Wedding blizzard bliss

By Lori Nickel, Montgomery Messenger

When you live in Minnesota in the wintertime, you've got to be flexible. Jason and Stefanie (Olson) Wellentin, Lonsdale, learned that lesson all too well last weekend when their Saturday afternoon wedding plans were interrupted by the fifth largest blizzard in the state's history.

Last July, Jason, son of Heidi and the late John Wellentin of Lonsdale, and grandson of Milton and Lois Holetz, Montgomery, and Lester and Kathy Wellentin, Lonsdale, asked Stefanie, daughter of Les and Ute Olson, Albert Lea, to marry him. Then the planning began. They scheduled the church they wanted, arranged for a pastor friend to marry them, ordered flowers, and lined up the reception hall and DJ. They invited almost 200 people to share their special day with them, and even picked a date no one would forget: 12-11-10. Turns out their wedding day will be unforgettable for other reasons.

Wanting to get married in a quaint country church, the couple selected Little Prairie United Methodist Church, in the beautiful countryside south of Dundas. Stefanie said she arrived at the church on time Saturday morning, even though the drive took her an hour from Lonsdale. She and her bridesmaids and hair stylist became busy preparing themselves for the ceremony and totally forgot about the weather, she said.

I was downstairs when the D.J. from Albert Lea called and said it took him an hour and a half to go 20 miles. It was then I realized this wasn't happening today