The Meeting
We were set up on 
a blind date.
The Engagement
We were on a trip to Disney World and we were doing all sorts of fun photos in front of Belle and Beast’s castle, as Belle has been my favorite princess since I was a child, I was even dressed like her that day, and the photographer asked me to turn and hold out my hand like I was holding Chip (the tea cup) and when I turned to do that, Erik was down on one knee.
The Favorite Part
Oh my gosh, how can I pick just one?! I have a few favorites: walking down the aisle with my Dad and looking at Erik seeing him cry. Exchanging our vows that we wrote, our friend ordained us, which added to the experience. The Paramount’s Fall/Winter season show was Beauty and the Beast, and unbeknownst to either of us, they surprised us by dancing to ‘Tale as Old as Time’ in full costume, to open the dance floor for the evening.
The Venue
I have always loved theater and musicals, and Erik and I are not super traditional, so when we started researching we looked up “the most unique places to get married in Chicago” and the Meyer Ballroom/ Paramount Theater was one of them. I scheduled a tour, and it was actually Kelsey, who was amazing, by the way, who sold me on the Meyer Ballroom. I was ready to sign paperwork that day, and my best friend reminded me that the groom, Erik, should see it too. We scheduled another viewing, and that was that. It had everything on our “must have” list: Accessibility, bridal room to get ready in, room flip was possible, pictures on site, and it came with Kelsey-which let me tell you, was absolutely amazing.
The Wedding Party Proposal
I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, so I asked each of my girls with a ‘Head Girl’ pin that matched their Hogwarts House. The pin was placed in a letter that was typed in Harry Potter font with the famous line “The wand chooses the Wizard, Mr. Potter” and underneath it I wrote “and I choose YOU to be my bridesmaid”. The pins were then later placed in the handle of the girls bouquets for the wedding.
The Date Nights
Movie night with a bowl of popcorn, all the cheese toppings, my favorite candy, and tie blankets! Bonus points if the movie is Harry Potter or Disney/Pixar.
The Traditional and Non-traditional
I had a picture of my Grammy, my favorite person in the world, in my bouquet. She passed away from Alzheimer’s last March and I bawled like a baby when I saw my finished bouquet, we also honored Grandparents by placing a picture frame at their families tables. This way the family was able to see them, but it was not a full blown display for everyone. We did all the traditional dances, the garter toss-but with a twist! We are huge White Sox fans, and by ‘we’ I mean my husband is a DIE HARD fan, so before he pulled my garter off, he pulled out a White Sox jersey from under my dress with our name on the back, and then the year. We did not have any traditional vows, we wrote our own and actually, wrote the entire ceremony. We were ordained by a friend, not anyone from the church. We did not do a unity candle, we chose to have sand poured into an hour glass. We did not have a prayer said out loud, but instead just for the two of us with our friend. My dress was NOT white, it was pink! (Don’t panic-baby pink) all the bouquets had paper roses that were made from Harry Potter book pages. We also had two maids of honor, and two best men.
The Vendors
We chose Angeli’s because we absolutely LOVE their food. I have been going there since I was a child, and once Erik and I did the taste testing (so much fun!) he knew right away why I wanted Angeli’s. We didn’t do a big cake, we just had a cake to cut for us, and then we did the oversized cupcakes from Casey’s in Naperville for everyone. Casey’s is fantastic and has amazing detail on everything they do. Our cake was ombré pink as my wedding dress was a light pink color.
Florist- Celidan Creations Inc
DJ- DJ Benny
