Ivy Room at Tree Studios Wedding by Robyn Rachel Photography

We’ve got quite the pretty blue and yellow fete for you to feast your eyes on this morning! We love all cobalt blue pops of color from the bride’s gorgeous shoes to the wine glasses on the spectacular tables. For this couple, their big day was all about design and food because this beautiful bride is a graphic designer and her hubby-to-be, a chef. Robyn Rachel Photography snapped all the modern, yet classic details and there is so much more waiting just for you in the full gallery. Click here for more.

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From the Bride…With me being a graphic designer and my husband being a chef, there were two elements that were important on our special day – design and food. From the moment we were engaged on August 8th 2010, I knew a lot of elements were going to be DIY. Chicago is home for Chris and I. It’s where we both grew up and met each other so there was no other place in the world where we would have wanted to get married.

I started out by finding an amazing blog that had a fun and cute way to ask your bridesmaids to be in your wedding. I created one for each of the girls and a special one for the matron of honor. Cobalt Blue with yellow accents would be the color palette. I find it to be modern and classic. I knew I wanted to also create my own save-the-dates and incorporate photos from our engagement photo session. We hired Robyn Rachel, an amazing and talented photographer in Chicago. She had a great personality and really made us and our entire bridal party feel comfortable in front of the camera. I stumbled upon an amazing paisley print that would set the scene for wedding design and décor.  I loved it because it was pretty and whimsical.

To me, the invitations were probably the most important item of the entire wedding. I love print design and it is the first thing your guest sees that has to do with the wedding. It totally sets the tone for what the day will be like. We worked with Magnificent Milestones, AKA my new obsession. Mag Milestones is s super cute stationery shop in Chicago. Even though I did not design these myself, I provided a lot of art direction along the way to create a fun, mixed-font invite complete with a yellow satin ribbon to tie it all together. Once the invites were out the door, I decided to design a few other items myself, playing off the same look and feel. Those items included the table numbers, complete with a modern silver frame on each table. A monogram that was placed on the place cards that were hung with yellow ribbons from a striking tree made of white branches donned with a little spray sparkle. I also designed menu cards, welcome bag letters, and the programs.

We chose to host our reception at the Ivy Room at Tree Studios in Chicago. It is truly a diamond in the rough. Living in downtown Chicago for over 6 years, I never even knew this place existed, but probably walked past it 100 times. It is a beautiful room with hard wood floors and a blank palette that you can completely customize to whatever your heart desired. Just what the doctor ordered. The courtyard has a beautiful path, lights strung on tree branches and lush green ivy everywhere. Kehoe designs helped out with designing the space. Throughout all the planning, I feel like this is where most of the blood, sweat and tears were spent. We worked so hard on this room and the time had come to see it all put together. Surprisingly, I did not cry all that much throughout the day, but when I saw our room for the first time, I cried! All in all the day was perfect. The year of planning was well worth it once the big day arrived. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way!

Wedding Photography: Robyn Rachel Photography / Event Planning: Big City Bride, Susan Cordogan / Wedding Videography: Lexoria Wedding Films / Flowers: Kehoe Designs / Ceremony Location: St. Alphonsus Church / Reception Location: Ivy Room at Tree Studios / Invitations: Magnificent Milestones / Bride’s Shoes: Manolo Blahnik / Catering: Blue Plate