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The Cities Blog
Tim Nelson

Kate’s Big Day: The Minnesota Version

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Katie Pavlak got up before dawn this morning and made herself a mimosa. She was up early because of the wedding.

No, not That One.

Hers.

"I wanted to go sleep, but I started getting excited and I just couldn't fall back to sleep," she said this afternoon, standing in the sunshine in downtown St. Paul in her own wedding dress -- a strapless white affair with a respectable, though manageable, train.

So she watched the warm-up act on TV. "I watched the Queen arrive, and I watched Kate arrive. I got a few hours of sleep, but that was about it."

For the record, this was Kate of White Bear Lake's Big Day before it was Kate Middleton's. Pavlak and her fiance Ryan Shea actually set today as their wedding date back in July. They had to plan way ahead, because he's in the military and lives in Georgia.

But they're taking the British usurpers in stride.

"Nobody's staying home to watch their wedding," Shea said.

Katie, Ryan and their wedding party met at Assumption Church in downtown St. Paul this morning, to scope out the church. Then they headed over to Rice Park to take some pictures. Kate's sister, Erin Romans, pitched in as photographer for the nuptials.

"I woke up and the sky was blue," Katie said. "I opened the blinds and turned on some music. It's a beautiful day to get married."

And she's got the entire British Empire to vouch for that.

Wish her and Ryan well, about 4 p.m. today.