As a wedding planner in Chicago, I have really love how couples have embraced COLOR for their wedding design this year. I’m a huge fan of a big fat white wedding, but there is something about the vibrancy of the full spectrum of color that gets me really excited from a design perspective. Thankfully for me, Emily and Michael were fully on board too! Our inspo boards were pulled from the runways of Gucci and Dior in the way they mix color, pattern and texture, and the full embrace of floral and candelabras was pulled right from an episode of Bridgerton. Filling each corner with vintage rugs, romantic candlelight and plants highlighted the architecturally inspiring corners of the Madison and White City Ballrooms at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel and completed the design. HMR pulled the look off effortlessly and finished the design with linen and chairs from Nuage Designs and stationery from Steracle Press.
Emily wore a Vivienne Westwood gown that perfectly reflected the architecture of the venue with its clean lines and gorgeous textural lace and the groom wore his favorite black Prada tuxedo (the guys really made the most of their morning prep using the golf sim at the hotel for some hijinks before photos started!). Of course, they were both rocking Gucci shoes (I mean, the green boxes were literally part of our inspo!). The wedding party complimented the bride and groom in their mixed attire from Anthropologie Weddings creating an effortless style for photos. Rare Bird Beauties completed their looks with gorgeous glam.
Wedding guests entered the White City Ballroom to a lush chuppah in shades of pink from blush to raspberry and were brought to tears by the personalized ceremony by Zen Events. They then entered the Madison Ballroom where a gorgeous focal bar stood below the room’s iconic chandeliers. The lighting by Frost Chicago for cocktails accented the room perfectly, and made for a great twist when we reconfigured it for the late night after party complete with DJ Chris from Elegant Sound & Lighting and Shake Shack for the late-night munchies you get after dancing your butt off to the Lakeshore Encores all evening. Of course, the unparalleled talent of Amanda Megan Miller captured the entire day perfectly with her usual combo of effortlessly trendy and classic AF.
Vendor Team
- LOLA Event Productions: Lavish LOLA Planning Package
- Venue: Chicago Athletic Association Hotel
- Photo: Amanda Megan Miller Photography
- Design: HMR Designs
- Lighting: Frost Chicago
- Linen & Rentals: Nuage Designs + Festive Frog
- Hair & Makeup: Rare Bird Beauties
- Officiant: Zen Events
- Ceremony Music: Innocenti Strings
- Band: Lakeshore Encores
- DJ: Elegant Sound & Lighting
- Stationery: Steracle Press
- Attire:Vivienne Westwood Bridal, Anthropologie Weddings, Prada
