The Metropolitan Club at Willis/Sears Tower Chicago downtown wedding – Catherine & Pat
I loved every minute of this beautiful wedding. I worked with two of my absolute favorite vendors Dori Mae Makeup and MDM Entertainment. One of my favorite Angel Eyes Photography ‘fans’ just happened to be the Bride’s cousin (hi Marie!) Carol and I lost our minds when we created the most amazing night time Bridal portraits ever! And of course the happy couple who made my job so fun and easy 🙂
Dress: Preownedweddingdresses.com
Hair: Todd Fischer, TAF HAIR
All the pretty Bridal treasures.
Shoes: Kate Spade Glam
Well of course you play “patty-cake” with your sister while getting dressed, who doesn’t?
Belt: Etsy – AppliqueRhinestones
I always recommend Dori, she is just the best…clearly you can see why I love working with her. Make up: Dori Mae Makeup
Love this moment during the first look.
Flowers: Addison Ashland Florist
I’ll bet this photo bomber didn’t know she was going to make my blog…cracks me up that the maid-of-honor was trying to shoo her off with the bouquet!
Venue: The Metropolitan Club at Sears Tower
Cake – Bittersweet Bakery
DJ – Nick from MDM Entertainment, always highly recommend Nick…he will make you dance!
For your viewing pleasure some stunning bridal portraits, I freaking LOVE these so much!! BTW these are NOT done in Photoshop, and they are not a double exposure.
I do love me a Bride who will laugh at my jokes, you are so gorgeous Catherine!!
From the Bride…
“Venue: The Metropolitan Club at Sears Tower
We wanted to get married at a Chicago staple and everyone knows the Sears Tower (aka Willis Tower). The views were AMAZING. More importantly, everything was done in one place; ceremony, cocktail hour and ceremony, which made it easy for our out of town guests. Ashley at the Metropolitan Club was phenomenal. We had a very long engagement, but we’ve had our date and venue picked out from the beginning. She was on top of email and questions I had for 2 years! Also, the staff was impecable the day of. We had so many people on staff that I didn’t have to worry about a thing.
Dress: Preownedweddingdresses.com
I know I’m going to get some weird looks about this one, but my wedding dress was not my number one priority. I challenged myself to find an affordable dress, after all, it was only one day. I googled pre-owned wedding dresses and I stumbled upon preownedweddingdresses.com. Brides all of the country resell their dresses and I lucked out that the one I loved was being sold in Chicago. I reached out to the seller asking her if I can just try it on in person and she was kind enough to let me try in on. It was fate that we were the same exact size and I didn’t have to pay for any alterations. I was able to get my dress and veil all for $400.
Belt: Etsy – AppliqueRhinestones
I don’t understand why wedding sashes cost so much. I bought an appliqué on Etsy for $20 an sewed it on a $5 sash…success!
Shoes: Kate Spade Glam
I’ve had my eye on these shoes since they came out. My biggest splurge during our whole wedding…worth it!
Make up: Dori Mae Makeup
I can not express how happy I looked the day of my wedding. Dori couldn’t have done a more phenomenal job on my makeup. She really has an eye for beauty. She did my sister, mom, and mother in law’s makeup, and the results were incredible. My mom, who rarely ever wears makeup, looked like my sister after Dori was finished!
Hair: Todd Fischer, TAF HAIR
For those who don’t know, I have a beast of a hair. Todd was able to tame my hair and make it look gorgeous. I haven’t gotten my hair done since my senior year of high school, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t look like I was going to prom. My hair was absolutely perfect and it stayed curled the entire night!
Flowers: Addison Ashland Florist
I know nothing about flowers but luckily, they know what they’re doing. My bouquet was beautifully made with roses and peonies and the rest of our wedding party had elegant lilies that smelled wonderful. We wanted simple centerpieces since we didn’t want it to take away from the view and it turned out very classic. Best of all, Addison Ashland was incredibly affordable.
DJ – Nick from MDM Entertainment
I can’t say enough about MDM. From the very beginning, Patti was so easy to work with. She paired us up with Nick and it couldn’t have been more of a match in heaven. Pat and I have extremely different taste in music, but he was able to make it work. During dinner, we made a last minute change to our schedule and Nick took the initiative to inform the necessary people. We didn’t even have to get up from our seats. The most important thing to us that night was our wedding was a huge party, and Nick far exceeded our expectations.
Cake – Bittersweet Bakery
Fortunately, the Metropolitan Club works exclusively with Bittersweet Bakery, and it’s no surprise why. We didn’t know what to expect when walking in for our tasting, but Nancy was phenomenal on exactly what we needed to do. She made the whole process so easy and fun, which is what wedding planning should be about. We had a flavor in mind that they didn’t offer, so Nancy went in the back and they whipped up something special for us. Pat walked away saying he was so impressed with how Nancy was so personable.
Bridesmaid Dresses – Pearl by Georgina Chapman
I know I wanted long dresses, but I don’t love the cost of long bridesmaid dresses. Your girlfriends spend a fortune being in the wedding party and I wanted to make sure the dresses were affordable. We picked out a black dress with beautiful lace detail that had tulle at the bottom. You couldn’t even tell they were prom dresses from JC Penney!
Tuxes – Men’s Wearhouse
Our wedding party is all over the place, so it was convenient for all of us that we all had one close by. We we’re able to pick out what we liked and easily coordinate it with all the groomsmen.
Favorite Wedding Purchase – Hilda (Angel Eyes Photography)….no brainer
I contacted Hilda 2 years prior to my wedding. I’m pretty sure my email said “I’m getting marred in 2 years and I need you there.” Hilda and Carol are really the dream team of wedding photography. They have such a creative eye. You don’t know how it will turn out, but you know it’s going to be amazing. It takes a talent to do what they do, but it takes even more to deal with brides and their wedding parties, which is truly a gift.
Favorite Wedding Memory
When Pat and I did our first look, it was a really special moment for me. He got teary eyed and a little choked up. He said ‘You’re beautiful everyday, but this is a whole another level’. It was nice to have that alone time before the craziness of the wedding started.
Advice to Brides:
Everyone who got married before me told me how fast the day goes by. I really made the effort to enjoy every single moment of the day, which seemed to slow the day down. There is no sense in rushing through the day to get to the next place or event, which is how your wedding day can slip from you. Everyone will wait for you and this is the only day where you don’t have to apologize for anything.
Cut costs where it makes sense. Together you have to decide what is really important to you both. For us, it was our photographer and DJ. Don’t skimp on things that are really important, because you get what you pay for. We’ve both been to weddings where they have to re-do their photos because they were so unhappy with the results and weddings where no one is dancing. You both put in the time and effort to plan this big day and you want to look back and not regret a thing.
When doing photos, I highly recommend having a guy friend tag along in the limo. They can help with running back and forth, carrying the girls’ bouquet, unloading Hilda and Carol’s camera equipment, and grab anything you need.”
