James-n-Jules

2009-12-21T17:22:00.001-08:00

RSVP

2009-12-21T17:19:00.001-08:00

Please return the RSVP card by June 1, 2010. You can also RSVP in a comment below.

2009-10-18T17:42:00.001-07:00

Attention Guests:
Hotel rooms are filling up fast! Visit the Lodging page to book your room.

Out-of-Towner Guide

2009-10-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

For those of you visiting Minneapolis and staying for the holiday weekend, here are a few great places to check out.

1. Walker Art Center and Sculpture Garden
2. Red, White and Boom: Fourth of July fireworks on the Mississippi
3. Twins game @ Target field
4. Valleyfair
5. Minnesota Zoo
6. Mall of America
7. Rent a bike and hit the greenway and the lakes
8. Rent a canoe at Lake Calhoun
9. The Science Museum of Minnesota
10. Take a riverboat tour of the Mississippi
11. The Minneapolis Institute of Art is free
12. Guthrie Theater
Check the City Pages for events, shows, and concerts
Need more? Here are 150 things to do in Minneapolis

James and Julie's Top 10 Minneapolis restaurants

1. Quang (Vietnamese)
2. Seward Cafe (Vegan, Vegetarian, Local, Organic)
3. Obento Ya (Japanese)
4. Victors 1959 Cafe (Cuban)
5. Brasa (Creole, Local, Organic)
6. Modern Cafe (Classic American)
7. Gardens of Salonica (Greek)
8. Emily's Lebanese (duh, Lebanese)
9. French Meadow (Cafe and Bakery)
10. Punch Pizza (Fast, Cheap, Good)

A few bars
1. Grumpy's NE
2. 331 Club
3. The Local

2009-07-26T15:06:00.001-07:00

Registry

2009-07-26T14:41:00.001-07:00

We just bought a house (with oh so many house projects) so gift cards to places like Ikea or Home Depot are great.

We have a list of stuff at Target, and would be so psyched to have help with our honeymoon to Jamaica (check out the photos)!

Most of all, we would love for you to share this day with us.

Thanks! xoxo

Transportation

2009-07-26T14:40:00.001-07:00

There is plenty of available parking at Gale Woods Farm, but for those of you who prefer not to drive we will have shuttle vans available leaving from the Minneapolis Marriott West. We strongly encourage you to take advantage! Space is limited.

Minneapolis Marriott West > Gale Woods Farm
Shuttles leaving at 3:15 and 4:15. Arrive a little early to ensure a spot!

Gale Woods Farm > Minneapolis Marriott West
Shuttles leaving between 9:00 and 10:30

Address to know

1. James and Julie's house
4300 Minnehaha Ave.
Minneapolis MN 55406
Map

2. Gale Woods Farm
7210 County Road 110 W.
Minnetrista, MN 55364
Directions

3. Minneapolis Marriott West
9960 Wayzata Boulevard
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55426 USA
Directions

Lodging

2009-07-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Minneapolis Marriott West

For Guest Room Reservations, please call 800-228-9290 and ask for the "Vermeer/Fowler Wedding." Rates are $59/night in a standard room, or $79/night for a suite (the suites have large outdoor patios). To recieve the block rate, reservations must be made by June 17th, but reserve early because the rooms will go fast (especially Sunday night)!

These special rates are good for the whole holiday weekend (Thursday through Sunday), so stay a while!

Maps and Driving Directions
Minneapolis Marriott West
9960 Wayzata Blvd
St. Louis Park, MN 55426

Ceremony and Reception

2009-05-29T16:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 3rd 2010

Gale Woods Farm
7210 County Road 110 W.
Minnetrista, MN 55364

Schedule of events

3:30 - 5:00
Yard games and refreshments. There are trails to walk on, some animals to pet, and a lake to look at. Beer, wine (sorry no liquor allowed), and a variety of other beverages and snacks. Come early and enjoy the park with us!

5:00 - 6:00
Ceremony and celebratory beverages: We are going to get married and you will witness it.

6:00 - 7:00
Picnic food from Divine Swine (Vegetarian options available).

7:00 - 10:00
There will be music, games, a fire pit, and more.

10:00 and on...
Kip's Irish Pub at the Minneapolis Marriott West

Shuttle vans leave the Marriott for the wedding site at 3:15 and 4:15, and leave the farm for the hotel between 9:00 and 10:30. See the transportation section for more info.

Marriage is for...

2009-05-21T08:24:00.001-07:00

The Proposal

2009-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

In love with being together, time to get tethered.

Monday, March 9th, I left work early that I might get to a jeweler before they closed. Keeping everything located downtown Minneapolis was essential for secret plotting. I could go about this business throughout the business day without need of poorly conceived half-stories for sneaking away some weekend afternoon. I arrived at JB Hudson sometime before 5PM. Lovely place, but they didn't have what I desired. No matter, a sales associate and I set about to have the ring custom built. I returned over lunch the next day to edify the order. It was to take no more than 3 weeks. Right. Simple. Quick. Perfect.

3 weeks pass with no ring. My patience is gone from me. I exchange e-mails at rapid pace with the sales associate. I find time to mitigate the annoyance of my lost patience in referencing my excitement for actually getting the ring...for proposing. Keeping this all bottled in proves difficult. AND THEN, Thursday, April 2nd I am told it'll arrive in-store Saturday morning the 4th.

Crap. Despite my pleading, reality doesn't change the fact that if I want to do this simply, quietly, during the work day, I would have to wait until Monday. As you recall, my patience had already disappeared. Monday was just too far off. I cooked up a poorly conceived half-story to break ranks with Julie Saturday morning so that I could go pick up the ring.

More context: Scandalously, I moved into Julie's apartment the end of this past February. Most Saturday mornings, we go grocery shopping, most un-scandalously.

Saturday the 4th, we went grocery shopping. On the way back home, I had Julie drop me off at my old apartment. I hadn't yet gotten my bicycle out of the garage. I had been dissuaded from doing so previously by equal parts insane Minnesota weather and simple absent-mindedness, BUT NOW, it was fodder for a new plan. Julie dropped me off to pick my bike up along with some old mail. I got my bike out, rode downtown to JB Hudson. It's beautiful outside, finally. Right. Simple. Quick. Perfect.

As soon as one person in JB hudson other than the associate you've been working with discovers you're buying an engagement ring, EVERYONE in the store must meet you, customers included. At this, they start offering you refreshments, booze, soda, lemonade -- all declined more or less because I already started to nervous up and I needed to get going. The bike ride between my old place and our place is typically about 15, 20 minutes max. I'd already been gone over half an hour.

At last, I've decided what my plan is going to be. We (Julie and myself) have this note-pad of small rectangular pieces of paper attached to something akin a large key-ring. I'll cut into the hole which looped the paper onto the key ring so that I can place the diamond ring in there, scotch tape the circle sealed shut again, scribble "Will you marry me?" on the note and then promptly thumb-tack the thing to the bulletin board above Julie's desk. She had a lot of work to do Saturday and was expected to spend A LOT of time at her desk. Right. Simple. Quick. Perfect.

I arrive home and she's not there. She decided to do some thrift shopping after dropping me. This is fine. This is better than fine. I can now tack the note-ring set-up in private. I do so. She gets home a few moments later.

I put away groceries. She sets some things at her desk. I ask her to clarify an art opening is two weeks from now on her bulletin board calendar (I've switched the month back to March and the ring is maybe an inch to the right of the calendar). She confirms the date, and then nothing. She goes about her work. She takes her stuff and starts working in the kitchen. I exhaust myself finding excuses/questions to get her back by her desk, checking things on the bulletin board.

2 and a half - close to 3 hours later, I'm essentially picking a fight about a photo that's on the bulletin board. I don't like it. I think she should take it down and replace it with something. "Its not so much the photo on its own but, I don't know, just the way it interacts with everything around it." She's getting frustrated, repeatedly telling me I'm acting very strange. She's staring directly at the photo. The ring is maybe a centimeter above the damned thing. She walks away from her desk, informing me that I'm able to change it myself if I want to.

At this, I collapse into a fit of laughter and announce, "Okay, I've been trying to do this for hours now and I can't take it anymore." Confusion. I take her by the hand and lead her back in front of the desk and P O I N T to the ring/note as I drop to a knee. "Will you marry me?"

She looks at the bulletin board. She looks at the ring. She looks at the bulletin board. She looks at the ring. Her face progressively reddens, she tears up, she looks at me begins a chorus of what's. After a while, I announce "What isn't an answer, Jules; can I have your answer?" She lifts me up. She says "of course". She puts the ring on. Right. ~~Simple~~. ~~Quick~~. Perfect.

We're engaged.

Honeymoon!

2009-05-03T07:33:00.001-07:00

We will be honeymooning at the Rockhouse Hotel. They are environmentally responsible and have donated over $500,000 to local Negril schools. And it is so pretty!

Pictures

2009-05-03T07:29:00.001-07:00

photo by Larry Baill; taken at Yost & Baill summer picnic '08

Our new house