My husband and I were married on Anderson Dock in Ephraim, WI overlooking the bay and on the site of the historic Anderson Warehouse.
The former warehouse turned art gallery used to house goods exported out of Ephraim from the late 1850s to the mid 1900s. Due to storm damage it was rebuilt several times.
The building is covered in painted names. The tradition started as a place to paint the name of your boat when you docked there, but over the years it has become a place to share the names of lovers.
As a kid I used to fish off the dock with my parents and fantasized about adding my name with a special someone to the hundreds of others who declared their love. Little did I know I would end up getting married there one day.
My husband actually picked the location, and at our rehearsal he added our names. If you look closely at the photo our names are in blue above the top of the ladder.
It was quite a project having to bring such a tall ladder and my now husband having to carry a bucket of paint up, in addition to balancing himself. And he managed to do this all without spilling any paint on himself or on me.
We've already been back a couple of times to check it out and I look forward to taking pictures there for future anniversaries.
One day we'll take our children there and tell them the story of our wedding and maybe I'll have a little girl who fantasizes about adding her name with her future love right next to her parents. It could be a family tradition in the making.
