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For newlyweds Josh and Emi Horst, the celebration of their love at the Minnesota State Fair was truly the Great Minnesota Get-Together.

Their pre-wedding reception happened on Aug. 24 and brought 175 friends and family from the Midwest, East Coast, West Coast and even as far as Argentina to the fair. The group walked around for 6 hours with matching “Wedding Reception On-A-Stick” T-shirts while eating fair food, visiting the 4H animals and going on fair rides.

“We love the fair. It’s the Great Minnesotan Get-Together. And, yeah, it’s incredibly hectic, but I think it’s worth all of the hustle and bustle because there are many things to do and it also gets other people excited,” said Josh, 27.

Josh grew up in Minnetonka and met Emi, originally from St. Charles, Ill., while they both attended St. Olaf College in Northfield six years ago. They got engaged in January and now live in Los Angeles together.

They knew they wanted to have an intimate wedding ceremony limited to immediate family. But they also still wanted to have a bigger celebration with friends and other family.

“It was actually my sister-in-law Jessica’s idea, along with her mom,” said Emi, 26. “They let us know about their idea, and because they knew we love the fair and we just kind of ran with it.”

Other than filling up on Pronto Pups and all-you-can-drink milk, the couple’s favorite moment was holding a baby goat. As a child, Josh’s best memories of the fair were seeing the 4H animals and hearing stories of his mom’s time as a 4H kid herself.

She showed goats when she was in 4H and shared what she knew about agriculture and horticulture with Josh.

“I love that stuff. I love the baby animals, goats, baby lambs. That is a lot of my memories growing up experiencing that, and then hearing all of my mother’s stories about days of what it was like before,” said Josh.

It was even more special introducing Emi to the fair in 2021. She had been to county fairs before, but nothing near the scale of the Minnesota State Fair.

And it came full circle three years later, when they were able to have their pre-wedding reception at the fair.

“Incredible,” said Josh. “I mean that sums it up in regards to us seeing all of our friends and family, us getting married, us being here and being very much in love. In regards to the fair, very much in love, a little sunburnt and still full.”

The couple got married on Tuesday in Two Harbors. And they want the public to know that they couldn’t be more in love.

“We’re very, very fortunate that our friends and family came from all the places they came from, to be there for us and celebrate us and I think our celebration, the fair and our Two Harbors marriage was uniquely us, And I’m really happy about that,” said Emi.

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Nicole Ki

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Josh and Emi Horst got married on Tuesday but made sure to celebrate their “Wedding Reception On-A-Stick” at the state fair before with about 175 friends and family.

‘Uniquely us’: Couple hosts pre-wedding party for 175 guests at Minnesota State Fair

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