Belinda & Phyllis’ civil union at Centered Chef was unique in so many ways. The Buddhist ceremony included florals from Fab Floral that were all living, never cut.  To celebrate life, each guest took home the centerpieces with notecards describing how to care for their succulent and how to nurture the life to bloom. The couple invited their guests to be an integral part of the day. Multiple friends and family members were invited to speak during their ceremony. Guests also participated in interactive cooking demonstrations, from mocktails to crepes.

The simple and elegant design of the space added to the couple’s simplicity. Our designers used soft ivory fabric with amber lighting to create a focal area for the ceremony. The light emoting from the structure created the spiritual energy that the ladies were looking for. These fabulous photos were taken and provided by Liesl Diesel Photo.

Indian Wedding Ceremonies and Fusion Wedding Ceremony have very elaborate details that create lush environments full of love and passion. Whether the event is indoors or outdoors, the mandap is typically the focal point where all the tradition and rituals take place. Here are just a few of our favorite South Asian wedding set-ups; some are quick snapshots with my phone (…can’t wait to see the professional photos from those)

Red is the color of passion, desire, and love. Thus, it is a perfect color to be included in your wedding design plans. Whether it has a primary presence in your color palette or you offer your guests pops of red color in the small details, red is a very emotionally intense color.

• Light red represents joy, sexuality, passion, sensitivity, and love.
• Pink signifies romance, love, and friendship. It denotes feminine qualities and passiveness.
• Dark red is associated with vigor, willpower, rage, anger, leadership, courage, longing, malice, and wrath.
• Reddish-brown is associated with harvest and fall.

Wedding Design evokes feeling and mood for your guests to envelope themselves in while they focus on you, your marriage, and the love affair that’s in the air. Using red tones in your wedding designs can…

Pops of Red Color

Festive Red Details

Lush Royal Red

Modern Reds

Deep Deep Reds

Light & Soft Reds

Reds & Golds

Red Elegance

 To see more red inspirations, visit our Pinterest board just for you!

Recently, I designed an Indian Wedding ceremony and reception for a wonderful couple, Payal & Justin. The beautiful bride, Payal, had very definite ideas on the type of look that she wanted to create at The Harold Washington Library. For her, it was very important to see and feel all of elements put together before making her final decision. So we started with the basics. I created a sketch of the stage and fabric backdrop at our creative office, in order to figure out the look and feel that she envisioned based on the color palette that she had chosen. After her approval of the sketch, we made a trip together to a specialty fabric shop that carries a unique line of luxury fabrics. We went through aisles and rolls of luxe fabrics, laying them out on the large cutting tables to view what would be the best color palette and texture to create the envisioned backdrop. It was quite overwhelming for her as she would fall in love with a certain fabric and then find one that she loved even more. This is where the all important trust factor comes into play. I knew exactly what luxury fabrics would work for the wedding and guided her to the perfect selections. We found a gorgeous sheer white voile fabric with crystal beading, a stunning platinum crepe back satin fabric, and a vibrant and elegant purple wave fabric that we accented with crystal strands.

Ultimately, with design, it’s about choosing that perfect cohesive look, that when put together creates that “Wow” factor. In order to create this “Wow” factor, we brought all of these samples back to our creative office and put together a mock up of what the fabric backdrop would look like. It came out exactly as the sketch portrayed and it was truly perfect. The three fabrics worked together beautifully and added beauty and elegance to the ceremony. Also, the crystal beads and strands that we picked created not only texture but also a shimmer effect to the room as we enhanced with lighting. It is always a pleasure to create these one of a kind events and I feel truly blessed to be able to help make my clients’ event design a memory that will stay with them forever.

~Deborah Weisenhaus, President and Lead Designer at Art of Imagination

No we aren’t talking about brides that have affection for Julia Roberts… we’re talking Runway Brides. Brides that are taking inspiration from the fashion runways and incorporating fabulous designer dresses into their special day.

When meeting with a bride, my first question is “Do you have a photo of your dress?” This curiosity is two-fold. One, I have the pleasure of seeing my bride’s face light up with excitement, enthusiasm, and pride as she leans over for her phone to find that picture of the “one.” And secondly, I garner a sense of who this beautiful bride before me is and what inspires her style.

Here are two of our most recent brides and their runway-to-aisle fashion styles.

DENA – JENNY YOO

July 2013 at  The Rookery – Dena chose this beautiful strapless gown from Nabi by Jenny Yoo. Her Monarch gown is actually a convertible dress that offers fifteen different ways for a bride to style the dress. Our bride, Dena, added a bit more glam to the look with a beaded sash from Jenny Yoo.

The Monarch features a twisted strapless bodice that scoops softly at the center of the bust for a universally flattering look. The waistline hits just above the natural waist with soft gathers. The floor length skirt features an “A” line shape with full sweep. Skirt has two convertible panels in the front and four panels in the back that can create alternate necklines and skirt details. The dress is fully lined, with center back zipper. Available in Winter White

*Photos of Dena provided by Rebecca Marie Photography

ROSE – VERA WANG

June 2013 ~The Stan Mansion – Rose chose the Josephine gown from Vera Wang’s Fall 2012 collection. The collection offered many dresses in a unique color palette of soft bare nudes and rich textural blacks. The line’s alternative name was, in fact, Witchcraft.

Witchcraft
Light, airy, concoctions of froth…. inspired by black and nude undergarments, both mysterious and sexy, frivolous and fun, with transparent wisps of carefully organized tulle.

Photos of Rose provided by Roma Pictures.

We are so grateful to have another beautiful bride featured on Style Me Pretty this week. The lovely images of the wedding were submitted by Robyn Rachel Photography and took place at The Ivy Room in Chicago, IL. Here’s a snippet from Style Me Pretty‘s post, these words come from the bride herself:

Whenever my husband and I get asked how we met we always laugh and respond “it’s a long story.” The story is we met 8 years ago on a college spring break trip with our friends and knew right away our spring break fling was something more and that we had found the one. Our friends to this day do not let us live the story down that “what happened on spring break didn’t stay on spring break” which made for fun reminiscent rehearsal dinner toasts! I was lucky that 8 years after we met on a beach in Florida, my husband proposed to me in Chicago using my grandmother’s diamond which made it all the more special.

The feeling of our wedding that our family and friends kept describing to us was “understated elegance” and that is exactly what we were going for! We wanted a wedding that would best reflect our relationship of being timeless and traditional, but also fun loving, romantic, and something fresh. We chose to get married at the Ivy Room Chicago as it was important to both of us to have the ceremony outside, but also be located in the heart of our favorite city and home near all of the action. Our officiant was from my church in the suburbs where I have gone my whole life so even though we were not in that particular space it was nice to have a piece of it there with us that day. We absolutely loved all that the Ivy Room had to offer and tried to compliment it with soft pinks (using peonies my favorite flower) and champagne colors and focus on candles and lighting. We wanted to make sure every detail was perfect, yet at the same time did not want to get carried away with too many little things and lose sight of what we were there for. This was especially evident in our guestbook which was done by our photographer to be a book of all of our engagement photos as the pages and our guests could write messages on top of the photos. We really loved how she wanted to capture and show our personality as a couple in both our engagement and wedding photos for our love for each other, Chicago, and our friends and family.

One thing that brought my husband and I together is the importance of the people in our life. We are close with our families, but also consider our friends to be family, as you can see by our large bridal party! We didn’t want to leave out anyone out in sharing in our day, even my niece as the flower girl who had to be carried down the aisle at just 9 months old!

We were so happy when the Chicago weather cooperated and allowed us to have the perfect day! It was really meaningful to us to have so many family and friends who had come to know our relationship so well over the past 8 years be there to support and celebrate and not leave our side on the dance floor for the entire evening! Everything was absolutely perfect and we wish we could relive the weekend all over again.

She was so amazing to work with and the leaf pattern on the wall added such texture and elegance to the entire reception. Here’s just a sneak peek of these great images.

You can find the entire article from Style Me Pretty here!
You can find out more about the Ivy Room here!
You can also view our Pinterest Board from The Ivy Room here for inspirations!

Photography: Robyn Rachel Photography | Venue: The Ivy Room Chicago | Floral Design: Kathie’s Flowers | Catering: George Jewell Catering | Lighting: Art of Imagination | Band: Nick Kitsos Band | Cake:Amy Beck Cake Design | Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier

This Room 1520 wedding was so elegant yet simple and modern yet classic – it’s one of our recent favorites. While we’re waiting to get the professional photos to come in, we wanted to share this quick peek at the beautiful ceremony and some of the pretty details of the event.

Stay tuned for more photos as we get them and don’t miss all the lovely details and stunning decor and florals.

Be sure to visit venue website for more information:  Room 1520

Just a few weeks ago, we were part of a whimsical, DIY wedding at Architectural Artifacts. The couple was really fun and artsy and the wedding ceremony and reception was brimming with personal details and meaningful, DIY touches that really showcased their personalities for their Big Day.

Our part included using natural ivory linen fabric to soften the urban, loft-like setting of the venue. We created beautiful swags of fabric by the roll-up metal doors, blocking the back areas of the entry to create a more clean look for pictures, when the family and bride walked down the stairs. Architectural Artifacts also features a two-story atrium, where the ceremonies are held, so from ledges on the second floor we suspended dozens of Asian lanterns which created a more intimate setting for the ceremony. You’ll see the lanterns were a big hit with the guests.

We also loved the idea of terrariums lining the aisle – each sat on a square piece of wood. It was an elegant and unique touch that we haven’t seen before.

Scroll through the photos for all the whimsical details.

Inquire with the venue about your event: Architectural Artifacts.

Our work was recently part of this lovely wedding at the Zhou B Art Center. This multi-purpose building is at once one of the city’s most vibrant and artistic wedding and event venues and art gallery. The ground floor is a massive, blank canvas of a space that transforms to accomodate any event with the city’s most cutting edge art on it’s walls.

Founded by and named after the Zhou brothers, who are some of the most visible artists working today in America, the converted multi-story building also houses a cafe and several stories’ worth of artists studios where some of the city’s top and up-coming talent creates the work that hangs in the space.

This wedding had us use gobos and light with the idea of bringing a touch of the doors indoors – we hung colorful Asian lanterns and used bright orange panels of fabric at the entry to make a bold and lively statement as the guests walked in to celebrate. We had fun working on this wedding – take a look below!  

Be sure to visit venue website to learn more – be sure to schedule a tour. Zhou B Art Center.

Bridgeport Art Center is a recent addition to the ever-growing number of loft-like wedding venues, but it’s a definite stand out. The long and expansive space is a beautiful setting for any number of events, weddings included, and for this most recent event we were a part of, the couple had us flood the space with red light all along the perimeter, creating an unforgettable glow.

In the middle, we created a soft & romantic fabric backdrop with swags at the top, creating a beautiful focal point, where they sat their cake in front of a floral arch.

For the event, the groom had custom beer made for the guests to enjoy – it was a real hit.

Scroll through the photos.Before and after the table setup – we love how the space glows with the warm tones of the wood floors and ceiling.

We loved this whimsical flower arch made of curly willow and flowers. 

The east-facing windows provide an unmatched view of the downtown area that really lights up the space. The custom beer handles with the labels and signage. What a great way to personalize an event.

Visit the venue website to learn more: Bridgeport Art Center.