Ding. A. Ling.

Beverly Nichols said "Marriage is a book of which the first chapter is written in poetry" The rest of the quote is not so optimistic, so let us pretend that  it ends there ;)  

The first chapter of Tricia and Matt's marriage, their wedding ceremony, began at Stillwater Public Library in July of 2011.  Their rings are pictured above resting on the original 1902 library shelving, nestled in amongst all the great love stories.  And while the library is both historic and romantic, it has another side...

 ...a side nobody who reads Stillwater Public Library on a wedding invitation expects. A beautiful, open-air rooftop view of the St. Croix River  and historic Stillwater from Johnson Terrace.

 Tricia and Matt kept adorned the ceremony aisle with lavender pomanders, and highlighted the surrounding landscape (instead of cluttering the terrace with unneccescary decor).  In addition to the natural landscape, there are many historic church steeples visible from the terrace.  The most recognizable is the bell tower of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, located next door to the library.  The steeples of Trinity Lutheran and St. Michaels are just south of Ascension, and the dome of the Washington County Historic Court House, and the Stillwater Veterans Memorial are also visible from Johnson Terrace.  

 Matt and Tricia are both students at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, and had to do much of their planning long distance.  One detail was left until summer:  arranging for wedding bells from a neighboring church to ring at the conclusion of their ceremony.  With so many bell towers and steeples in the area, I was certain that something could be arranged, but we had no luck..  After several calls, we were unable to arrange it. Instead, Tricia's aunt provided recessional music on her french horn.
  

All of the pictures in this post were provided by  Kristina Marshall of Kristina Lynn Photography & Design.  Kristina is now living in Denver, Colorado, and Stillwater greatly misses her!  Luckily, she photographed two weddings on the terrace last summer, so you can look forward to seeing more of her work in the very near future.