It's such a tease that this day you think about for your whole life, spend months and months planning and stressing over, boils down to ONE day! But honestly the day was perfect. I remember every little special moment from it and it's been so amazing reliving it through pictures!
Patrick and I started dating after graduating college, around the fall of 2011. He was living in Ohio getting his doctorate in Physical Therapy and I was working in downtown Chicago in the interior design industry. Patrick proposed on 12/13/14 (unplanned!) while shooting blog photos with a friend (here's the post). We decided to have a long engagement (a year and a half) since we still had another 6 months left of our long distance relationship, and set our wedding date for June 25th, 2016. Once Patrick moved to Chicago that summer, we hit the ground running with wedding planning. As nice as a long engagement was, I've told many brides that a wedding can be planned in far less time. If I could do it all again, I would have done an 8-month engagement because once you get planning, you just want the big day to come!
The day was exactly how we planned it. We wanted the day and all it's details to be elegant and classic. I tried very hard not to do/wear/choose anything that would look dated in 10 years (which I know is inevitable!) but I'm happy with how it turned out. Our "colors" were black, white and gold. We kept the flowers and cake all white and had gold accents everywhere - simple and beautiful. The attire was black tie optional and I just loved seeing everyone get dressed up for us!
Some of my advice for brides-to-be, based on my own experience is:
--get a day-of coordinator (mine honestly helped the six months leading up to the wedding!). They are priceless.
--get everything done the second week before the wedding so you have that last week to address any last minute things that come up (because they will!)
--get a live band - they're amazing!
--most of all, don't sweat the small stuff. No one will notice if you pick one thing over the other - all your guests want to see is you and your groom having a good time!
All of our vendors were rockstars and I can't recommend them enough:
Photographer: Sean Cook Weddings
Wedding Dress: Pronovias Atelier via Mira Couture
Wedding Shoes: Sophia Webster
Bridesmaids Dresses: provided their own :)
Hair & Makeup: Pin Me Up
Groom's Tux: Ralph Lauren
Church: Assumption Catholic Church
Reception: The Murphy
Catering: Blue Plate
Florist: Kloeckner
Day-of Coordinator: Maria of Plum & Ivy Events
Videographer: IS Studios
Invitations/Paper Goods: Flyaway Paperworks
Wedding Cake: Central Continental Bakery
Band: Chris Forte Band
Accommodations: Hyatt Magnificent Mile
Transportation: Windy City Limousine
xo, Annelise & Patrick
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