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I have a secret to share with you that only our parents know. We are planning an adults-only wedding.
The flower girl and ring bearer are going to be the only kids in attendance…and Mr. Bacon’s little brother, but he’s going to be 17 and in the wedding party, so he hardly counts. You see, we LOVE kids. Adore them. Can’t wait to have a gaggle of them when we’re in our 30s. In fact, I have to refrain from waving at toddlers in restaurants and baby-talking to our cats. So why not have them at the wedding?
The wedding is just not that kid friendly. There are going to be tons of candles, lots of breakable things, really loud music, and an open bar (and all of the adult debauchery that comes with that), and the kids will get BORED. I’m also going to sound like a terrible person here, but I really hate the possibility of crying kids ruining the ceremony. I know that it might happen with the FG and RB, but that’s only two kids. If all our friends and family brought their little ones, there’s an 85% chance of someone screaming during a reading or our vows.
Now that I’ve whet your appetite with those amazing photos, let’s remember that I am pretty fabulous and creative, but without David Tutera at my side to make these photos come to life, we will be having a much less intricate evening. The table will likely be set with scattered petals, framed photos, and candles. No luscious pink peonies or overflowing vases with blooming orchids, or any of that jazz since I hate the idea of all those flowers going to waste for the event…and (gulp) I’m just not that into flowers…
Anyway, I digress. Now back to these tables. Mr Bacon is an analyst so, taking after him, I thought I’d create a chart weighing the pros and cons of long tables versus round tables.
Long Tables:
King Arthur changed the face of leadership in Camelot by inviting his knights to join him at a table where each man could see the other and there was no designated “head of the table.” If it was good enough for the king, it should be good enough for our wedding…right? I always envisioned the reception hall full of round tables with guests talking to the person beside them and the person across from them all through dinner, while spinning a lazy Susan to share the family-style meal. That is, until lately.
Lately I’ve been wooed by the idea of long, gorgeous feasting tables where our guests can pass food and wine down the table and share in an “intimate” dinner for 150. My mom hates the idea of long tables; she’s convinced that the guests will feel like they are sitting in a cafeteria and won’t be able to have any meaningful conversations. I felt the same way, too, until a couple of months ago when I started stumbling on inspiration photos of beautiful, bountiful dinners with long rows of tables. Did I mention that these round tables we’re looking at will be SIX FEET in diameter? Now, I am thinking that the narrower tables are actually more conducive to chatting with the folks sitting beside them and across the table. I’m not talking about rectangular tables of eight here, nope. I’m thinking rectangular tables of 25! Now, I’m not sure if the venue can do this, but with my décor meeting just around the corner, it’s worth thinking about, right?
Check out these awesome long-table inspiration photos! I swoon…
I might not have mentioned this before, but we’re having a destination wedding. Not to us, since Chicago is where we’ve called home for nearly three years, but it will be for 85% of the guest list. I grew up in Minnesota and went to college in D.C., my parents moved to California five years ago, and my family is scattered across six different countries. Mr. Bacon grew up in Illinois, Indiana, and Switzerland and has family across every U.S. time zone. Not to mention that the wedding party will be flying in from Boston, New York, Syria, and Brazil.
While we’re excited to share the city with our friends and family, we had to find a place for them to stay while they’re in town. Our one-bedroom apartment simply wouldn’t cut it, so Mama Bacon and I set out calling and e-mailing what seemed like EVERY hotel in downtown Chicago, from Gold Coast to South Loop, for three weeks. We assumed that room blocks would dry up pretty early due to the high volume of weddings in September, but we weren’t prepared for what we found. There are not one, but two huge conferences in town that weekend totaling more than 40,000 attendees! WHAT?!?
“Heartbreak Hotel” - Elvis
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Unique Wedding Favors
“Add a memorable touch to your wedding with unique favors that match your theme.”
I think just about every little girl thought about her wedding growing up; whether she’s a tomboy, a princess, or a brainiac, she’s probably thought of it at least once. Maybe the tomboy mused about the upset of wearing sneakers with her wedding dress, or maybe she even wanted to forgo the dress altogether to wear a pair of pants. The princess imagined the fairytale wedding that only Disney can truly capture, complete with a tiara and a horse-drawn carriage. The brainiac imaged walking down the aisle in a library on her dad’s arm to marry the smartest boy she’d ever met.
Hive, please meet the young Miss Bacon, circa 1987.
Well, in the mail to me…We ordered save the dates over the weekend from MooCards during their 30%-off sale! I just love that little four-letter word: S-A-L-E. We gathered inspiration from many of the top independent printing websites online like Hello Lucky, Minted, and Wedding Paper Divas, but we couldn’t decide on just one design that conveyed the feel that we wanted, and ordering from three different sites without getting exactly what our hearts desired seemed silly.
So, we DIY’ed. We ordered 80 Moo postcards and 20 envelopes (for international delivery), designed five different options focused around our engagement pictures, addedd a sweet message printed on the back of each one asking people to save our date, and included the URL for our wedding website at the bottom.
Finally, after an hour of deciding which engagement pics were our favorites (and changing our minds a millions times), three hours coming up with options in PowerPoint (my preferred photo-editing software because I’m such a tech whiz), three hours attempting to recreate my genius in Photoshop, and 10 minutes of Mr. Bacon showing me that I can just save the PowerPoint as a PDF, I uploaded the designs to Moo and I was all done! So now we wait and cross our fingers in hopes that they turn out just as wonderfully as we imagined!
Create the honeymoon of your dreams.
Let me introduce you to a little company named MOO. I have recently become obsessed with them since discovering around the hive all the great things you can do with them. What are they, you ask? They are a printing company from England that prints high-quality photo cards at affordable prices! They have a number of sizes including the adorable mini MOO. Check out some of the cute projects that I’ve found online that have become inspirations for our own save the dates, invitations, and thank you cards!
Adorable Save the Dates (Mini Moos): Source
Our fabulous photographer, Jordan from JordanQuinn Photography, has sent us all the engagement pictures and I’m totally obsessed! Here are some of the faves from our giggle fest/make out session/photo shoot in Lincoln Park.
I love that this one looks like she caught us in a secret garden.
So we didn’t just pull into the strip mall, exactly. Really, I zoomed past the strip mall, and without my aunt’s eagle eyes, we might never have found the salon. After circling the block and finding a parking spot right in front of the doors, we entered Bella Bridal and Formal Wear in St. Charles.
Finally, Mama Bacon and Aunty Bacon were in Chicago, and it was time to get in the rental car and drive out to the Chicago suburbs for what we hoped would be the dress-shopping experience of a lifetime. We started out about 15 minutes late (no surprise, since we aren’t really known for our promptness), then we got stuck in fabulous Chicago traffic at 10:30 AM on a Friday on not one but two highways and the last intersection, before reaching Priscilla of Boston. That’s right—we rolled up 35 minutes late to the appointment.
So we quickly checked in at the front desk and started picking out dresses. I had brought along some printouts of my favorites from the website, but those were quickly tossed aside as we started browsing. I made a beeline for the one dress I’d been pining after for a while, then my mom picked a few, my Aunty Cathy did too, and suddenly we had 10 dresses in the dressing room with my name on them. Sadly, a couple of the samples were too small to fit over my hips, including the dress that I thought was the one, so I shuffled those out for another bride.
Goodbye, lover. (Jewel by Priscilla of Boston)
After accepting that I wasn’t going to find the dress of my dreams at Filene’s Basement, I started online shopping and found a designer that seemed to capture my love of light fabrics, elegant ruching, and floral embellishments, all within my budget: Watters. Unfortunately, very few salons in Chicago carry a wide selection of this brand, so I was overjoyed to find a salon in Minneapolis that carried both that line and the line of bridesmaids’ dresses that I had been eyeing. Every Labor Day, Mr. Bacon, some friends, and I take a trip back to Minnesota (the glorious state where I grew up) for the great Minnesota get together, AKA the Minnesota State Fair, and to see some familiar faces. This year MOH Bacon was going, too! So we made an appointment at Rush’s downtown and crossed our fingers.
After finding some inspiration at Belle Vie Bridal and White Chicago, it was finally time to get down to business at the Running of the Brides.
A couple of the Chicago girls spent the night at our place and helped make some signs saying just what we were looking for, as well as some custom shirts so that all of us could find each other.
Additional Decorations provided by Mr. Bacon
With over a year before the wedding, I found out about a little sale called the Running of the Brides that Filene’s Basement hosts once a year at locations across the city, and Chicago is on that list. They bring in hundreds of wedding dresses to the major locations of Filene’s in the city and sell them for $249, $449, and $699 (the most expsensive being couture gowns by Priscilla of Boston, Lazaro, etc.). But the whole shebang is first come first served, and you need to know what you’re looking for going in. First step was assembling a group of girls to go with me, so I rallied the troops and enlisted all the Chicago girls I knew. Next was doing some pre-shopping so that I could figure out what I really wanted my dress to look like.
I’ve known for years who was going to be in my bridal party. How to ask these fine ladies to join me on my wedding day? Now, that’s a whole different story. I had to resist the urge to just blurt it out on the phone hours after getting a ring on my finger, since I knew I wanted them each to get something a little special to hold on to. First I wanted to send little photo books that chronicled our friendships, but I realized that I’d never be able to get any pictures of Lainey (MOH Bacon) and me from our freshman homecoming or from our senior prom before I went home for the holidays, so it was back to the drawing board.
After some quick brainstorming, I tried going down the “check out how bad your dress could be” route by Photoshopping their faces on the most hideous bridesmaids’ dresses I could find online, but somehow that didn’t fit the vibe I was going for…
Oh yes, this post is about delectable dessert goodness! Specifically, it’s about my newfound love of sweets tables. If you’ve been flipping through wedding magazines and blogs with the same fervor as I have, then you could not have missed this fabulous addition to modern weddings. Here’s the concept: Take your standard wedding cake, switch out that small round table with a robust rectangle, add tasty pastries and candy within a color scheme, and voila! Instant sweets table.
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Mrs. Bacon, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, Digital Advertising Manager Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, IT Client Services Engagement Date: June 17, 2010 Wedding Date: September 2011 Venue: Ravenswood Billboard Factory About Me: I'm a Midwestern girl that can't seem to commit to staying in one place for too long and is constantly daydreaming about my next adventure. I am an aspiring foodie with a weak spot for the unusual and I love semi-reality food television. My other loves easily include laughing as a form of exercise, a book that I can't put down, summer baseball games, espresso with whipped cream, couch potato days and nights with the ridiculous Mr. Bacon, and our two kitties, Lincoln and Sawyer. We're planning a faux-destination wedding for 150 of our closest friends and family in the city we've both adopted as home that has a modern, yet whimsical twist and as many personal touches as we can manage.
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