Weddingbee Blog

Here is the story of how we choose the beautiful Cafe Brauer as the site for our reception.

We started the venue search within 24 hours of our engagement. Here is the full version of that story. It was quite amazing, if I do say so myself. The quickie version is that Mr. Peacock surprised me with a trip to San Diego. The day after the proposal, we went to the breathtaking Hotel del Coronado on Coronado Island. We had lunch, including a bottle of their yummy house champagne, and met with the events coordinator. She gave us a tour of the Del’s amazing event rooms and a private spot on the beach where we could have our ceremony.

We even scoped out this beautiful little church a few blocks from the Del.

The Del was ruled out once we started talking about the logistics involved in a destination wedding. With a few notable exceptions, our families and friends live in Chicago. Those that do not live in Chicago live in Tennessee, New York or New Jersey, states that are not close to California. We also couldn’t really have that beautiful beach wedding as we are Catholics and you have to work very hard to find a Catholic priest who will marry you outside of a church. That beautiful little church wasn’t our church and they weren’t open to non-parishioners coming in just for a wedding.

Back at home, we spent a few days visiting somewhat unconventional spots around Chicago. We didn’t look at any real banquet or hotel spaces. We did look at several museums and historical sites. After a few weeks of weighing the pros and cons of every option we could think of, we came up with a top 3: Medinah Golf Club, the Chicago Symphony Center and Cafe Brauer.

More later!