W Chicago – City Center wedding reception | Chicago Downtown Wedding | Kelly and Tony
I have never cried so much at a wedding, ever! There is so much love in this gorgeous couples relationship (and their families) that it was almost tangible. I held it together pretty well most of the day, but when the fist dance and the parent dances started, I was done for. Even my assistant Carol commented on how she’s never seen me like this. But aside from me being all sappy this was a very happy and joyous day for everyone involved!
Kelly’s parents had a wonderful back yard and we took full advantage of it!
I love it when Brides wear their hair down, so pretty!! Hair by Maria Pappas of Kukla’s Social Butterfly. http://thesocialbeauty.com
Rachel Reiman did Kelly’s makeup. www.rachelreiman.com
Bridesmaid dresses were from J Crew’s wedding collection.
The men at the Church before the ceremony.
Love this!
Never a dull moment, it was great!
The ceremony was at Old St. Patrick’s Church in Chicago. (For future couples considering having their wedding there, they have EXTREMELY strict rules Re: photographers, I encourage you to do some research…)
It was a wonderful heartwarming ceremony.
The new Mr & Mrs 🙂
Who’s happy to be married?
The party people!
Kelly & Tony waving to the boaters….love the shadows.
Favorite #1
Favorite #2 (btw, the hand on her cheek was all him, and I just love the way they’re looking at each other soooo romantic)
Dear Bridal party, you guys were the bomb.com…love, Hilda 🙂
Favorite #3!
Hey, check this out I got a reflection of the sun 😉
The reception was at the W Chicago, City Center.
Lighting makes a huge difference. Art of Imagination http://www.artofimagination.com/
Yes ladies, he’s romantic….
…and fun!
Thank you Kelly and Tony for trusting me to capture the most important day in you lives, (and for going along with my crazy ideas), and for writing about all your wonderful wedding details. And THANK YOU Kelly for the wonderful Yelp review!!!
From Kelly…
–Jennifer Warnstedt was our contact at the W. I cannot say enough about her…she is just *fabulous*. We had an issue with our original reception venue, a raw space where we were planning to bring in everything ourselves (catering, tables, linens, lighting, you name it). Five months out I had to find another venue for us. The first time I got together with her I almost cried. To imagine that we might be able to have our reception in that elegant, stunning space (not to mention the W’s famously incredible service–that someone like Jen would be in charge of our event start to finish) was foreign to me. Jen worked with our budget and truly helped give us the dream wedding reception I didn’t even realize I was envisioning. Our reception at the W was unbelievable. They really took care of us there and made us feel like we were the most important people in the world. The food was amazing and the location was the perfect combination of elegant and hip that we were looking for.
–My dress and veil were from Here Comes the Bride in Addison, a very unassuming bridal shop in a strip mall near Army Trail and 2-90. I had read about them on Yelp. Rose (the owner) and Diana (been there for like ten years) over there are very good at what they do. My dress was a sample so I bought it right off the rack. Their alterations person, Rudy, is also really talented…she had to do a few adjustments, including giving it a bit of a scoop neck so the neckline didn’t just go straight across. It was light, glamorous, and elegant, and I loved that the English netting on the bottom looks almost feathery from a distance. http://www.herecomesthebrideinc.com/
–Bridesmaid dresses were from J Crew’s wedding collection. I highly recommend this as an option. I wanted the girls to look and feel gorgeous!! I have started my campaign called “No more bridesmaid dresses you spend hundreds of dollars for and never wear again!!” You can pick a color/fabric and let everyone choose what works best for their figures. Ironically, all the girls chose the same dress…so that was a no-brainer.
–My favorite purchase for myself (after the dress, of course) was my freshwater pearl drop earrings by Christina Garcia. Originally I had planned to wear my hair up so I needed something dramatic. Even once I decided to wear my hair down they were really special and beautiful. BUT my favorite purchase overall has to be the custom-designed multi-strand pearl necklaces (a combination of freshwater, glass, and found vintage pearl strands) I found from an incredible artist on etsy.com. I have to plug her work, because the bridesmaid necklaces came out so beautifully and were the perfect complement to the girls’ elegant J Crew silk taffeta dresses. http://www.etsy.com/shop/TeTelesTai?ref=seller_info
–Our cake was from Cookies Fresco, an authentic Italian bakery in Elmhurst. Jan and Jim Schwab are the owners. Jan worked with us to create something really special, and affordable too. Her recipes are all from scratch and she even wanted to make sure the roses on the cake perfectly matched our flowers. 🙂 All beauty aside though, the reason we chose Cookies Fresco is because their cookies–and of course, cake–is absolutely delicious. They did four kinds of cake total for us (three plus our white buttercream/yellow cutting cake): red velvet, chocolate fudge with a rasberry spread, and coconut. Our guests’ plates were *empty*. http://www.cookiesfresco.com/
–DJ was Dustin Harris from Style Matters. http://www.stylemattersdjs.com/djs.html
–Flowers were from O’cie Floral in Naperville. Carol Sawka is the owner and she completely wow’ed me. My bouquet was just the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. The way the hot pink Gerbera daisies popped against the dresses floored me. I wanted something bold and summery, and everything just absolutely hit the mark. I kept gaping at how stunning my girls looked! The colors were just, well, perfect. http://ociefloral.com/
–My favorite aspect of the day was the simple fact that never for a second was I not fully engaged in the moment. It was the single most incredible day of my life. All the planning, all the time, all the effort (and let’s be honest, all the money) that went into the day was absolutely *worth it*. I will remember this day for the rest of my life as purely magical. Everything just came together…and the parts that didn’t go so smoothly…well…I couldn’t have cared less. 🙂 But if I had to choose, my favorite part of the day was our ceremony. I had made our programs (which turned out beautifully), and Tony and I wrote our own Prayers of the Faithful–and of course vows. The always charismatic and truly special Father John Cusick married us. As part of our pre-wedding planning, he had suggested that we be Eucharistic ministers for the ceremony, and it was just amazing to be able to look into the eyes of each and every one of our guests who came up to drink the wine. We really felt so engaged with the whole church. During our vows, I saw nothing but Tony’s face…felt nothing but his energy and love. To feel so wrapped up, supported, and totally surrounded by our very best friends and loved ones, declaring our commitment and most honest feelings to each other in their presence, and in our cherished church…the feeling was just indescribable.
–From Tony: What a magical day. It exceeded all of my expectations of what the day would be like and how I would feel. Our party bus between the ceremony and the reception was so much fun. Getting the opportunity to go to different locations around Chicago and take pictures with all of our wedding party made the day all the more special. Chicago is such a beautiful city and having it as a backdrop for our pictures and memories is something that Kelly and I thought would be truly special.