A Book-Themed Backyard Wedding in Rochester, Minnesota

Three months after they got engaged, Kristen and Andy wed in her parents’ backyard. “My dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor, so we put aside any preconceived visions of our wedding to ensure he could be there,” she says of keeping their celebration close to home. “Papa would practice walking up and down the hospital hallways while humming the wedding march. He passed away two months after our wedding, but I’m so grateful he gave me our own little walk to remember.”

Family was the focus of Kristen and Andy’s affair, which featured literary details in the form of a typewriter guest book and cocktails named for renowned authors. During the ceremony, onlookers kept warm with cups of coffee and cream-colored blankets embroidered with a single word: home. To honor their Disney-worthy meet-cute on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Los Angeles, the pair swayed on a dance floor painted with detailed directions to Neverland—second star to the right and straight on till morning.

Dressed in baby blue gowns and ethereal flower crowns, junior bridesmaids, or “Little Women,” carried gold, petal-filled lanterns down the alfresco aisle. Bookish brass centerpieces housed tapered candles, fresh fruit and slips of paper bearing the names of the couple’s favorite works of fiction. Guests dined on butternut squash bisque served in baby pumpkins at tables set with gold-rimmed flutes and flatware.