Fall in Chicago

Fall is the most amazing season in Chicago.  

As the temperature drops and the air turns crisp you know you're in for a visual treat.  The leaves around the city turn burning red, orange and yellow.  We switch out our summer/winter clothes and I revisit my other wardrobe that I haven't seen in 6 month (OK let's be real, 4 months).  Hello vests and sweaters!

I try to encourage family and friends to visit in Fall so they can experience what we love about the city.  Lots of people came to visit this Fall - finally the words is out.  Nolan's family, my mom, friends all showed up this fall to enjoy the city.

In September, Nolan's mom, sister, and nephew came and well - we packed a lot into 3 full days.  The six of us saw the zoo, 2 museums, an aquarium, a baseball game, the view atop the John Hancock Building, and were worn out reminiscing about it let alone doing it!

Ric, Nolan's sis, was impressed with how awesome our FREE zoo was!

 We almost mistook Penny for one of the animals in the primate house!  Oops!

 Bob's first street performer donation.

 A carousel - of course!

 Look at Bob, above then at Nolan, below - think they're related?

 

Imagine our surprise when we headed to the Museum of Science and Industry to find that it was a FREE day!

 Exploring the city

At the Cubs Game

My mom made it out this year in Mid October (apparently she needed to get a "Penny fix") and we enjoyed lots of walks, dinners, and conversation!

We visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens, 350+ well manicured acres.

 

My Inspiration vs. REALITY

I used Polyvore to create this wedding look half way through the planning process, in May to be exact - 4 months before the wedding.

After reading about a million girls' planning "dos and don'ts" I knew I should create some sort of visual with a combination of wedding elements I'd like to include.  At that point in time some of the elements, like the flower girl dress, were already decided.  The rest of the visual was a combo of all of the ideas, colors, and textures that were floating around in my head.  To a point, this validated my color decision and lingering questions if it was a cohesive look.




Polyvore

So above is the Polyvore look and below is a board made up of photos from the wedding.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

How do you think I did?

I've booked my weekend -

Saturday - Friends' winter wedding!

Sunday - Renegade Craft Fair!

I am excited to attend my friends' wedding and see how they put together their winter theme, it should be spactacular!  The bride is a crafty little thing and he is a music loving dance machine!  Tell me how much you love this: at her bridal shower she had everyone make an ornament for a Christmas tree she's displaying at their reception!  I've also caught wind that their introductions will be Michael Jackson themed!  Awesome?  I think so!

To extend my fun-filled weekend I am so excited for The Renegade Handmade Craft Fair on Sunday.  Renegade Handmade is a local shop in Chicago that sells only handmade products - talk about supporting small business!  They started the fair in 2003 and now have over 150 artists on site this year!  This is my kind of thing!  I am ecstatic to be attending!  One day I hope to be one of their vendors! 

The fair makes it possible to complete your Christmas shopping list!  

Renegade Craft says "those looking to shop handmade and support small business this holiday season will surely find something for everyone – from jewelry and clothing, to ceramics and stationery, with everything from bath products, housewares, posters, comics and plush objects in between – at this large-scale, free-to-attend art, craft and design extravaganza!!"

Happy Holiday Shopping Everyone! Next year come to Chicago!

Favorites - COLOR

a FAVORITES series

Throughout the wedding planning process you have obligatory items and FAVORITES.

I wanted all the Fall COLORS in our wedding like a cat wants a mouse!

I began with the bridesmaids' dresses and it just snowballed from there. Originally, I picked a Fall color for each girl (as in I mailed them all a paint chip I picked up at my local Home Depot) - they'd have to find a dress in that color! Well, it seemed pretty difficult for all of them to find a dress in their color, and/or they were apprehensive to do it alone - all 5 girls lived in different towns at the time (Las Vegas, Gardnerville, Chicago, Denver, Carson City). As much as I explained that it was okay and I didn't care - they seemed to more than me. So I chose for all the girls to wear chocolate brown and they'd accessorize with their color - they seemed please with this new evolution. I was pretty pleased with the new look I was attaining too.

So, all my girls found a chocolate brown dress from J.Crew or Ann Taylor, and the last - a hand made beauty from Rachel O's mom! My single stipulation was that they all to be tea length.

Keeping those colors in mind, I brought Fall Red, Orange, Brown, Yellow, Cream, and Purple into my other elements - I loved how it finally all came together. Remember to be confident in your decisions - as long as you keep your final look in mind, it will all be cohesive in the end! I chose to purchase linen napkins as one of my Eco-friendly elements in the wedding planning. (We don't need more paper napkins thrown away!) So even though it was more expensive to purchase all linen napkins, as apposed to buying paper or renting, it was so worth it as we put together the table scape. They brought color and fun to the tables.

I found all the linen napkins at World Market and Crate and Barrel. I only bought those on sale and they've since been gifted as small tokens of appreciation to the women who helped throughout the wedding planning and wedding day. All the napkins were different Fall colors and patterns. As another Eco-friendly element, I wrapped the real flatware in them.

I visited 3 different World Markets to accumulate enough napkins and about 8 different thrift stores for enough flatware. The napkins were bought 6 months before the wedding (all the fall colors were on sale) and the flatware 1 month before the wedding. I didn't have a head count until less than 1 month before the wedding so I purchase 40 more napkins than I needed. The extras were just used as decorations on the service tables at the wedding!

See table scape photos:


My mom's friend Donna came to Tahoe early to help out and well, she HELPED OUT tremendously! She created all the centerpieces from potted flowers from the grocery store, curved twig-things from Michael's, pumpkins my in-laws grew and the napkins! She did an amazing job for the items she was given!

FYI: The potted flowers were given to the park to plant there (I wonder if they were settled in before the snow?), the pumpkins were taken back to Fallon for Ric to put in her veggie baskets she sells, the flatware was donated to Nolan's family's cabin association, and the napkins have been given as appreciation gifts.

TIP: When you're having a wedding away from where you live - know and TELL someone where the items are going to go before the wedding, before you purchase them!! I made sure to tell my maids, coordinator, moms, and family where the napkins, flatware, and pumpkins were going.

Wedding Style

I really want a relaxed wedding. I envision somewhere comfortable, where the kids would be encouraged to kick off their shoes, play and dance. (Something I hoped for the adults to do also!)

I am finding that my relaxed wedding has a ton of moving parts still and it's crazy trying to align them! To help wrangle in the creature known as a TO DO LIST, I've created a checklist with most "due dates" around our paydays! Besides keeping us on track, this has helped tremendously with our budget as well! I haven't felt like we are broke due to the wedding which is nice and it will be even more pleasant after September when we're not throwing money toward the wedding!

Back to the topic - style. I wanted a casual affair; an outside event with friends and family mingling and laughing! I get goosebumps thinking about it. Yet, it was still hard to envision a day wedding and reception. (Do many people get down and dance at a day wedding?- something to discuss in another post.) For me a day affair just yelled casual and it was the only way we were going to make our park wedding work due to the park's hours, closing at sun down and all. I want it to look chic and fun, I don't want it look second hand bought... even though some of it is!

So with our venue booked, we started to make our wedding puzzle pieces fit. I chose the bridesmaids’ dress color almost immediately - brown. I love the chic fall colors and knew that it would be easy to build upon. Everything seems to take on a life of its own when you’re building a wedding style. As you introduce other people into the mix they help you out so much but slowly it starts to become their style too, which I love. A wedding should be a family and friend affair, after all they reflect who you and your man are! I wanted the style of my girls to stand out, they should feel as good as me on that day, therefore they chose their own style in brown silk taffeta.

So with the brown dresses decided upon I began making other decisions.
I chose ties.
All different, but all the colors of our wedding! I am really excited to see them on.

I bought linen napkins for the table decor.
All 180 are one of 30 colors and patterns. I found many at World Market and Crate and Barrel, all on sale and most I convinced the managers to give me a discount because I was helping to clear out their sale section which had napkins that most wouldn't buy because they weren't part of a set. This along with the pumpkins will be our punches of color among the ivory tablecloths and ivory umbrellas.

I am giving my girls the option to choose their own accessories. I gave them each a fall color to use for their accessories. Slowly I am seeing my vision come to life. Jackie bought her shoes this weekend, a pair of fall yellow pumps that are fantastic. Rachel O. has talked about an orange flower for her dress and Kerrie a red wooden necklace. All of these things are getting me a little giddy!


So with all these parts that are within a general theme but aren't alike, do you think it will come together and look okay? I have to admit, I am a little nervous.

As I ask this question I am planning on making boutonnieres. And as I thought I'd do with all the other items, originally they were going to be different, and now I think I am pulling in the creative reins to keep them the same. Here is a photo of what I hope to achieve!

100 DAYS!!!!

I have begun the countdown to our wedding!

I realized our 100 day marker this last week when I was trying to figure out when our pumpkins should be planted!

Due to the kindness & generosity of some most amazing people, Nolan's mom, his sister, and my dad, we will have some great home-grown pumpkins adorning the tables! They are going to look fabulous!

Just imagine the possibilities...



Martha Stewart gave me these ideas!

A Semi-Complete Wedding Look

autumn wedding by croney on Polyvore.com

I used Polyvore to create this wedding look.

It took me a few days but I found the items I wanted in the colors that were right. This mock up makes me smile simply because I can see some of my already chosen items with some of my not-yet complete vision coming to life. I am not positive all of the creations here will be at the wedding but it's a good starting point to see if they complement each other...