Brookfield Zoo wedding & reception| Fun and Unique wedding venue | Whitney & Ben
I’ve been wanting to photograph a wedding at the Brookfield Zoo for years, and now finally I can cross it off my wedding bucket list!! Woo-hoo! And it couldn’t have happened with a sweeter couple. Thank you Whitney and Ben for allowing me to capture your beautiful wedding.
Shoes: Steven by Steve Madden
Dress: David’s Bridal
Flowers: Westgate Flower and Plant Shop
First look 🙂
All photos done at the Zoo.
Ceremony.
Officiant: Bruce Otto
Hello tiny guest 😉
Cocktail hour was in the gorilla house.
Cake: Lezza Spumoni & Desserts
Flowers: Westgate Flower and Plant Shop
DJ: David O. at MDM Entertainment
From the Bride…
- Venue: Brookfield Zoo
- Cake: Lezza Spumoni & Desserts (Brookfield Zoo works with them for the wedding cakes)
- Flowers: Westgate Flower and Plant Shop (Oak Park)
- DJ: David O. at MDM Entertainment – MDM also provided the photo booth
- Ceremony Musicians: Moeller Music
- Officiant: Bruce Otto
- Dress: David’s Bridal
- Dress Alterations: Linda Hill
- Shoes: Steven by Steve Madden
- Hair: Lisa Noorlag
- Makeup: Mary Kay (we did makeup ourselves)
- Tuxes: Black Tie Formalwear
- Bridesmaid dresses: David’s Bridal in “Horizon” blue
- Photography: Angel Eyes Photography – Hilda & Carol (of course)…who were amaaaaaazing!
- Favorite Wedding-Related Purchase: My blue shoes! Hands down. I was absurdly excited about them. After I bought them I could hardly keep them in the box. I’ll admit, every few weeks before the wedding I just had to pop open the box for a quick peek at them.
- Favorite Wedding Memory: A VERY difficult question to answer! Ben’s favorite wedding memory was when I surprised him by standing up at the end of the maid of honor’s speech to sing him a song (“The Book of Love”, originally by Peter Gabriel). But there were too many good bits to choose from! Driving around the zoo beforehand with the wedding party and taking photos was highlight, as well as the cocktail hour with the gorillas! And our first dance of course – fortunately neither of us tripped 🙂
- Something would’ve done differently: If it had been possible, we would have kept the events of the evening more on schedule – the evening ended way too quickly!
- Advice for Couples: Have FUN! And make choices to create a wedding that reflects and fits your personalities and who you are. It can be easy to get unwittingly get sucked into trying to plan the day based on ideas like what people think should be done or what other have done in the past (or, dare I mention, all the millions of things you find posted on a certain unnamed website that rhymes with “Interest”…). Forget it! Plan a celebration that you can imagine yourself describing as “the best / most fun party I went to all year!”
