10 First Dances

Seeing our new President and his beautiful First Lady take the stage for their "first dance" last night at the Neighborhood Ball made me a bit misty-eyed. It almost felt like I, as a viewer, was intruding on a sweet, private moment. I also loved that Beyonce got a bit emotional during her serenade. Then I saw on Good Morning America that they had to dance at all TEN balls that they attended... and they certainly looked tired by the end of the night!

I couldn't help but think that they looked like a bride and groom taking their first dance at their wedding... Michelle in her fabulous, one-of-a-kind ivory silk chiffon gown created by 26 year old Taiwanese (!!) designer, Jason Wu... and President Obama looking dapper in white tie and tuxedo by Chicago-based designer, Hart Schaffner Marx.

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According to WSJ, Michelle's dress will be donated to the Smithsonian, and will never be replicated, at least not by the designer himself! I imagine that copy-cat versions will be available to the masses soon enough by brands such as ABS Schwartz. Maybe not a bad thing for brides who love Michelle's look and want to achieve it for less than a couture price!

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Engagement Ring Fun!

It is a ridiculous -3° with -30° windchill outside here in Chicago. The perfect opportunity to snuggle up at home... and whip out my Canon PS SD750 for some ring shot fun, thanks to a series of great tips from WeddingbeePro, Anne Ruthmann! If you haven't already, you should definitely check out her post about How to Take Amazing Engagement and Wedding Ring Photos. When previously attempting my own ring shots, I always made the mistake of keeping the ring on my finger. That's no-no #1! Here's a brief overview of her tips, but definitely read her post for full details:

1. Take Off Your Ring
2. Find a Cool Background or Set Up
3. Find Good Light
4. Set it up
5. Set Your Camera to Macro Mode
6. Get Closer
7. Just Shoot It
8. Edit
9. Share it with the World!

In my excitement to shoot, I missed her helpful tip (#4) about different ways to keep the ring standing up with tape or glue dots. So most of my shots are of the ring lying down and now I am too lazy (and cold) to set everything up again. I also couldn't fully follow tip #6 about having the ring take up no less than HALF the LCD screen. Everytime I tried that, it got too blurry!   But I can't wait to play with more ideas when the inspiration hits.

The ring sitting in a gorgeous flowering kale, leftover from last weekends wedding.

 

Inside the flap of my LV, yummy raspberry suede.
 

The same shot in B&W... it plays up the vintage quality of the ring, no?
 

On top of a peacock feather, leftover from Adrienne & Tedd's wedding.

The mister suggested this shot... love it! That's one of our framed wedding photos.

Your turn!

A Serious Case of Closet Envy

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with weddings, but I just had to post pics of this beyond fabulous closet belonging to Nicole Balch, posted on her charming blog, Making it Lovely.

Nicole's closet layout, its actually a freestanding wardrobe piece from IKEA.

Did I mention my closet envy?? Sooo many purdy patterns, dresses and the SHOES!! Accessories!!

Le sigh! I am so inspired...

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

Well lookie here! The other day I received an advance issue of the Brides Chicago magazine, Spring/Summer edition...

And as I flipped through my wedding p*rn, my mouth dropped WIDE open when I landed on page 130 and saw some really familar pictures...

Let's have a closer look, shall we?

It's Natalie & Jake, my couple who got married on September 6 at Cafe Brauer, with a gorgeous three-page spread! Natalie is also fellow Weddingbee blogger, Mrs. Peacock.

I'm so excited for them. What an amazing way to remember their wedding in 5, 10... 20 years! Forever in print!

Oh, and how/why did I get an advance issue of the magazine in the first place? My first piece of real (teeny, tiny) advertising... yeah, it's small.

There I am!

Adrienne & Tedd, 10.18.08

When Adrienne first contacted me back in May regarding assistance for her October wedding, I instinctively knew that she was someone I would like. Sometimes you can just tell based on a person's email "voice". So when we sat down for our initial consultation, it was no surprise that we hit it off. And since this is a bizarrely small world, it turned out that I already knew her fiance Tedd from back in the day (1998, to be exact!) That one big link led to multiple other little coincidences that made our newfound client/planner relationship seem like kismet. Since then, 100+ emails later, lunch dates, brunch dates, and dinner dates with our husbands (post-wedding, of course), she is much more than just my client! I look forward to many future dinners.

They have so many gorgeous pictures by their photographer, Thomas Slack, it was difficult for me to pick and choose my favorites... so I'm throwing in a ton! They had a very limited amount of time before their ceremony to take pictures, but you would never know it by the number of fabulous shots Thomas captured during their brief romp through Evanston (very appropriate since they met at Northwestern University).

Adrienne is too cute!

Heading to meet her groom for the first time

A heckuvagoodlookingcouple!

Let me just pause, and tell you that Adrienne MADE the bridesmaids dresses! She was definitely the most ambitious bride I have ever met! Especially considering she is an attorney...

This was my first time in Alice Millar chapel, and the stained glass was amazing...

TA-DA! Beaming from ear to ear! This picture is so classic.

The vibrant, jewel-toned lighting was one of my very favorite elements, and was a perfect compliment to their peacock feather theme

Their cake was DEE-LISH!

The fun guestbook I made for them in action

Popcorn favors from Garrett's

And as always, my handsome and supportive right hand man... thanks, babe!

Church: Alice Millar Chapel
Venue: Women's Club of Evanston
Photographer: Slack Photography
Lighting: Art of Imagination
Catering: Blue Plate
Cake: Take the Cake
Stationery: Sweet Paper Studio
Florist: Anna Held Flower Shop
Makeup: Sonia Roselli

Relocating My Blog!

My blog has a new home!

www.xanga.com/sweetchicevents

I realized that the reason I dreaded updating my blog so much was because I disliked Blogger in general. I mean, who wants to upload their pictures in backwards order?! It's so... counterintuitive and required way too much thought.

So I decided to go back to my "roots"... back to Xanga! My very first blog back in 2002 was on Xanga, and then in 2006 I started Xanga blog #2 which I hoped would get me chosen for Weddingbee (which it did!), and here we are at account #3! I haven't figure out how to "pretty it up" with a custom header like the one on my Blogger account, but I'll figure it out eventually...

Hopefully, I will be motivated to update more often... please follow me there!!
(BTW, if you've got me linked on your blog, please remember to change it, thanks!)

Natalie & Jake, 09.06.08

(Uhmm, has it really been a month since my last post?! Bad blogger!)


Today I want to showcase the stunning wedding of Natalie and Jake. Some of you may recognize Natalie as my fellow Weddingbee blogger, Mrs. Peacock! I was absolutely ecstatic when she asked me to coordinate her wedding, because I knew how much thought and effort she put into all the details. I had no doubt that everything would be picture perfect, and I have two full DVDs of amazing photos from Dean Thorsen to prove it!



They are a good looking couple, no? Natalie was breathtaking in her Vera Wang, and I loved that Jake kept it classic with the bow-tie! Not every guy can pull that off.



Gorgeous in every way. I adore her organic bouquet... unfortunately it went missing by the end of the night. We wonder if someone walked off with it (who would DO that??)



There are no words for this picture.



The day was overcast, but the weather held! Check out the perfect Chicago skyline...

Natalie has undeniably great taste and style... She let all her bridesmaids pick out a Simple Silhouettes dress in Aubergine in the silhouette of their choice. They ended up with three different styles, and I especially love the one with the ruffled collar!

Now let's talk about some of the details, which I had so much fun setting up!

The Great Hall of Cafe Brauer. We filled the place with candles!

Natalie and her mom collected tons of milk glass vessels, which their florist filled with beautiful, loose arrangements.



Natalie made these "cootie catchers" which were actually her menus. (Didn't everyone make these in grade school? I certainly did!) Clever!



One of my very favorite elements - the escort card arrangement. Natalie's dad made the wooden boxes, and they even grew their own moss! Garden stakes were used to hold the escort cards in place.

Moss letters hung on the back of their chairs.

Photobooth, which came with a guy to man the station.

The Kolo scrapbook album for the photobooth pictures.

The candy buffet was a big hit!

Guests digging in. I tried to encourage everyone to take as much as they could possibly take. There was so. much. candy!! (I especially enjoyed the Swedish Fish =)

And finally, this picture just makes me swoon! There is something so glamorous and romantic about it... If I were Natalie and Jake, I would totally blow this up, and display it in a place of honor!

Thanks Natalie and Jake, for letting me part of your most wonderful day!!

Photographer: Thorsen Photography
Videography: Rusty Dog Films

Florist: Petal Play Design

Caterer: Calihan Catering

Band: Colby Beserra

Photobooth: Photobooth Express