This is a super-gorgeous wedding that was sent to us by our great friend, Tifany at Gourmet Invitations. Classic. Elegant. It’s a true testament to knowing what you love … knowing what is most important to you on your wedding day … and going to town with it!
First, ~ the dress!
I knew my “perfect dress” had to be lace, and that once I found it, we’d design everything else around it. That dress ended up being Adele Wechsler‘s “Dalila.” I honestly never thought I’d have straps on my dress, but I fell in love with this one the first time I put it on! The Alencon lace on the straps created a mix of different flowers that inspired the orchid print we ended up using throughout our invitations suite and floral design!
The most important part, though …
I lost my dad 2 years before our wedding and although I knew he wouldn’t physically be there with us, we wanted to remember him in special ways throughout the day. Our ceremony took place at St. Clement Church in Lincoln Park. My amazing mom walked me down the aisle & at one point during our ceremony we incorporated a time for my mom and me to light a candle in remembrance of my dad. My dad was big into our Irish Heritage, and St. Clement happens to have Celtic Knots in several of the murals on the walls and on the doors leading into the church. It was a small symbolic note that I know he would have noticed & loved. Since my mom was walking me down the aisle, I wanted to make sure that she felt beautiful! We found an Adrianna Pappell java colored-tiered dress that did just that. We both fell in love with it as soon as we saw it. I was so incredibly happy and honored to have her walk me down the aisle.
H o w e v e r … when the rain nearly dashed their hopes for picture-perfect weather, e v e r y o n e assured Terri it would be fine. It would be fun …
A last minute addition to our day were the bubble umbrellas & the rain boots. When the forecast called for rain, I was a little sad at first, but after chatting with our absolutely awesome photographer, Michelle, from Under Grace Photo, she assured me this was an opportunity for some great photos, as the rain actually turns the ground into a mirror. We had fun with it, and although it didn’t end up raining until our reception started, the shots of the girls in their wellies are some of our favorites.
A little history ~ When Matt and I got engaged we instantly knew we wanted a Chicago wedding. We are in love with this city and everything that it has to offer! From the beginning, Matt and I talked about things that were important to us. Mine was a great band & his was great food. Since Matt is the “chef” of our household, I knew he’d be all about creating the menus for our wedding. We also wanted everyone close to us to be there, and ultimately wanted everyone to have an amazing time!!!
A friend recommended Gourmet Invitations for our invitations and all of our paper needs. After seeing Tifany’s work — make that Tifany’s amazing creations — we were sold. Tifany sent us examples of her work, along with the different color palates and textures of paper for us to choose from in one of the most adorable boxes. As I’m sure it was her intention, I kept it and used it as our wedding keepsake box. We incorporated our color palate of plum, ivory, brown and gold along with the orchid print throughout the design.
Other touches?
We had trolley’s take our guests from the InterContinental to the church & back after the ceremony. With the majority of our guests being from out of town, it was a great way for them to get a mini-tour of the city, trolley style. We also had a trolley that took our wedding party around the city to some of our favorite spots for pictures.
One of my passions is music, which I know I picked up from my dad, and that happened to be one of the top things on my list as well as Matt’s….an amazing band. We knew we couldn’t go wrong with Front of House, a nine-piece band under Ken Arlen’s collection of musicians. We had a trio of violins, the Sirens, who played Zeppelin, Skynyrd, Jeff Buckley, the Beatles, and many other legendary rock bands throughout dinner. We wanted it soothing enough for our grandparents, yet rocking enough for our friends & family who are true music lovers like us. When Freebird came on & the lighters came out, it was one of the highlights of the night, and that was just after the salad was served. The excitement generated by the dinner music set the mood for the rest of the night. We had an absolute blast & seriously rocked out “all night long” to quote Lionel Richie.
For the bridesmaid dresses my girls & I fell in love with a plum-colored Watters and Watters dress. The dress came with a sash, but I choose to take that off and put a brooch on the dress instead. My Matron of Honor and I went from antique shop to antique shop picking out the most beautiful vintage Aurora Borealis brooches. It was such a fun experience to hand pick each brooch that perfectly matched my girls personalities and style. Some of the brooches actually came with matching vintage earrings. For the ones that didn’t I found vintage Aurora Borealis earrings on Etsy. The nice thing about the vintage earrings was they were all clip-ons, so the girls could also use them on their shoes or a scarf after the wedding. The Aurora Borealis stone also gives off a rainbow of colors, so the stone compliments almost any other color. My Matron of Honor, Jennifer happens to design vintage headbands & hairpins from different stones & pearls she finds at estate sales and antique stores. So she handmade the gorgeous brooch I wore in my hair. Jennifer also gave me my “something blue” with a blue embroidered label with my married monogram & the date of our wedding. I had my seamstress sew it into my dress on my final fitting.
As for the flowers, I cannot put into words how much I loved working with Rebecca and all of the Dilly Lily crew. They. Are. Amazing. We went with ivory & white arrays of flowers for me and the girls, along with accents of dusty miller & seeded eucalyptus, with whispy touches of fresh lavender to accent the girls dresses. However, one of our favorite parts of the bouquets was the touch of vintage glassine flowers that Rebecca recommended. We loved it so much that it was Matt’s primary “flower” on his boutonniere. With the help of Dilly Lily we were able to transform an already beautiful ornate ballroom into the vintage romantic mood we wanted by adding tiered cylinder vases with floating candles with submerged orchids & seeded eucalyptus as half of the centerpieces & hanging votive candles from curly willow branches laced with white dendrobium orchids on the others. We were able to give the room just a touch of modern flair through amber uplighting under the candelabras that lined the wood walls in the Renaissance room. The lighting seriously seemed to make everything sparkle.
Matt and I will be able to cherish everything from this day because of the unique shots our photographer Michelle captured, and from the amazing vintage wedding film that Matt & Lori with I Do Films created for us. We felt lucky to have them with us to capture our day in the most creative & memorable ways! This film from Matt & Lori highlights some of our favorite points from the day!
Wedding Highlight from I Do Films on Vimeo.
Everyone told us what an amazing and overwhelming feeling it is to have all of the people you love and care about together with you on your wedding day, and Matt and I have to wholeheartedly agree ~ it truly was all that and more!
SMP’s thanks to Tifany ~ Terri & Matt ~ and all the other superb vendors for sharing!!
Invitations & Print: Gourmet Invitations
Photographer: Under Grace Photo
Floral Design: Dilly Lily
Cake: Bittersweet
Ceremony Location: St. Clement Church
Reception Venue: InterContinental Chicago
Cinematography: I Do Films
Wedding Dress: White Chicago
Bridal Hair Brooch: Dolly Girl
Bridesmaids Dresses: The Wedding Shoppe Inc
Band & Violins: Ken Arlen’s Front of House & Sirens
Linen: BBJ Linen
Trolley’s: Chicago Trolley