10 Great Chicago Wedding Blogs 2012

With thousands of wedding blogs around the world there is literally limitless inspiration and information for wedding planning.  For the Chicago area, we are fortunate to have so many creative and knowledgeable wedding professionals who also have fantastic blogs.  We find the advice and tips found on event professionals blogs to be more realistic, filled with a lot more original ideas, and frankly, far more diverse than what we see on the nationally-known wedding blogs. 

10 of our favorite Chicago wedding blogs and posts in 2012           (listed randomly)

1. Wedding Creativo Blog (okay yes, we are biased, ha ha) - of course as photographers, we feature lots of pretty pictures, but also practical tips and insights based on our real weddings from two decades of experience. One of our most popular posts: Make Your Own New Wedding Traditions

2. Entertaining Company Blog - this is a great catering and event design company, and owner Wendy Pashman is an amazing writer to boot. This blog shares a wide variety of ideas and inspiration for weddings and parties of all sorts. Recommended reading: How to Cocktail Like a Marchesa

3. Alice Padrul Journal - Couture wedding dress designer Alice Padrul shows her stunningly beautiful gowns in action featuring videos and photos of real brides on their wedding day, and occasionally she gives us a peek behind the curtain into her dress making workshop in Chicago.  Recommended reading: The Making of a Gown

4. Sarah Drake Design Blog - Sarah Drake is a professional creative designer on several fronts, and has expanded her creative work beyond weddings and paperies, but she is a greatly admired wedding invitation designer in Chicago.  We enjoy reading about what inspires her work, and also regular features of her behind the scenes working on the delicate details of her designs. Recommended reading: September = Wedding Production

5. Fleur Chicago Blog - Kellie Marie, owner of Fleur, is hands down one of the most talented florists in Chicago, and her blog regularly inspires with photos of her beautiful work, boutique floral shop, and her personal notes and insights.  Recommended reading: Don't Sweat It

6. Sine Qua Non Special Events Blog - event planner Beth Bernstein leads the team at SQN with lots of practical planning advice, and her blog also shows her talents as a taste maker with posts that are always on top of the latest trends.  Recommended reading: Beauty and the Brooch (Bouquet)

7. Stitely Entertainment Blog - Jeff Stitely and crew are tops among wedding musicians in Chicago, and their blog often has some surprising and clever sources of inspiration for wedding music.  Recommended reading: Perpetuum Mobile - Music Inspired by Food Poisoning

8. Anita Weds Blog - Anita Vaughan is a kind and thoughtful person, which is why she is a much loved wedding officiant in Chicago.  As a certified Life-Cycle Celebrant she shares a lot of diverse weddings on her blog, and we always enjoy reading how she works with couples to help them add personal touches and special meaning into their ceremonies.  Recommended reading:  Adding a Little Spice to a Ceremony

9. Everything But The Dress - This blog belongs to the ladies of The Left Bank, where brides find dazzling wedding jewelry in Chicago.  It is always fun to see their latest arrivals and trunk shows, and we also enjoy seeing their real brides' bling, as well general wedding style tips and trends.  Recommended reading: Magnificent Cuffs Inspired by the 2012 Oscar Awards

10. The Haberdash Blog - For fashion and lifestyle tips for the guys, this blog by the Chicago men's clothing boutique Haberdash is an excellent resource.  This is not specifically for grooms, but these curators of fashion for well-dressed men can also inspire great ideas for grooms looking to express their own style beyond the standard black tux. Recommended reading: Classic Essentials The Overcoat

Wedding Fashion Inspiration: Vintage 1940s Wedding Styles

Today marks the one year anniversary of Lisa and Ben! Congratulations you two! This stylish couple incorporated a great sense of vintage 1940s fashions in their wedding.

Wedding Creativo Photography

Interestingly, the designs worn in the 1940s were primarily influenced by conservation rationing of materials and resources by the government during WWII. Fashions designers in America, as well as the major European style capitals in Paris and Italy, were affected by the limited materials they were allotted during the war.  Also, the fragile economy during the 1940s affected the purchasing power of pocketbooks. In many ways, brides today might feel similar challenges in light of our current economic climate.

Women of the 1940s had to embrace the mindset of "make do and mend."  Where the 1920s and 1930s fashions featured silk stockings and a wide variety of more luxurious fabrics, the sacrifices of WWII ushered in a time of more simple designs with often clever solutions for fashion dilemmas. Stockings came to be in short supply so women drew lines on the back of their legs to give the illusion of wearing stockings.  Less material was available to make dresses and skirts, so consequently hemlines became shorter. 

Hollywood 1940s fashion icons and Veronica Lake and Lauren Bacall.

Designers in the 1940s might have edited their fashions a bit more than they would have liked. It wasn't until 1947 that Christian Dior "outraged" critics by using "excessive" fabric for his dresses when materials were still being rationed.  Dior put Paris back on the map with his "shocking" styles, but even before this designers certainly did not let the difficult limitations of the 1940s keep them from creating many wonderful classic looks that still greatly influence current trends.

If the recent 2012 spring wedding fashions shows are any indication, the short wedding dress trend is only gaining in popularity right now.  One of our favorite vintage-inspired collections this spring is by designer Matthew Christopher. His dresses are currently found in the Chicago area at Wolsfelt's Bridal in Aurora and Volle's Bridal in Lake Zurich.

Here are more fashions inspired by 1940s styles:

Cocktail Dresses at eDressMe
Sandals by Badgley Mischka

 

Pumps by Biviel
Evening Shoes at shopbop.com

Nina Ricci Pleated Tiered Dress

Oscar de la Renta Metallic-Embroidered Cocktail Dress

Milly Cap Sleeve Haley Dress

And let's not forget about the guys who also have the war rations of the 1940s to thank for making it okay to wear a suit without a vest.  Generally, men's suits were more loose fitting in the 40s (with the extreme being the zoot suit), which makes this look a bit more hard to find among today's more tightly tailored suits.  However, we thought these styles would work great for vintage-minded grooms who want to look like Humphrey Bogart walking down the aisle.

Ralph Lauren Drake Checked Wool Suit

Gucci Grey Pinstriped 3-Button Suit

Prada Black Wool 2-Button Suit

Finally, for the guests, a couple of ensembles with 1940s flair.

Black Dresses by Derek Lam
Pumps by Costume National

And, for the first dance, consider these wonderful classics from the 1940s:

1. "Only Forever" (1940) - Bing Crosby

2. "Skylark" (1941) - Helen Forrest and Harry James Orchestra

3. "Night and Day" (1942) - Frank Sinatra

4. "I Love You For Sentimental Reasons" (1946) - Nat King Cole

5. "La Vie en Rose" (1946) - Edith Piaf

Black Belt Punch for Wedding Dresses

Belted wedding dresses are always wonderful, but today we would like to highlight the stunning black-belt look.

When dress designer Vera Wang's Fall 2010 line came out last year and featured many dresses with a black sash, we knew it would not be long before we started seeing brides sporting black belt dresses down the aisle.  

Last November our bride Kallie actually had two belts, one for daytime and one for evening to go with her lovely Sassi Holford "Chloe" dress:

We love the black belt look and hope we see more of this trend this year.

Black belts and sashes for brides:

Bridal Gowns by Tadashi Shoji
Belts by Diesel

Bridesmaids dresses with sash belts:

Bridesmaid Dresses at eDressMe
Cocktail Dresses by Cynthia Rowley

Wedding Fashion Inspiration: Sexy Bride Lily Aldridge

Photo Credit: Joe Buissink / People Magazine Victoria's Secret model Lily Aldridge wore a couture Vera Wang gown at her wedding with Kings of Leon singer Caleb Followill on May 12, according to People Magazine.

What we're wondering is, did she get any take-home perks from her gig on the recent Victoria's Secret campaign that she was featured in?  The lingerie giant launched their new Sexy Little Bride Collection in April, with Aldridge modeling the new line.

There is a slideshow on Victoria's Secret website showcasing their new bridal collection, which is designed like a very cute bridal boudoir portrait session album.  By the way, if you would like to do something like this as a gift for your sweetheart, we can help you with that!

Here are a few of our bridal boudoir album designs:

© Wedding Creativo Photography

If you're looking to incorporate a "sexy bride" ensemble for your wedding night, here are more bridal lingerie fashions we spotted:

Hoodies by Victoria's Secret
Chemises by Sexy Little Things

Congratulations Madeline and Kyle

Madeline and Kyle gave their family and guests a wonderful way to kick off the holiday weekend with a fun-filled Thursday night wedding at A New Leaf. And we love Madeline's birdcage hat!

ALL IMAGES © GIORGIO VENTOLA INC. / WEDDING CREATIVO