Ceremony: Church of Christ Presbyterian, Chicago. This is our home church and just proved to be the BEST deal available (meaning free). We had entertained the idea of being married in a church closer to our reception venue, but found out it would cost upwards of $1500 on the LOW end – one church quoted us $2k! If you have a home church, you are truly blessed as we are =)

Reception Venue: Women’s Club of Evanston. It seems several of the northern Chicago suburbs have these women’s clubs. I first heard about the Winnetka Women’s Club for a friend’s wedding back in 2005. They’re just these gorgeous little establishments that feel quaint and homey, yet classy and large enough to accomodate the masses. Of all the clubs we visited Evanston was my fave and it’s right across the street from Dave’s Italian Kitchen, my fave restaurant of all time.

Photography: SecondPrintProductions. We were impressed with Albert’s artsy/journalistic style, his calm and friendly demeanor, and of course prices. We’ll see how everything comes together on the day-of. E-session scheduled for next month so we’ll get a little taste then.

Videography: JCD Films for the ceremoy only. Their online demo looked very nice, and they promised 2 cameramen for a 3-hour ceremony shooting (before and after) for an affordable price. I just wanted a little bit of live action footage of the day, but didn’t need a camera in my face all day long.

Music:  Monastero Entertainment. We were referred to this group by our friends who were married in May ’09. We thoroughly enjoyed dancing the night away at their wedding and wanted to do the same at ours. They’re very organized, with “do play” and “don’t play” lists available with a personal account online, along with tons and tons of recommendations for all the obligatory dances.

Atire: I’ve loved perusing the wedding section at JCrew. We’re doing bridesmaids dresses and perhaps shoes here. If anyone has pregnant bridesmaids, I highly recommend Nordstrom.com, their maternity section is great and their dresses are super nice. Mens’s Wearhouse is the go-to for all our guys.

Invitations: We had the benefit of my cousin’s graphic design expertise and keen style to create us a beautiful invitation motif. Then we ran into a huge problem when it came time to pick the right paper and colors – I was lost. Charli and Cleo saved my life! They were able to use our original design and make it fit into a beautiful invitation suite that’s ready to go, hassle-free. We spent a couple hundred more than we had anticipated, but relieving my stress made it all worth it.

Favors etc: We’re still not completely done with this part, so I might update it after the wedding. I found an awesome deal for organza bags at Gifts International Inc, 7 cents per bag. Can’t beat that anywhere. We’ll probably use them for small favors at the reception. I have yet to purchase anything from Save-on-Crafts, but I’m officially in love. I don’t know if you would call it a store, but it has tons and tons of decorating frills and thrills that have a “natural” air about them.

Honeymoon: Okay, so this part isn’t actually booked yet. You give one task to the groom…… just kidding =) But in all honesty we’re trying to book this week and we’re using an excellent resource recommended by Dan’s coworker called LuxuryLink. It’s like eBay for vacations! Well, sort of. Lots of package deals that you can “bid” on or buy out right. If you buy it out right you secure your dates. And with bidding, your dates are subject to change  but you save couple hundred. We’re thinking Mexico, but there are tons of wonderful destinations on this site.

I still don’t have hair and makeup nailed down yet – so any suggestions in the Evanston area would be great!

Starts

There’s a temporary comfort

When it’s about to begin

But hasn’t yet.

Because here you are safe

From a broken dream

Or a distressed failure.

So grab hold

Of the sentiments around you.

There’s a hesitant first step of

A misguided path.

That which makes all previous

Seem trivial.

A cliff that’s stupidly frightening

And oddly surreal.

Your bittersweet accomplishment is

Riding on the notion that really

You don’t know anything.

And the inescapable life

Will push forward

Gravitationally,

With you or without you.

And it will leave you feeling

Temporarily comforted

By all the things you might do

But haven’t yet.

Get a FREE copy of the magazine at most city news boxes. Or just check out the PDF here: http://digital.mindfulmetropolis.com/publication/?i=28902&page=1&p=20

Happy New Year!

How to Make Halloween Decorations with Everyday Things

Any good Halloween decorating tips out there?

The photo looks nicer than I expected it to as well… sadly it’s the last photo I took on my camera, back in early August for Dan’s bday. I’ve dug up the digi and plan to snap photos this weekend. Maybe I’ll get lucky and Dan will want to go to Milwaukee for a concert! Or perhaps we’ll retire to his condo with premarital counseling literature to read and college football to watch.

What’s on your plate for the weekend? Relaxation or Exasperation?

I leave you with a couple photos from the archive:

GO HAWKS!

Enter with an open mind, the Art Institute of Chicago’s new modern wing that is home to over 1,000 works of art ranging from architecture and design to contemporary art, photography and European. Start outside, with easy access to the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, an ensemble might be performing on a lucky day. Take a stroll up the 620-foot bridge and arrive at the extension of the well-known, Art Institute of years past. However, this modern wing is different. New. Sophisticated. Fresh.

Natural light warms the interior, skylights and a flying carpet structure are used to save energy and provide quality lighting for the showcase of artwork.

“This is a three-hour building to really digest it” says Erin Hogan, director of public affairs. “But you can spend anywhere from a half hour to a full day here.”

Stop for a cup of coffee and a muffin between architecture and contemporary art – the rest stops along the way are designed to help you digest the gallery without feeling overwhelmed. Take it all in.

Cy Twombly, a contemporary favorite, is on display on the first floor. The pieces look oddly the same – acrylic, wax, crayon, pencil and collage – nonetheless captivating. Cloud-like masses that drip strategically to the bottom of the canvas with his words scrawled across the mid-section, creating poetry in motion.

Venture upstairs to the contemporary European gallery that features well-known productions from 1900-1950. Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Yves Tanguy, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Henri Matisse, Wassily Kandinsky and many more. Find a miniature version of Picasso’s welded steel sculpture you’ll otherwise find perched on Daley Plaza in large monumental form.

This is just a glimpse of the peaceful and eye-opening experience the modern wing has to offer. Check out the rest of the gallery Mon-Wed 10:30 am – 5 pm, Thurs-Fri 10:30 am – 9 pm; Sat-Sun 10:30 am – 5 pm. Thursday and Friday evenings have free admission to the public from 5-9 pm.

Hey Coffee Girl

The morning birds only chirped before dawn. And cigarettes only tasted good after twelve noon.
Sweat beaded at the crown of her head as the clock went round.
From time to time she looked up long enough to chat a minute with the chatters.

About last night’s game with Mr. dark-roast-to-go.
She’d smile. Water dripped.
Boiling over the pile of grounds, brown droplets into the paper cup.

About spring break in Florida with Ms. Flavor-of-the-day.
She’d laugh. Steam the milk for Skim-mocha-extra-chocolate-no-whip-cream.
Laugh.

Her middle finger was stained in the creases of her old writer’s bump, espresso brown.
Dr. Grip had cured the bump. Or perhaps she wrote less.
Her dark collared t-shirt made her uppers look large, but the pastry shelf looked inviting today. For tomorrow, she’d try harder.

Behind the counter she was coffee and smiles.
At midday she was just a girl, something desperate.
–

He drank coffee before preschool. It gave the day sunshine and strength.
His little guy was the sweetest handful. Teacher said.

Mom moved south for something new, desperate.
On the worst days, he was there, waiting on his sweetest handful. Getting by on sunshine and strength.

It was like the test if time could tell – autistic – doctor said.
For today, career would wait. For tomorrow, he would be there.

The brief encounters were often pleasant ones.
Five minutes of coffee and smiles.

At midday he was just a man, something desperate.
In love with the coffee girl.

It wasn’t until the past couple of months (we’ve been engaged since Christmas) that planning really started to get rolling. I always feel behind, with work and school as main priorities right now. But here’s some links to what we’ve found so far, for those of you who might benefit from local resources =)

Church: Church of Christ Presbyterian Chicago – 90% sure we’ll have it here, as long as everyone will fit!

Reception Venue: Women’s Club of Evanston

Photographer: SecondPrint Productions

Caterer: Refined Dining – they are revamping their web site

Dress!!: The Bride’s Room

Invitations: Etsy.com – a great resource for ideas!

DJ – Remix Entertainment

We’re still chugging away on other details. Please comment with other suggestions! We’re open to most anything =)

Holiday Decorating Tips For Your Next Party – written by moi =)