Saturday, February 23, 2008

Merry Maids.

I know this is one thing I don't have to do for a while, but I have collected quite a few ideas for bridesmaid dresses already.


I like this little number from simple silhouettes. They also have a great selection of colors. I like these four below.



Something similar from Charsa. I like the two color choices below.



I thought this dress from Jenny Yoo was interesting and not the ordinary strapless, short number. She also has a nice color palette to choose from.



Then of course, there is the love of my life, J.Crew. Every time I think I have found the best dress on there, I go back and something new is up. Even though these probably won't be available when I start looking for dresses, here are a few of my favs below.

The Kady cotton collection in orange peel and sour lemon.





Silk taffeta Lorelei dress in papaya and fresh aloe. My first best friend's name was Lorelei, oh nostalgia.



Silk tricotine Rebecca short dress in crisp beet and flame.




Below, I like the blue dress, the Silk chiffon Sophia dress but in the fresh aloe or bright berry colors. and the green dress, the Silk chiffon Juliet dress in fresh aloe (the color it's pictured in).




A Calvin Klein dress that I found on Nordstrom.com


This dress below is actually from David's Bridal, but I hate that store, so I'd probably never buy anything from there. It's cute though.




I also like this dress from Anthropologie. I've seen it in person and it's cute!!! Not a bad price either.



So, hopefully when I go to pick something out, I'll be able to find something I like and that my girls also like, that isn't 300 bucks. Fingers crossed!!!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Venue, Venue...where art though, Venue?

I know that there is a venue out there for me somewhere, but it has been eluding me. I've researched the subject up and down and contacted quite a few places that I thought 'were the one' but I still haven't been able to nail it down.

Places I really liked, but cannot do, due to either budgetary, logistical or ginourmous guest list reasons:

River East Arts Center. Le sigh. This place looks awesome, but it just isn't feasible for monetary reasons.

A new leaf. My friend is having her wedding here and it sounds so nice. Our guest list runneth over...no a new leaf for me.

Prarie Production. A friend's cousin got married here and had her wedding featured in the Knot magazine. It looked very pretty. But...it only fits 2 hundo. Waaa Waaa. It's very pretty though:





Catalyst Ranch. This is hands down, the most popular suggestion that I get from people when I say what I'm looking for in the city. Unfortunately, we have too many guests...are you beginning to see a trend here? I love this place. I attended a wedding there and this was the first time I was ever exposed to a wedding that wasn't trapped inside the banquet hall box. I haven't ever stopped raving about it. :)

Isn't it darling?


Sean enjoyed himself too.


We've been to a couple places so far. One I actually really liked, Architectural Artifacts. We ventured to Ravenswood to check this place out. It's a gem...super cool. But it just wouldn't work out for logistical reasons. It's really remote and would be a logistical problem. I took some photos while I was there.

The four photos below show where the dining and dancing area would be.

The left hand side.

The right hand side.

The middle.

This is where the dancing would take place.

I normally hate chandeliers, but these are all different, vintage light fixtures. The one below was particularly charming.


The event coordinator said that they would be willing to pull 'artifacts' that we liked from around the space and use them for decor. I didn't really see anything I loved, but found some things that would be interesting to have showcased if you had an event there.


Very "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"


They have a very large collection of stained glass.

My friend and your's. Ol' J.C.


I said I liked this one and Sean said "That's what you're gonna look like in 10 years." Not sure he realizes the jokes on him if I gain 1000 lbs and start swigging rootbeer floats.

These are photos from the Web of the outdoor area. It was filled with stuff when we were there, so you couldn't really get a good idea of what it would look like.



A couple other things I thought were cool

Never nude.


They had a TON of these. Glove molds, pretty cool.


Stay classy.

Today we went to look at the Museum of Contemporary Art. It's really the first place I really liked when looking for something in the city. We haven't been able to go see it because they only do facility tours during weekday business hours. But they were setting up an event so we were able to come take a peek. I basically have a major crush on this place. The coordinator is awesome and the space is so unique. It's a city space, but it's "suburbanite" friendly, being that it is in the mag mile area and close to hotels and transportation as well. I have to get some more information on catering costs, etc. But I was really, really stoked on this place. Sean was too, and I'm glad since he was nice enough to coordinate making the appointment to go see it, ect. I knew there was a reason I was marrying him! I didn't take any photos, but there are a bunch on the Web site. Things I loved the most: ummm. Everything. Like I said, I have a crush. I hope my heart doesn't get broken!

Tomorrow, we are going to visit Cantigny , which is out here in the 'burbs. I've heard it's beautiful in the spring/summer and they are building a new venue in the garden area which sounds really nice. It's called Le Jardin. They sent me some artist mock ups:


Instead of the square tables, it would be rounds. The only thing that kind of stinks is that they said the dancing would have to be in the next room, because of course we have too many people to fit it all in one. I know that I won't be able to see the venue in person, but if anything, I'll at least get a feel for where it would be located. Funny thing is that people are booking this place up like crazy, even though it isn't even going to be finished until August 2008. So, we'll see.

One other place I want to look at is the Morton Arboretum which is our here in the suburbs as well.

After today, I'm feeling more positive. There may be an end to my search in sight!

Friday, February 1, 2008

.snow day.

Let's just jump right in, shall we?

The best (and arguably only good) thing about snow is that it occasionally results in a "snow day." Today I am experiencing my first snow day since I was in school and what better way to spend my day off then actually getting around to posting something in here!

Over the last few months since Sean and I got engaged, I have been stock piling images from the interweb and tear sheets from magazines as well as bookmarking and subscribing to the RSS feeds for every wedding blog that I can get my little hands on. So I thought it was appropriate that I start my own "inspiration blog" where I can talk about planning and what I have found and who knows, maybe someone other than the 3 people who feel obligated will actually read it! If anything, it will give me an outlet to talk about things and display my finds on a voluntary basis and will hopefully save some of my friends and co-workers from getting bombarded with 'all wedding, all the time."

Currently, I'm still looking for a venue. I've looked at a bunch of places on line and I do know exactly what kind of reception I want. Trouble is...it either doesn't exist in the Chicagoland area or it costs way too much money. So that is my current dilemma. Once I get the venue secured I feel as though everything else will sort of be able to fall into place.

So that's what I don't know...what I do know is that I am going to try to find a lot of help for all the artsy things like designing the stationary and paper goods, photography, etc. Sean and I know so many talented people that if we are going to pay someone, it might as well be someone we really like.

Speaking of DIY...one of the many wedding blogs I've become addicted too, The Brooklyn Bride, was having a give away for a new book "The DIY Wedding" by Kelly Bare.



And guess what? I won! I've spent much of today reading the book and I've already gotten some really good ideas and advice. Not to mention that the book is really pretty and the illustration and design are perfect. Thank you again to The Brooklyn Bride!

I'm off to do something 'non-wedding' related now, but I'll leave you with this. It's pretty much the perfect example of the type of wedding I would like to have. From the venue, to the flowers, to the weather and the photos. it's just lovely.







The wedding is featured on The Bride's Cafe. It's photographed by Meg Smith and decorated by Ariella Chezar Floral Designs. Why don't I live in California and have gobs of extra money lying around? Le sigh.