Wedding: July 15, 2016
Ceremony & reception: Dellwood Barn Weddings, Grant
Honeymoon: Thailand
Lauren Ropes and Mark Santi met through mutual friends. After a first date at Bar La Grassa, they knew it was the real thing. But when Mark proposed by the St. Croix River in Stillwater, he still managed to catch Lauren by surprise. “I thought we were going to look at reclaimed wood for our fireplace mantel,” says Lauren. Instead, he took her to a nearby restaurant where their friends and family were waiting to celebrate. Then it came time to plan a wedding. When they found Dellwood Barn, it was exactly what they were looking for in a venue. They loved the long picnic-style tables, and it was conveniently located just a short drive from the house where Mark grew up in White Bear Lake. On the day of the wedding, the Stillwater Trolley Co. picked everyone up and drove them to the venue. For the ceremony, the couple had ordered a custom-made archway from a builder in Duluth, which ended up being extremely heavy and took four men to lift. Keeping with their love of reclaimed objects, the couple plans to incorporate the frame into the design of their backyard. “It’s part of our forever home,” says Lauren.
