Rehearsal Day, Part Two - Rehearsal Dinner

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**Read Part One from the day of our Rehearsal Dinner here!**

The drive from our ceremony space to the rehearsal dinner was about 30 minutes with traffic, so we all split up into various cars. My then-fiance was heading home in between to change clothes,  but my bridesmaids, some of their dates, and I arrived at Fulton's On The River at about 6:30 for our 7:00 Rehearsal Dinner.

The event planner was still putting the finishing touches on the space, so we ordered a drink at the bar while we waited. I had something called the Kurt Cobain. I have no idea what was in it, but I liked the name, so I guessed. It was delicious.

One of my bridesmaids ordered a drink that had champagne and elderflower liqueur. So delicious. Reminded me of a cocktail I had at Old Oak Tap over Memorial Day Weekend.

Champagne and elderflower liqueur. Winning.

It wasn't long before they were ready to bring us to our event space. One of the employees came down with a framed sign for us and then lead us to our space.

Inside, the room had been decorated beautifully as per my Mother-In-Law's specifications. The room, which started out being pretty plain, had a beautiful pop of color, with the turquoise linens and bright flowers.

I had coordinated with my MIL to wrap the gifts in a way that complimented the decor. So, my gifts were wrapped in natural wood colors with turquoise accents (Curious about what we gave as gifts? That's a separate post, because it was awesome. Coming soon to a blog near you...).

After getting situated and checking out the space, we snapped a quick pic of the ladies in my bridal party. I am so lucky to have such awesome and gorgeous ladies in my life. #Spoiled

After dropping our purses and checking out our private room, we headed outside to the terrace for passed appetizers. Servers came outside to pass around bruschetta...

...and some delicious crustinis with brie and jam (among other things). It was so nice that the apps were passed, because it allowed us to keep socializing and focusing on each other without breaking off to get finger food. This meant more time to talk to our favorite people.

It also meant we could hang out on that beautiful terrace! Fulton's On The River is exactly where its name suggests: On the Chicago river. Because it is right in the middle of downtown, there is a really special feeling of being on the water yet in the middle of huge skyscrapers. It had a magical, energetic feel to it.

Just like our hotel rooms and the ceremony rehearsal, this area has such great city views and wonderful natural lighting that almost every picture looks amazing. I have a minor photography obsession and my MIL does, too (she probably loves it even more than I do!), so it was the perfect setting for our families to celebrate in!

Wearing: Dress, Victoria's Secret. Shoes, Nina. Pave Bracelet, J. Crew. Earrings, Tory Burch.

We eventually headed back inside for dinner. I was very much looking forward to having dinner here, because it has a great reputation as a steakhouse and their food is always delicious. I had the house salad, steak (other options were provided, but I have a personal rule that when filet mignon is an option, I choose it!), and a fruit plate for dessert (though some other options included chocolate cake or a banana cream pie!).

Personalized menu for the win!

As we sat down, my almost Father-In-Law got up to give a little toast and a prayer. He is extremely eloquent in his speech and it was so tastefully done, as always. In fact, it was so well done that one of my bridesmaids later asked me if he was a preacher! #PreachIt

As the main course was being cleared, Justin got up and told everyone that we had a few gifts to distribute. We gave gifts to our bridesmaids, groomsmen, and Justin's mother and father. Better pics to come later... can't ruin the surprise!

After dinner and gifts, we spent a bit more time chatting with friends and family, and hung out on the terrace a bit more. I am still a little bit in awe of how perfect the terrace area was. It was just so full of city vibrancy that it only enhanced my excitement for the festivities! 

...to be continued...

A Weekend of Wedding Progress

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The past week has been filled with wedding progress. The good kind. The kind where you don't even have to argue with anyone, because everyone pretty much just agrees.

Hallelujah. That's my kind of wedding progress.

On Thursday night, we met my parents at our catering company for a menu tasting. Without going into too much detail (come on now, can't spoil the fun before the wedding), let me just say that everything was amazing. I thought wedding food was typically not that great? So wrong.

Fiance was a fan. Two huge hunks of meat for him to taste? Nothing better.

Afterward, we met up with fiance's parents downtown. They were having dinner at our Rehearsal Dinner spot, so we were excited to scope it out. We had a few drinks and then got to see the room we'll have that night.

No, those are not our flowers - just some pictures
the florist was showing us and the center piece she had sitting out.
Don't get too excited!

Saturday, I went to the florists with my mother and sister. We are using Ashland-Addison Florists, and Meagan is so extremely competent that she made me feel right at home and it was totally stress-free.

Full day of wedding planning appointments means
cute shoes are necessary.

We also stopped at our ceremony and reception venue in Bridgeport, just to check it out again and make sure the expectation matched reality. We did a walk through and chatted a bit more about where we will put things and such.

Then, on Monday, we got a call from our printer for our invitation suites, letting us know that the invites are DONE and ready for pick up!

And today? Today, I've got my first dress fitting appointment! :) Ready to see my wedding gown?

1....

2......

3........

Just kidding!

Six days of pure progress? I'll take it!

What about you?

• Do you have any events or deadlines looming ahead?

Be My Bridesmaid? How To "Propose" To Your Wedding Party

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If you've been reading my blog in the past 3 months, you might know that I'm getting married. For some reason, until now, I haven't talked about it much in posts (other than calling Justin "my fiance" over and over and over again...). But, now, I've added a "Wedding" portion to this site, and will be talking about it a whole lot more!

I wanted to share what I did to "propose" to my bridal party. The way I see it, Justin had to put everything together for the perfect engagement - from designing the ring to orchestrating a photographer, from coordinating with our parents to duping me into thinking none of it was happening... so, why shouldn't I have to do some proposing, too?

Here are the basic tools I used:

• Wood Box
• Blue and White Twine
• Scrabble Tiles
• Craft Tags
• Martha Stewart Small Bunting
• Alphabet Stamps
• Black Ink Pad
• White Spraypaint
• Silver Spraypaint
• Lace

I created a box for each of my girls. I wanted these boxes to symbolize my wedding, so I included a lot of natural elements along with some DIY touches. I hand stained the boxes to a very dark color, then laid a piece of lace over the top and did a layer of white spray paint, then a layer of silver spray paint to leave a very neat lace pattern on the top.

I am envisioning chalkboards being a big part of my wedding, because I love the old school vibe they give off. So, on the inside of these boxes, I hot glued a chalkboard. Because the phrase "Will You Be My Bridesmaid?" seemed too hard to fit onto the chalkboard, I opted to break the phrase into two parts. 

I hand stamped "Be" and "My" onto two miniature bunting flags per box, then strung them on small blue and white twine that I hot glued to the top corners of the inside of the box lid. Then, I glued the chalkboards with the word "Bridesmaid" in the center of the inside of the lid.

How did I get the chalkboards to be such an awesome and fun shape? To be honest, this was just a piece of cardboard cut from a shoe box, which I then cut into the shape I wanted before painting over with chalkboard paint. But, it was the cheapest and easiest way to ensure I got chalkboard pieces that were exactly the right size.

As I mentioned, I wanted to bring in some natural elements to these boxes. I lined the  inside with one layer of thin burlap that I purchased from Hobby Lobby and one small layer of a gauzey/lace-like material that my sister had on hand. I thought it was kind of fun that, once you opened the box and saw the "Be My Bridesmaid?" question, there was still a bit of a "gift" to open.

I filled the insides with goodies, and no two boxes were exactly the same. I wanted some items to be in every box, but some items to be unique.

I included champagne corks to signify the celebratory nature that weddings have. Also, I love champagne, so it wasn't hard to collect the corks.

In some boxes, I included dark gray felt flowers to represent one of the important colors we are incorporating into our wedding as well as symbolize the fact that my girls will be carrying flowers as part of their bridesmaid job.

Some boxes also included a sample name card holder that is made from birch wood. I got a set of these at Anthropologie, and they really evoke the feeling of "the outside in," which is part of what I am hoping to achieve. Our wedding is going to be in a huge loft with a skyline view of the city, so we want to mix elements to combine the city life with nature.

Some boxes also included a CD of fun, girly, lovey music that I put together. It includes love songs from Disney movies, as well as more contemporary songs that are meaningful to Justin and me. I wanted it to combine the exciting feelings we have about love as children with the excitement I have about marrying the love of my life. I wrapped the CDs in blue and white graph paper, because I wanted to add another interesting visual element without adding any new colors.

Also, I included Scrabble Tiles that spelled out each girl's name (or a nick name, if applicable). This was my mom's idea, and I loved it, because Scrabble Tiles will also be making an appearance at my wedding!

All five of the boxes also included a set of four cards that I made, which were wrapped in the same blue twine I used to hang the "Be" and "My" flags. I printed these on some manilla folders I grabbed from my parents' den at their house. Basically, I cut those pages to be a print-appropriate size, and arranged all four pages to be about the size of a post card, so that they would all fit on one page and I could cut/separate them later.

Then, I glued thick, brown labels on the top of each card. The shape of these labels mimicked the shape of the chalkboard, and I hand-stamped the phrases "The Job," "The Girls," "The Dresses," and "The Timeline" on them.

I also used one of the fonts I'm using for my wedding. It's called Modern No. 20. It is also part of my Save The Date, so I am excited about the continuity there. It's the little things...

On the card "The Job," I wrote them a heartfelt note about why I wanted them there and what I wanted them to do. I didn't get strict or specific - I just told them that I loved them and that I wanted them to feel wonderful in their dress, to hold beautiful flowers, and to be there to support me as I marry Justin/

On the card "The Timeline," I just broke down the key dates that we have so far - things like an Engagement Party, Cocktails and Crafts Day, Bachelorette Weekend, Rehearsal Dinner, and Wedding Day. I kept it simple by putting the date, event name, and general location (like Chicago, IL or Libertyville, IL), so that they could plan ahead.

On the card "The Dresses," I put a description of what we're thinking to have them wear. I wanted them to know what to expect, so they could visualize themselves on that day.

On the card labeled "The Girls," I named each of my bridesmaids (so that they could start getting familiar with each others' names) and a short, silly, one sentence description about them. For my friend Kelsey, for example, I put "Most likely to give me a pep talk in baby talk," or something like that. The idea was just to keep things light and silly.

Finally, I closed the boxes. I gave two of these boxes out at a family party on the same day, so for those two, I tied some twine around them and added a hand-stamped name card.