our wedding story
Our Wedding Story: Something Old, New, Borrowed but no Blue
Something New
I was not even remotely original with this one, but it sure was easy. I considered my dress my something new. I’m hoping to write a post about my dress, shoes and veil so I won’t be including a picture now :-)
Something Borrowed
My mom has some incredible jewelry and I knew I wanted to wear her bracelet {and her earrings} as it complimented the dress perfectly. She even let me take them with me on our honeymoon. I had talked up the bracelet with all my friends leading up to the wedding so most of them asked immediately when I saw them if they could take a peek at it. It’s quite beautiful don’t you think?
Something Old
I think I have mentioned it before, but as a little girl I didn’t dream all that much about my wedding day. Other
friends of mine have known since they were little that they wanted to be the princess on their special day and many of the details that came with that. Not me.
When I was a little girl my grandmother, we called her Bamma, had bought each of her granddaughters a lace handkerchief specifically for our wedding days. She had 16 grandchildren and 12 of us are girls :-) I knew this would be my something old on my wedding day. What I didn’t know was that my grandmother had written a card that I opened with the handkerchief. She died a few years ago so to have this piece of her with me was such a wonderful gift. This was probably my most favorite material thing at my wedding. But I did have one thing I knew for sure. I knew my something old.
Read MoreOur Wedding Story: the details
Invitations & Program
Our invitations really weren’t that exciting. And I wasn’t too concerned about it either. As I’ve said throughout this whole process things had to be simple and easy. Less than 90 days to plan and execute meant I had to be intentional with what was important and with what was not. To me, as long as the invitations looked nice and served their purpose I was fine with just plain white. Simple, clean and easy to manage.
We ordered ours through Rex Craft {now a part of Bed, Bath and Beyond} and they turned out just perfect.
Rex Craft did such a great job with our invitations I used them for our wedding program as well. I really liked the way our programs turned out {and I ordered and had them made just days before the wedding!}
Favors
I have this weird kind of hate towards wedding favors. I don’t know if it’s because I hate nick-knacks and often that’s what they are, but when it came time to consider them for our wedding, I was not too thrilled. I wanted something people could actually use and might enjoy. Enter Martha Stewart. I didn’t have time to go into as great detail as her site suggested, but I loved the idea of tying two candles together for guests to take home and use at a later time. I bought a few different fall colors in bulk and simply tied them all with raffia ribbon {I used raffia ribbon for quite a few things to have a bit of a rustic feel—it was almost a thread through the wedding details}.
I then purchased a few containers from Michael’s and they added such vibrant beautiful color to the gift table. It turned out just how I had envisioned it would look. And my picky favor personality was satisfied.
Card/gift table
I was in a dear friends wedding a few years ago and fell in love with how she honored her parents. The venue where she had the reception had this beautiful fireplace so she took full advantage of the mantel and used it for candles, pictures of her parents, grandparents and the groom’s parents and grandparents, as well as placed a lovely sign in the mix. It stuck with me so that when it was time for my wedding I knew exactly how I would take advantage of the lovely vintage {and HUGE} trunk in our venue.
Our faith is at the core of who we are and our family and friends were there to celebrate with us so when I saw this cute {and cheap} sign at TJ Maxx I knew it was meant to be.
I also really like the idea of a birdcage to serve as the card holder. I didn’t like the white ones I saw, not to mention the white did not match the décor. But, as in His true fashion throughout this entire process, God had my back and I found a lovely antique style one. It matched the décor of the venue perfectly.
The next element was the pictures. I found two inexpensive frames at Michael’s and simply inserted the pictures of our parents. I loved both photos as they were so different but so lovely. Mr. Z’s parents have this beautiful professional album that has been kept in incredible condition {they have been married for 45 years!}. It was quite simple to make a copy at the CVS store down the street.
My parents on the other hand do not have a photo album quite like theirs. But they did have this adorable picture from their wedding day of them standing in front of the alter. My parents look so young in the photo, it’s simply precious.
All these elements combined made the table look beautiful! The favors were also on the table and added great color.
Hotel Gift Bags
Okay, in all honesty this was another item that I simply thought was a waste of money. But then my mom kindly reminded me how hospitable it is to have something for the guests when they arrive in town. So I headed my mother’s advice and I was so glad. A wonderful friend of mine has a knack for things like this and I knew I was pretty helpless on my own in this area. When I asked her to help she happily said yes and off she went. She even made a prototype for me to see before she went into full production—yes, she is that amazing!
I wanted the bags to contain a few items:
- A note from us welcoming them
- An itinerary for the weekend
- A map of the area
- A suggestion of things to do
- A bag of Garret’s popcorn because it’s just so Chicago
And this incredible friend of course went above and beyond! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
All photos {except hotel bags} are from our wedding photographer Brian Kinyon Photography.
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Our Wedding story: the Bridesmaids Dresses
This is going to be a short and to the point post in the wedding series. Ever since JCrew came out with their wedding line I have been smitten with their bridesmaid dresses. Every bride, well a lot of brides say, “I want to pick something you all can wear again.” Sure enough, that rarely if ever happens. But have no fear, this far off dream can become a reality thanks to the wonderful magic designers at JCrew. I was determined to be the bride to break the streak {although in all fairness I was in a wedding in May that year and the dresses we wore were totally wearable again}.
You’re probably tired of me saying this, but with planning a wedding in three months decisions needed to be made fast. I knew I liked JCrew dresses and I also knew we wouldn’t have to deal with gathering everyone’s measurements, ensuring they are all in on time so the dresses are cut from the same fabric, and I also knew if they looked awful we could go back to the drawing board.
I hopped on the JCrew site, picked the fabric I liked, narrowed it down to two colors: Spiced Wine and Caspian Blue, called JCrew and had the swatches mailed to me. Once I saw them I knew it had to be Caspian Blue. I have three sisters and they were my bridesmaids. When I saw the blue I knew they would all look great in that color. Plus, they could order whatever style dress they wanted, I didn’t care. I wanted them to be comfortable and to be able to wear the dress again. Two of them picked the Blakely dress and one the Selma dress. One of my sisters actually wore it before my wedding to another wedding! How funny is that?
So I did it, found dresses they could wear again. And they all looked stunning! {Can you tell that I wholeheartedly endorse JCrew wedding? ;-)}
the Selma dress in Caspian Blue
the Blakely dress in Caspian BlueRead More
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
