Weddingbee Blog

Hope you like pictures—because there are a bunch coming your way!

Now, we had three location choices for the wedding: Chicago, L.A., and Palm Springs. Our plan was to check out venues in all three cities to help us make the final decision. Since I *may* have done some research before we were engaged, I already had a few venues in mind. We only had a few criteria. It had to have space for the ceremony and reception. It had to hold enough people (guesstimated at 150). And it had to be awesome.

Chicago

Chicago is the city where I grew up, and the majority of my family still lives there. Since my relatives were going to make up a large part of the guest list, it would be easy for them to attend. Plus I loved the idea of having some of my friends visit Chicago for the first time. I wasn’t going to be in Chicago for a few months, so the search began online. Here are the top two Chicago contenders.

Salvage One

OMG, guys. This place is awesome! It’s a salvage/antique store that rents out its space and furniture for events—that means you can use their furniture and create seriously amazing spaces for your wedding. Check it out:

See, I wouldn’t lie to you guys.

There is even an amazing outdoor area for the ceremony during the warmer months.

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Ravenswood Event Center

I first heard about this place from my mom. There are three incredible spaces available for weddings:

The Billboard Atrium and Loft

The Billboard Showroom

If you look in the back you can see there are vintage neon signs in the space!

The Industrial Ballroom

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I love all three of those spaces and could totally picture getting hitched in any of them.

Los Angeles

Planning from our home city would definitely be the easiest option, and we both like the idea of having out-of-town family and friends spend some time in the city we call home. Since it is home, we were able to visit a few venues in person, which was great. Here are our faves.

The Smog Shoppe

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Union Station

The main train and bus hub in L.A., Union Station is equal parts Deco and Spanish, and all awesome. There are a few spaces that can hold weddings at Union Station, but we would use the Harvey Room areas, perhaps with a ceremony outside.

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Palm Springs

Since if we went the Palm Springs route the wedding would be a semi-destination, we focused more on hotels where we could stay, eat, drink, and be married. After researching a bunch online, Mr. Cheetah and I made a day trip out to the desert. OK, confession time. This was our very first trip to Palm Springs ever. Yes, we were seriously considering getting married there and asking a bunch of friends and family to spend their time and money to travel there, and we didn’t even know if we liked it yet! I had been dying to visit Palm Springs for a while, and I am pleased to say that we gave the city two thumbs up. It was pretty, relaxed, and we loved the three venues we visited.

The Viceroy

This hotel is one of the reasons I started thinking of a Palm Springs wedding. I saw photos from a wedding there years ago, and I bookmarked it in my head. It was even better in person.

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Ace Hotel

We loved the vibe of this place. Plus a friend had just had her bachelorette here and absolutely loved it.

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The Colony Palms

We loved the rooms and layout of this place. If we had our wedding here, they would close the hotel and only our guests could stay there!

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Our final-location decision coming up next!