I'd head over to Duluth - there's the rose garden, the beautiful Great Lakes Ballroom (very elegant) and just the whole beautiful Lake Superior deal going on there. Even Two Harbors has a nice atmosphere. I feel like as far as Northern MN goes, there's not much in the middle of the state, but I'm sure in a cute town like Bemidji (I've only driven through there once, but it sure had the feeling of a cute town) there are parks and gathering halls that can be made to look beautiful.
Perhaps there are some churches in the area that have halls for receptions - there are plenty of churches I've been to where in mass the atmosphere is beautiful, so I can only imagine what flowers and lighting would do if I decided to get married there. Maybe if you check out some new churches you'll find one that is beautiful on the inside (that is of course, only if you're looking to get married in a church...) Unfortunately I live on the more eastern side of the state, so I'm not too familiar with what's ... more.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.