together for us. We love Shawna and Away We Go Weddings!!! Don't go to anyone else!! Hire her and thank us later!!! We now have, formally, "our song" now because of Shawna ;)

I couldn't have been happier with our experience at Watson Block. Our wedding was spread out across…read moretwo days, with a larger reception on the second date at WB. We instantly fell in love with the aesthetic and received many compliments from our guests about the space and decor. The brick interior gives such a warm, home-style feel to such a big occasion, and it helped our guests settle in right away. The bar was very easy to coordinate and was quick to accommodate a couple of special requests we made. If there's anything we would have changed in retrospect, it would have been establishing some sort of off-site shuttle option. Luckily, our Sunday afternoon event was on a weekend where the Vikings were out of town and street parking was readily available. Still, this isn't any fault of the venues -- just a logistical thing to consider for your day. We can confidently say we would have our event at Watson Block even if given a do-over.

We are so happy that we decided to have our wedding at Watson Block! It is such a beautiful space…read moreand was the perfect size for our wedding of ~100 guests. We had both the ceremony and reception at Watson Block and the transition between the two was seamless. Amber was great to work with through the process as well! She let us come back and tour the space again after we had booked and was very responsive to all of our questions. There were so many things happening the day of the wedding that Amber and her team handled perfectly in the background. It allowed us to relax and enjoy the day knowing that they had everything 100% taken care of. We would highly recommend Watson Block to anyone looking for a venue!

Michelle is a goddess. I felt comfortable planning my wedding, but needed someone to help out the…read moreday of, to make sure everyone and everything was in place. She came to my house and picked everything up the weekend before. Called all my vendors a few days out to make sure everyone knew where they needed to be and at what time. We only met once right after I got engaged and I knew she was the gal for me. After a short conversation I felt very comfortable that she knew exactly what I was looking for. She gave me all kinds of great tips and recommendations. Because of the venue I got married at, there was no dressing area for me to hide in, so I didn't arrive at the wedding until it was time to walk down the aisle. I hadn't seen the venue decorated until then. I could not stop looking around. She made my wedding more beautiful than I imagined it would. If she was stressed out, it didn't show. Every time she talked to me she was as cool as a cucumber. I can't sing her praises enough!

Kayla and Zach are an amazing duo who gave us a world-class experience that didn't put us into big…read moredebt. I was engaged in July 2022 and planned to be married in September 2022. From the get go, Kayla was super responsive through email and social media, which was great given the timeframe. We were working on a small budget with an elopement-style wedding and just a few guests. Kayla and Zach were accommodating and worked out a package that fit into our budget without compromising too much of the coverage we wanted. Kayla kept in regular contact throughout the process and I was never lost or confused. I was planning everything myself and they didn't make me feel small for not having an extravagant event that fit into a particular aesthetic, which was a problem I ran into with similarly skilled videographers. Overall, their customer experience is amazing and they are so supportive from start to finish. On the day-of, Kayla and Zach were punctual and communicative. I had the pleasure of having Kayla filming my bridal prep, and my husband had Zach for groom prep. Both of them were incredibly nice and comfortable to be around. When it was time to start capturing moments, my husband appreciated how professional Zach was and noted that he knew exactly how to capture the important moments, especially between my husband and his mother. Kayla was incredible to work with and felt like part of our girl group over at the bridal prep. She managed to fade into the background at moments and give us space to enjoy our time together, but popped in at perfect moments to guide shots we may not have thought of. We found out after getting photos back that both Kayla and Zach had staged various photos of our rings and other details which were so lovely and wouldn't have crossed our minds to ask for. At the actual wedding site, Kayla and Zach worked together to capture everything. They really went the extra mile to make sure our day was represented as lovely and romantic as it felt for us as a couple. They even stayed a little longer than planned to get some final photos of our guests which we really appreciated. All in all, I cannot recommend Kayla and Zach enough. They made us feel so special and honored our day. Our budget and the wedding size wasn't treated negatively. They are also very socially aware and that was reflected in their work. Kayla made sure to get the important moments of my mom doing my hair, which is a very significant ritual as a Black woman, and she had so many ideas for creating my princess-like experience while working around a broken ankle, crutches and bandages and all. I was very impressed that the quality of editing also avoided washing out all the brown skin tones. Everything truly was a dream. I have no notes. Hire them!

We held a reunion here for about 100 people in June. The staff were very helpful in sorting out the…read moredetails and making sure everything ran smoothly. Everyone had a great time & it could not have gone better.

Below are several emotional events in my life that have caused my eyes to well up in tears and…read moretemporarily impair my vision. (To be clear, this is not considered crying.) -Scar using his claws to stab the back of Mufasa's paws, which caused Mufasa to fall down into a canyon, and then become trampled to death by a legion of wildebeests. (The Lion King) -Kevin Garnett returning to the Minnesota Timberwolves, who was the face of the franchise for over a decade and loved still loved the Twin Cities. #21forEva -Seeing Stephanie and Calvin (my friends/ the nicest people I've ever met) get hitched this past Saturday at Day Block's Event Center. And more about Day Block's Event Center, I don't believe Stephanie and Calvin could have selected a more stellar venue for their special day. Throughout the wedding, I repeatedly found myself gazing at the... +beautiful yellow and white-ish exposed brick throughout. +two-story high ceilings that made the entire space feel both spacious and open. +tall windows that allowed for plenty of natural light. +b-boy-approved wooden floors perfect for backspins and other power moves. +small deck that's useful for cooling off after booty-shaking for hours on end. +ideal rooms for the ceremony, reception, dance floor, food, and bar. The venue also seemed really cool with hosting non-affiliated businesses. Common Roots catered a delicious and savory meal and Foxglove Market & Studio provided plenty of immaculate and unique decorations. Both contributed to making the wedding awesome. Other tidbits: -Through Day Block, one can rent out a private and fenced parking area that's almost necessary for a large event Downtown. -There are two single, yet spacious bathrooms for attendees. -It's located on the second floor of Day Block Brewery. I highly recommend Day Block's Event Center for a couple looking to get married, or for someone planning an event for 100-200 people.