our wedding
Our Wedding Story: The Vendors
With planning a wedding in three months there wasn’t much room for playing around. Which actually made planning easier. We were forced to make decisions quickly and so we relied heavily on recommendations. Thankfully our venue had a list of vendors so we basically used that and did some Google searches and came up with our list.
Photographer: our friends Steph and Brandon {we owe a lot to Steph as she introduced Mr. Z and I eight years ago!} had gotten married about seven months prior to when we were planning to be married and so we asked them who they used. Steph e-mailed us access to their pics and as we glanced through we found we really liked how they had turned out. So one evening after work we ventured out to Forest Park and met with the man who would become our photographer. We were scheduled to meet for an hour and ended up talking for two! Needless to say, we pretty much knew that if we could sit and chat with him for that long, we connected well enough for him to take some shots of our day. We ended up really pleased with them and recommend him to anyone. His name is Bryan Kinyon and you can find him here and here.
DJs: This was an easy pick for us. Mr. Z was stuck in traffic and so was running late to our scheduled meeting. This gave me a little one-on-one time with the gals, Rachel and Kate. And we clicked immediately. When Mr. Z walked in to the meeting he knew I was smitten :-) Who wouldn’t be with DJs whose website says:
Your wedding playlist is like a recipe: two parts your musical taste, one part crowd-pleasers that keep your dance floor moving, a dash of classics, a pinch of pleasant surprises, and a heaping portion of flow. Stir it all together and you’ve got a deliciously danceable pie in your favorite flavor.
This was especially important to us because honestly, Mr. Z and I are pretty lame and don’t dance much but we wanted to ensure our guests enjoyed themselves. Toast & Jam was the perfect match for us!
Caterer: Ah, I can’t say enough about our caterer. I loved her. And I knew my family would love her. And that made this decision easy too. We went with Food for Thought and Ashley was our event coordinator. She was getting married just three weeks after us! What is so wonderful with Food for Thought is that they have paired their event coordinators with certain venues. So in our case, Ashley always did weddings at A New Leaf {and four or five other locations}, which meant there wouldn’t be any surprises as she knew how to host a wedding there like it was her daily morning routine. She was wonderful. Not to mention very patient with a bride who just wasn’t too concerned about much. Example: at our tasting she had asked me to come prepared with what colors I wanted for our linens. I had no idea what I wanted and really didn’t care too much. She was so gracious with laying out a bunch of different colors for me to choose from even pairing different colors and making suggestions. Again, fabulous. Oh, and she took care of any additional tables and chairs we needed as well.
Florist: Since we were getting married at A New Leaf, an event space owned by a florist, we were required to use their shop. But I’m not complaining. Andy was our florist and he rocked too! I told Andy I wanted my bouquet and my bridesmaids’ bouquets to look like they had just been picked from the garden with a bit of a manicure and the only flower I had to have was the pale green hydrangea. I certainly loved what he did :-) I know it sounds ridiculous, but we were so blessed with all the elements of our wedding including our vendors.
I think those are all the major vendors. Truly, God blessed us so much in every detail. It’s overwhelming to me even when I think about it now nine months later. WILD.
* All photos Brian Kinyon PhotographyRead More
Our Wedding Story: The Venue
We were engaged on August 6 while I was in the middle of managing some serious crisis response communications at work. To say it was a little hectic might be an understatement. But when we looked at the calendar, considered the holidays and Mr. Z’s occupation demanding virtually every day of the week of the first four months of every year, we knew we had to plan a wedding fast. We certainly did not want to wait until after tax season {April 15}. We finally settled on early November and knew at that point it was really up to whether or not the venue was available.
When Mr. Z and I had been engaged a few years earlier {if you’re not familiar with our story, you can read a snippet of it here} I struggled with a vision for our wedding. While many little girls dream of their wedding day and seem to have a pretty good idea of what their perfect day will look like, for some reason, this little girl wasn’t like that. But all that changed this time. I knew the proposal would be soon so for the months leading up to it I was picturing various scenarios in my head. Yet again it was all in God’s perfect timing.
Two scenarios were in my head. One was an outdoor summer wedding and the other was a candlelit winter wedding.
My parents have a beautiful backyard with a pool in a densely wooded area. It could be the perfect setting for a fanciful and romantic event with white lights strewn through the trees and manicured bushes and floating candles drifting in the pool. Doesn’t it sound lovely? I pictured mason jars with tea lights hanging in the trees and bouquets and centerpieces of wild flowers. It seemed almost magical in my head.
The winter version I saw involved a candlelit ceremony with dim lighting, soft, beautiful music and each guest would feel as if they were in the ceremony. I loved the idea of a cozy, intimate setting where you could feel the sweet presence of the Lord. I could see exposed brick perhaps, or stone flooring of some kind. I wasn’t quite sure what this might look like but I knew it would feel very intimate.
We knew with planning a wedding so quickly it would be less stress on everyone to have it in Chicago rather than my hometown in Connecticut. The problem, there was only one venue that I knew of in Chicago that met what I was looking for. Believing God that it would be available I called them and sure enough, we couldn’t get a Saturday, but the first Sunday in November was available. I was so excited! I just needed Mr. Z to like it too. Right, that might be a little more difficult.
I had a perfect vision of what it could look like and I knew we wouldn’t have to do much. And sure enough, we didn’t. The room where we had the ceremony had a warm intimate feel. Exposed brick lined the walls with dim lights secured to the perimeter and six beautiful wooden glass-pained armoires (I’m really not sure what to call them but they were filed with tea lights and stunning!). The room could only fit 120 seated and with the ivory chairs positioned on the beat-up hardwood floor and the beautiful arrangements lining the area for the altar, it was stunning. On our wedding day {even still now} I remember thinking, “I can’t believe this is our wedding!”
The reception was held in the bi-level cement, exposed brick store front area of the space. With access to the garden! Seriously, even now typing this I’m getting so excited I can’t even describe it properly… Well, I don’t think I will. Before I share some shots from A New Leaf, I want to point out that God, yet again, exceeded all expectations. We had perfect weather that day. I think it was right around 60 degrees which for November in Chicago is not bad, and the venue God made a way for us to use met all my desires for the setting for our wedding. With only 90 days to plan, He exceeded all expectations and knocked our socks off!
All glory goes to the Heavenly Father who it made it possible. Our wedding would not have been what it was had we tried to force it years earlier. In His perfect timing He gave us the most perfect day, and the venue was a part of that.
So without further delay here are some of my favorite shots of the venue from our wedding day :-)
All photos from Brian Kinyon PhotographyRead More
Our Wedding Story: The Proposal Part II {for real this time}
For a few months Mr. Z and I had been talking about going to Ravinia for the perfect date night. The last time we had been there was back in 2003 and at the time Mr. Z had mononucleosis—you know, the “kissing disease” that wipes you out—let’s just say he had the best outdoor nap of his life that night :-)
Mr. Z has many incredible qualities about him but planning is not one of them (coincidence that he married a planner? definitely not, God has a sense of humor). So when he said he bought tickets for Ravinia immediately I thought this must be it. In fact, the Ravinia date night being the proposal night turned out to be a running joke for us. You could often hear me saying for the month leading up to it, “Babe, I already know when you’re going to propose, you don’t need to make it a secret.” And then he would say, “I know, I think August 6 would be a great night.”
By now you might be reading this and thinking, you guys have a weird sense of humor. And the romantic-type girls are wondering how I could possibly think this is an ideal scenario for a proposal. Well, keep reading and you might understand it all ;-)
So as we joked for the month leading up to it we both knew it was coming. It’s just one of us thought it was going to be the week before.
After work that Friday I drove up to Mr. Z’s office in Lake Forest and we hopped in one car. We stopped at Whole Foods to get a picnic dinner for the evening and had the best time. We kept joking with each other that this would be our life if we could afford to be yuppies, ending the workweek by lounging on the lawn at Ravinia, listening to the CSO, munching on hummus and salads from Whole Foods. We thought we were quite humorous, knowing that would never be us. (I must admit though, sometimes it still sounds rather appealing.)
I even joked, “Springing for Whole Foods, I know you’re proposing for sure now.” He smiled and laughed and we just kept joking around—like the best friends we are.
It was a beautiful evening, not a cloud in the sky and warm but not hot. Perfect. We parked the car and headed to the gates. When we got there Mr. Z had me wait while he purchased our tickets.
Wait, what?!?!
I looked at him utterly confused. I thought he had bought our tickets already. The whole tickets purchased in advance thing is why it made complete sense that he was proposing that night, because that means he was planning, which he never does.
So this threw me off a bit. But not entirely.
Mr. Z got our tickets and we made our way to the lawn. We found the perfect spot with not too many people around. It was the most beautiful setting for us. We both love the outdoors and good food. But most incredibly, the last time we had been at Ravinia together neither of us was walking with the Lord. And now we had come full circle.
We sat and ate and talked for a good time and just after the sun set the time had come.
I sensed a nudging in my spirit to encourage the man that sat before me and so I did. I don’t entirely remember what I said, but I do know it had to do with how proud I was of him and the man of God he had become. I remember looking at him with tears in my eyes telling him that even though our journey had been hard I wouldn’t take any of it back for I knew that what was possible now was a direct result, and that I hoped I could be the support and encouragement for him that only a helpmate chosen by God could be to help him become even more of the man that God made him to be.
When I was done he took my hands and said some of the most wonderful things to me…things I barely remember as I got swept into the moment. But I do know he promised to always put me first, only behind the Lord and to love me forever.
We had been engaged once before with the fanfare and emotional excitement. But that was the thing for us; we had been there before. And while I hope every woman is proposed to in a way that speaks love to her, for me, this was it—just us, intimate, simple and beautiful (with bits of humor in between).
In 2003 I think we both would have scoffed at the thought that seven years later we would be in love with Jesus and getting engaged. But God knew and oh how beautiful did He make it and make us. It was such a fitting engagement scene.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ravinia
Our Wedding Story: The Proposal Part 1
When Mr. Z and I were engaged and began planning our wedding I fell off the blog wagon. Today is our one-year anniversary from when we got engaged (woo-hoo!) and I’m a little sad I never documented the proposal or the wedding planning. Over the next few weeks/months (whose kidding, I have no idea how long this will take) I am going to do my best to document the experience that never made it to these pages.
Let’s begin with the proposal, or should I say what was going to be the proposal ;-)
On Sunday, August 1, 2010 I was awakened at 1:30 a.m. by my cell phone ringing. It was the Chief of Public Safety informing me that there was a four-alarm fire in the high-rise apartment building on the campus where I work. At the time I was boss-less (probably not the best way to phrase that) and therefore I was the one to head the communications. At that point I had pretty much ZERO crisis communications experience. I headed to campus at 2 a.m. and hit the ground running (mind you, on the way there I was praying and begging the Lord for help). I texted Mr. Z to let him know what was going on and to pray as well. I figured he wouldn’t see the text until he woke-up but I didn’t want him to be confused as to my whereabouts when he didn’t see me at church that morning.
For the next 17 hours we were in crisis mode. The apartment building houses some of our students as well as elderly section eight residents—most of who are Russian and speak broken English if that. We were not obligated to care for these residents, but we knew we had to. The Bible is pretty clear about taking care of the poor, widowed and homeless and frankly, we couldn’t bare the thought of these people not having somewhere to go. After a long day of getting the residents situated in their new living quarters and doing our best to keep them informed as well as determine how long the building would be unlivable, we went home.
God carried us through the first 24 hours but I knew this was only the beginning of an extremely challenging situation.
At about 4:00 p.m. that day Mr. Z stopped by the campus to grab my keys and I told him I was hoping to be leaving in about an hour. He was going to meet me at my place. On my way home I called him and a friend and asked them both to watch two different news broadcasts. The media had been on campus but I didn’t know which one was going to do the story.
When I walked into my condo, there was Mr. Z standing in front of the TV intensely watching. I was grateful. I looked on the kitchen table and there were a dozen beautiful long-stem red roses. I felt so encouraged, like he was supporting my hard work that day.
We ordered Thai food and he left to go pick it up while I showered. When he got back I was trying to stay awake on the couch. We were talking as he dished out our food and proudly told me, “DL knows I’m here. So we’re accountable for being here right now.” We tried really hard while dating not to put ourselves in a place of temptation. We have a past and really didn’t want to relive it. I said to him, “Okay.” Thinking: I don’t really care about squat right now I am way too tired. He brought me my food, I practically inhaled it and in no less than 20 minutes after eating, I was out cold on the couch.
Mr. Z covered me with a blanket and left.
Little did I know, that morning when Mr. Z read my text he texted his friend, “Fire at Moody. Guess I’m not going to propose.” I found out later the roses were for the proposal that he was still going to shoot for. But alas, I fell asleep.
Read MoreDIY Photo Book #2
I need to take one last review tomorrow night, I’ve been looking at it too long today, but it appears I should be able to send the photo book for my parents to the printers this week! So excited to get to give this to them in person. And, to be honest, really proud of myself for getting this books done. I really wasn’t sure I’d get them done before the next Christmas! Thank you iPhoto!
Read More
DIY Photo Book
I am so excited! For Christmas Mr. Z and I told our parents we would be giving them photo books of our wedding. It’s taken time but I finally finished one and it should be here on Monday–just in time to give to my in-laws at Easter :-) This book is yet another example of why I heart Apple. Literally. I used their iPhoto program through iLife ’11. I picked the photos, clicked the ‘creat album’ button and it imported all the photos into the book template I chose. From there I reorded the photos, deleted some, added quotes and other text and voila! We now have their book. I really hope the print job looks as good as it did on my computer.
Next step: make one for my parents :-)
