The Associated Press Covered Our Wedding!

Read the article.

Look at the pictures and listen to the audio slideshow. You can also click “captions” to read more about the wedding as you are listening.

Liz’s Letter to the Editor of the Daily Reporter in Spencer, IA

My name is Liz Jones-Dilworth and I grew up in Sioux Rapids. I have lived in Austin, Texas for the past seven years but I very much wanted to get married here to show my new family farming life.

My husband Josh and I were amazed at how pleasant it was to do business here. Teresa Steuben, our caterer, made recipes we suggested and cinnamon rolls that my five-year-old nephew called “the best cake I’ve ever eaten.” Patrick at Hy-Vee Wine and Spirits patiently dealt with our beer snobbery and helped us get suitable kegs. Nelson’s shocked us by selling us Josh’s wedding ring for $500 cheaper than the exact same ring in Austin.

When I was looking to rent microphones and speakers, the businesses I called first cheerfully looked up phone numbers and helped me search. When we got to Carey’s, no one tried to convince us to get the most expensive system. Everyone seemed to know instinctively that we were on a budget and helped us stick to it. Ginny at Hy-Vee didn’t balk at our no-frills approach to flowers and helped us get (and spend) exactly what we wanted.

Since my wedding was on a Sunday morning, I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get my hair done. But Heidi at Bella Via in Okoboji came into work at 9:00 A.M. on her day off to do an amazing job, and she was a calm presence during a busy morning. The Shaws of Shaw Paint Glass and Locksmith brought their ice cream truck to our reception, and delighted Josh and I by giving us a ride around the park in the bargain.

It was wonderful to have a reason to spend so much time in Iowa this spring and summer, and to show off the truly special place I grew up.

Thank you!

View Photos

Liz is trying to keep the wedding photos organized. On the Jonesworth flickr page, check out “Best Of” to see a shorter set of good photos, “Photo Guestbook” to see who was there (mostly), or “All” to see most of the pictures we’ve got (labeled and in order).

If you’ve got other pictures, see below for instructions on posting them to the website.

Wedding Landmarks

For those of you new to the area, here are a few landmark photos that should help you find you way around.  We’ll continue snapping these leading up to the wedding;)

Also, please remember to join this Flickr group so that we can all share our photos jointly after the weekend.

More Documents;)

Most of this information is already available on the website (see the tabs above), but for those of you who prefer to print things out:

• Places of interest (attractions, restaurants, shopping) Download
• Wedding schedule Download

Looking forward to seeing you all soon!

The Onion Covers the Jonesworth Wedding

I’m Sure That Out-Of-Control Water Skier Will Avoid Our Outdoor Wedding

Guest Blogger, Bridesmaid Extraordinaire & Bride-to-Be Lyndsay LeClair Tells You Where To Eat in Minnesota!

I asked Lyndsay, who lives in St. Paul, to suggest some good stopping places between MSP and Spencer. Boy, did she deliver! Check out the helpful websites that she posted also. Notice that all the non-fast food options are in or very close to the Twin Cities. Cracker Barrell is your last chance when driving towards Iowa.

Now, here’s what Lyndsay has to say:

Also Chipotle in Richfield off of 494, (Exit Lyndale Avenue, just before the exit for I-35) as you know, is awesome:
http://www.chipotle.com/restaurants/map.asp?address=&city=Minneapolis&state=MN&zip=

Then there’s Potbelly Sandwich works at the same exit off 494 (Lyndale). They have toasted sub sandwiches (about 5 notches up from Subway), ice cream (!), live music on weekends. Delicious and a nice vibe:
http://www.potbelly.com/searchresultsnew.asp?txtAddr=7644+Lyndale+Ave+S&txtCity=Richfield&txtState=MN&txtZip=55423

Also close by (same exit I think) is a Don Pablos for sit down TexMex and giant Margaritas for those who aren’t driving:
http://donpablos.know-where.com/donpablos/cgi/site?site=00060&address=&design=default&lang=en&mapid=us

I think the Cracker Barrell is good in Lakeville (Exit 85 off I-35). I’ve gone there a lot for brunch and it’s darn good for road food:
http://www.crackerbarrel.com/location.cfm?state=MN

In general, we find that the Albert Lea stop at 35 and I-90 is a nice place with Arby’s, DQ, McDonalds–the usual fast food spread, but also clean gas stations with clean restrooms and easy to navigate on and off the interstate. Oh, and a big ShopKo store for last minute needs. I would also mention that all the rest stops along 90 (especially Blue Earth) are nice for a quick stop and good places to picnic.

The Top of Iowa Welcome center on 35S on your way down to Hwy 18/Mason City is a fun, down home stop too. On weekends you can get fresh popcorn upstairs for like 50 cents or something, there’s a little gift shop and tons of vending machines and clean bathrooms. It looks like a giant barn. It’s the same exit at Diamond Joe Casino which you can clearly see from the road.

Open Mike!

So, the open mike is a go on Saturday night at the farm.  We’re going to have a couple of microphones & a couple of guitars.  Our friend Nelson (improv comedian) is hosting the show. We also have booked & confirmed the following nationally renowned acts:

Dave Dilworth (father of the groom)

Liz Jones (bride)

Lyndsay LeClair & Mark Neuzil, members of the St. Paul-based band The New Nationals (first cousin & first cousin once-removed of the bride)

Adam Gillette, front man of the former Milwaukee band The Solomon Grundys (first cousin once-removed of the bride)

Hilary Thomas, member of th 1996 Austin Poetry Slam team (former roommate of the bride)

We need some tap-dancing, trained cows, and dramatic monologues to round out the program.

Seriously, any (family friendly) thing goes, including toasts.

Names!

We’re going with the hyphen! As of August 17, we’ll be Liz & Joshua Jones-Dilworth.

Let the name-changing red tape begin!

Golfing — Your questions answered!

We’ve been getting a lot of questions about the planned golf outing on the morning of Saturday the 16th. We’ll begin at approximately 9 a.m. at the Little Sioux Country Club in Sioux Rapids.

We’ll play 18 holes, which is $17 per person, and a two-person rental cart is $20. Unfortunately, there is only one set of rental clubs. Liz is working on rounding up spare sets from her family. We’re going to play scramble-style, though, which will allow us to share clubs, so for you out-of-towners, no need to worry about bringing your own clubs or the lack of a rental option — there are enough golfers in the family that we should be able to make it work just fine.

When you RSVP, make sure to let us know that you plan to golf so that we can make sure that we’ll have enough sets of clubs to go around. We should be done by about 1 p.m. — at that point The Dilworth/Prell family will join Liz’s immediate family for lunch at the Jones house, while the rest of the golfing party will likely grab lunch together.

More Photos!

Check out our new photo page — find the link (as well as all other crucial wedding information) above the cow banner.

Finally, a picture of Liz & Josh!

We had a great time in Iowa over Mother’s Day weekend, and Liz’s family threw her a beautiful shower. Thanks, everyone!

Results are In!

It’s Liz here. I happened to take a glance at our survey results this morning, and here’s the names you liked.

40% of you liked Jonesworth as a last name. (Yea! This is my first choice also.)

The rest of the answers were divided among keeping our current names–or simply being the Dilworths.

Zero of you were fans of the hyphen, and only one person liked the Jones Dilworth combo.

Rock out, William!

Liz’s brother William gets the prize for prompt wedding outfit purchasing.  Within 24 hours of discussing suits for the first time, he purchased one.  This is doubly impressive since he’s super-tall and not easily fitted.

Help, Help! Part 2

We’ve started to have conversations lately about what in the world our names are going to be. Modern, Traditional, or Totally Radical?! You decide!