Hotel Fort Des Moines

Rehearsal Dinner

Friday Welcome Reception

World Food Prize Hall of Laureates

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Winter

Our Wedding

Our Story

Photos

Bridal Party

Lizzie (Biz)

Caroline

Ashley

Julia's friend from Drake and roommate for two years

Madeline

Riley

Groom's Party

Bryan

Blake

Brandon

Daniel 

Jason (Burma)

Brad's friend from Drake and Julia and Brad's former roommate 

Kevin

Lizzie's boyfriend and Julia and Brad's friend 

Rylee

Wedding Party

Q + A

Des Moines International Airport

All hotels with room blocks are a short walk to the venue, across the Des Moines river, although in the heat you may prefer to uber/ drive/ use hotel shuttle.

This is the closest hotel to the venue, only about a 5 minute walk. You must call the number listed above to make a reservation and mention Gutsh/ Sandeen Wedding. There are very limited rooms available Friday night and a few more available just Saturday night, so keep that in mind when booking.

Embassy Suites by Hilton Des Moines Downtown

All reservations must be made by May, 6 2025. If you tried to use this link previously and it didn't work, sorry! It has been updated.

AC Hotel Des Moines East Village

To make reservations call and ask for Shay, and mention Gutsch/Sandeen Wedding, or book online through link below. Please note if you use the link the dates that auto populate are not our wedding dates so you need to select those.Rooms must be booked by May 5, 2025 to get room block rate.

Staybridge Suites Des Moines Downtown, an IHG Hotel

Travel & Accommodations 

Check out Catch Des Moines for a good overview of fun stuff to do in Des Moines and list of local events going on!<a href="https://www.catchdesmoines.com/things-to-do/?gad_source=1&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAoyNGrK-qoTeIqOLEsnIrBltp0P6_&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAk8G9BhA0EiwAOQxmfsXVq0OgXQpMnBYHvgfG1JwZFhJ3hIm9DOmvRqOl2NfRJspCKMB0bRoC0xYQAvD_BwE" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.catchdesmoines.com</a>

It is located down Court Ave. Just down the street from our venue. You absolutely have to go there the morning of the wedding to check out local vendors, grab coffee and breakfast, and pet a bunch of friendly dogs!

Farmers Market

You can access the park from downtown on some of the amazing walking and bike trails in Des Moines. There are often free concerts at the amphitheater as well as a fun outdoor pop up beer garden!

Des Moines Water Works Park

Blue Sushi Sake Grill

Exile Brewing Company

Bar Nico

The Republic on Grand

Things to Do

Registry

Friday Evening Welcome Reception 

Hotel Fort Des Moines | 7:30-10:30

Attire is casual to dressy casual. We are so happy that we have many out of town guests traveling to attend our wedding! To help ensure we are able to spend more time with you all, we would love to invite you to a small reception Friday evening. We will serve light snacks, beer, wine and seltzers. Feel free to come and go as you please. We would appreciate if you could please indicate if you plan on attending when you RSVP, to get a rough estimate for food. We know travels plans can change last minute though, so no worries if you cannot end up attending. We encourage you to take uber/ Lyft. If you do decide to drive, you can utilize valet parking or self park in the nationwide parking garage behind the hotel.

Julia & Brad

Julia & Brad

Wedding Party