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Frog Bar
I performed a wedding ceremony for George and Theresa on Saturday evening at Hugo’s Frog Bar and Fish House in Naperville. What a great place! There is a huge covered outdoor area where the guests gathered for an hour before the wedding and had beverages & food to snack on and then we went in a private room for the ceremony and they had dinner. These guys are a great people and were a wonderful couple to work with!
The Seville
Leonard and Regina were married at the Seville in Streamwood. This couple really put a lot of time and energy into planning their ceremony. They are an absolutely wonderful couple and I had a great time getting to know their family members at the rehearsal and the reception. Debbie joined me and we had seats of honor at the reception right next to the bride and groom. We had a blast and it was so much fun to see everyone enjoying the celebration!
Beautiful Country Club Setting
I married Joe and Gina on the Golf Course at the Silver lake Country Club in Orland Park. It was a beautiful setting with a pond and fountain directly behind us. Gina’s two children gave her away and it was quite cute and emotional. A light breeze kept blowing the veil over my ceremony book and was quite comical. These two have a wonderful relationship and were another fun couple to work with.
Wedding in the Park
I just officiated the wedding for Kelly and Miles at 11 AM today on Lords Park in Elgin. Kelly chose the 4th of July because it is her favorite holiday. The weather was perfect, sun shining and a perfect breeze across the pond to our spot below the pavilion. It is a beautiful day for a wedding and these two are a perfect match. Her mom and dad have been married 48 years and her aunt and uncle for 46 years – they both beat Debbie and I, which is now in year 42! This was a fun wedding!
New Friends
I had the privilege tonight of performing the wedding ceremony for Erick and Karen at the Seville in Streamwood. It is so much fun to be involved in such a happy time in the lives of a couple. Both families were great people and I enjoyed making new friends. These two are a very loving couple and very committed to each other. Erick is the same height as my older brother, I told him that if it got squirrely, it was just “Older brother syndrome”. Congratulations to both of them.!!!
Arboretum
I performed the wedding for Robert and Rhea this evening at Morton Arboretum in Lisle in the Fragrance Garden. The setting was beautiful! The temperature was a little warm and the mosquitoes were a little active – I actually knocked a couple of them off of the brides face. The couple met at a dance and at the reception they displayed a couple of their favorite styles of dancing. They were great people to work with! The bride’s father came from Dallas for the wedding and I had a great time talking with him.
Celtic Ritual
I performed the wedding ceremony for Kristina and Scott Friday evening at Villa Olivia. It was nice to only be 4 minutes from home. We were outside and the weather was perfect and we were done before the mosquitoes were out. We did a Celtic wedding ritual called hand fasting which involves several questions and responses from the bride and groom and a new cord wrapped around their joined hands each time. Their hands remained bound while they did the vows. I am not sure if this is where “tie the knot” comes from or not, but it was a very cool part of the wedding!
5 Things To Consider Before Your Wedding Flower Consultation
Flowers are a beautiful addition to your wedding. They set the tone of the event and help to create the mood, atmosphere or carry on a theme. If you’ve ever seen a banquet hall set up with tables and tablecloths prior to the flowers being placed on the table, flowers bring life to the room.
Here are some important things to consider before meeting with your florist:
Budget
Your budget will determine how many arrangements and the types of flowers. Certain flowers are more expensive than others such as orchids, roses, calla lilies compared to daisies, carnations or alstroemeria. Also keep in mind that some flowers are seasonal. If you want flowers that are out of season, they are typically higher in price and not as large as if they were in season. Also keep in mind that some times of the year (Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day), the flower prices from the growers tend to be very expensive.
Colors/Styles
Do your research if you don’t have a style or color scheme in mind. From modern to gardenstyle; from monochromatic to using many colors, the internet especially pinterest and book stores are full of ideas to gain inspiration from. Take pictures as these will help the florist to see what style(s) you are drawn to.
Theme
Is there a theme to your wedding you’d like to carry over to the flowers? The florist will be able to bring aspects of this into the floral arrangements.
Schedule your appointment with the florist 8-12 months out.
Book early to lock in the florist you want and to review all the ideas and be sure there’s plenty of time to get the flowers you want.
Have fun with it.
It’s a special time in your life that should be treasured.
3 Tips for Deciding on Your Wedding Invitations
Choosing invitations for your special day can be both exhilarating and exhausting. There are so many choices – different styles, papers, printing methods, places to buy – that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This doesn’t have to be a painful process though! Through my own personal wedding experience and my work with brides choosing their wedding invitations, I’ve come up with my top 3 tips to making the invitation process pain-free.
1. Consider your budget
Many brides painstakingly plan out their budget, allocating the necessary funds to all of the pre-wedding and wedding day items. If you’re in the early stages of this process, trust me – it adds up fast. Luckily, with all of the choices for wedding invitations out there today, you will be able to find something that fits in your budget at just about any price point.
However, you have to manage your expectations. If your budget for 150 wedding invitations, envelopes, and RSVPs (which also need envelopes) is $200, you’re not going to be able to afford letterpressed or foil stamped invitations. Some of the amazing invitations you see flooding Pinterest can cost you upward of $700 for the printing alone. It’s important to keep your budget in mind so that you can manage your expectations when deciding what type of look you want to go for.
2. Choose a theme
You don’t necessarily have to have a theme for your wedding, but if you choose a theme for your invitations it’s a lot easier to narrow down all of the design options that are out there. When choosing a theme, ask yourself what you want your overall wedding atmosphere to be like. Do you want it to be laid back? Or are you looking for something more formal? What time of year is your wedding? These are all things you should consider when choosing a theme.
Another benefit of choosing a theme for your invitations is that it helps give guests an idea of what to expect on the wedding day. If you’ve chosen a low-key kraft invitation, it’s likely that your wedding will also be low-key. Contrasting, if you have chosen an expensive letterpressed or foil stamped invitation with several inserts and a belly band, it’s a signal to your guests that this will be a more formal affair.
3. Know the limitations of the paper/printing method you choose
Paper and printing methods can really dictate what an invitation looks like. For instance, some printers who print on foil will only do it single-sided. If you have your heart set on a cute backer for your invitation, this may be a problem. It’s also more expensive to print using white ink on kraft paper through most printers. I’ve worked around this problem in particular with several brides by changing the ink to a darker color, or giving the option of printing on a white paper stock and using a kraft-colored background so that they’re still able to have white text. Knowing the limitations of the paper or printing method you like will help you to make the best decision for your budget.
If you keep these three tips in mind while you’re looking for your invitations, the process should go much more smoothly! My last bit of advice is to work with a designer directly. It’s great to see all of the pre-made wedding designs available to be purchased at the click of a button, but if you work with a designer you’re going to get something so much more personalized. I love working with brides on their wedding invitations, and would love to work with you! Contact me anytime at brittanyluizdesigns@gmail.com(link sends e-mail) or take a look at my Etsy shop at brittanyluizdesigns.etsy.com(link is external)