Wedding Photo of the Week: Here's to Alcohol

Today's featured photo is from a wedding after-party at the bride and groom's neighborhood bar.  It makes us think of the great wisdom of Homer Simpson: "here's to alcohol, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems."

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So how do you stock a great wedding bar?  Here are five questions to ask yourself to help you get started:

1. What style of wedding you are planning?  The libations should be appropriate for the event.  A black tie affair deserves campaign toasts.  A casual summer beach party will thrive with your favorite beer brews.  You get the idea.

2. Who is attending your wedding?  You know your family and friends best, and while you won't be able to please the tates of everyone, a general focus on having options that will appeal to the majority of age groups and general tone that you want to set at your reception can be carried with your alcohol selections.

3. Who is driving home? Keep in mind that there will be guests that will be designated drivers, or simply don't consume alcohol, so be sure to have plenty non-alcoholic options too.  Soft drinks, flavored sparkling waters, cranberry and other fruit juices are standard beverages to have on hand.

4. Do you want to keep to essentials or have a wide range of options for guests?  Sticking to beer, wine and soft drinks can reduce costs, but for some couples that may be too limited for their preferences.  You could add one signature drink to add personality and a little more variety, or go with a basic full bar to have more selections, but still keep choices within reason for a wedding reception. 

5. Is the bar an area where you want to splurge or keep costs down?  Either way we think hiring a professional bar tender is a good idea if you don't already have one provided by your catering company, and is really the best way to plan and stick to the wedding bar budget no matter how you decide to stock it.

Why?

A.) pros will make consistently great drinks, and quickly, because it is second-nature to them.

B.) if you really want to save money, a professional will be able to advise on the right amounts to stock up on for the number of guests you are having, so you can avoid buying too much or too little of any supplies.  You don't want to run out of anything significant in the middle of your reception. 

C.) during the reception a pro will know how to handle portion control to correctly pace your supplies throughout the evening, and can also be careful with over-serving any guests.

We think hiring a professional bartender is one of those areas that really pays for itself, and goes a long way in making beverage service all that more enjoyable for you and your guests.

Bright Idea: Wedding Anniversary Cards

We love this bright idea for wedding receptions: have your guests write messages on cards for you to open on each anniversary.  What a great way to look back on your wedding day and look forward to your anniversary each year!

Basically, you just need a bunch of lovely blank note cards and envelopes.  Numbering the envelopes for each anniversary year would be a reasonably manageable DIY project.  It could even be delegated to someone with nice penmanship or who has patience to sit down for a couple of hours to neatly place pretty stickers like these pink glitter numbers found on the online craft supply store A Cherry on Top:

Creative Spotlight: Great Wedding Cakes Summer 2011

We are always in awe of the elaborate and unique details of wedding cakes.  Today we would like to highlight some great cakes and the creative folks behind these edible works of art.  These selections also show some general trends we've noticed in wedding cakes, other sweets, and cake toppers (or lack thereof) in the last year. 

By far, the biggest trend we've seen with wedding cakes in the past year has been elegant "clean" designs, usually with fresh cut floral embellishments, such as this cake above by Oak Mill Bakery.  The Polish are internationally known for their amazing sweet treats, and owner Bogna Iwanowska-Solak definitely brought that wonderful baking heritage with her to Chicago when she opened her family's first bakery here in 1986.  Today they operate six stores in Chicago, Niles, Harwood Heights and Arlington Heights.

Amy Beck is known for her elegant custom cake designs, often using floral elements, whether they are created with sugar or real flowers.  She used cascading violet and yellow orchids for this fantastic wedding cake.  Earlier this year we were excited to see that Amy opened up a new store on Racine street, just a few blocks from our studio.  Welcome to the neighborhood Amy!

Bride Krys added a single pink peony to top her wedding cake to go along with her peony-theme wedding.  Central Continental Bakery, a north-west suburban bakery that has been making wonderful wedding cakes since 1922, detailed the design with words such as "family," "friendship," and "love" to express the things in life that the bride and groom most cherish.

Mary Winslow's small bakeshop, Take the Cake, specializes in intricately detailed custom designs and cake flavors, always with a look of timeless elegance. This white petal wedding cake perfectly complimented the petal details on the bride's wedding dress, as well as her all-white reception decor.  We can only imagine the patience and focus it took to make those delicate frosting rose petals.

Couples that hold their weddings at venues renowned for their cuisine may also find the cake included in their package.  As part of Chicago's fantastic foodie group of Levy Restaurants, Fulton's on the River offers their compelling Reid Murdoch Wedding Package, which includes a custom designed wedding cake.  This one above incorporated the couple's pink and green wedding colors and their last name inital for the silver and diamond cake topper.

Maggie Roeder Cakes is a boutique that places equal importance on the taste of the cake as the design.  For this reception, the bride and groom built an experience for their guests around gourmet cuisine and a cake made with top quality ingredients.  Overall, their reception decor was minimalist, which was well complimented with the clean monogram design topping this cake.

For their vintage-style barn wedding, this bride and groom went with several small "old-fashioned" cakes.  This was for a destination wedding in northern Michigan, with cakes made by Robin Smith from that area.

Wedding cupcakes have become very popular in recent years, but for this "ice-cream" theme reception the couple added a unique twist.  Along with their ice-cream sundae bar, they also had cupcakes made by Luscious Layers Bakery, which were designed with typical sundae toppings, such as sprinkles and cherries.

Cake wasn't going to satisfy the sweet tooth for this bride and groom, so instead they got a double-decker banana cream pie, as well as several assorted "home-style pies" from Hoosier Mama Pie Company.  The bride Elaine (who earned her Master of Fine Arts degree while planning her wedding!!!) made the bride and groom toppers using clothes-pins and her awesome crafting talents.

We haven't been seeing as many traditional cake toppers lately.  While we totally appreciate couples wanting to do something different, we're kind of starting to miss seeing cake toppers.  Perhaps folks could consider bringing them back, but in new and unique ways.  We went on Etsy.com to create this collection of various items, with most of them not intended for use on cakes, but perhaps they will inspire couples to think outside of the box for little works of art or personality pieces to top their cakes and sweets.

Wedding Photo of the Week: Happy 4th 2011

Wedding Album and Display Coordinates: June 2011

Wedding Creativo makes custom designed albums and photo displays as part of our full line of studio services for wedding couples and family lifestyle portraits.  This work includes guiding couples through our wide selection of album covers and specialty frames, canvases and print types to help them carefully choose the best ways to display and preserve their photographs. 

Today we begin a new series of features about decor and color inspirations for coordinating albums and display goods, without loosing sight of complimenting the wedding or portrait imagery being displayed.

This month, we feature an album we recently made for a destination wedding that took place in Africa.  The wedding colors were primarily bright yellows and greens with red and orange highlights.  While the vibrant colors were wonderful for their wedding day, the couple wanted something a little more subdued for their home environment, which is primarily rustic and wood decor with natural tones of browns, beige, and cream with hints of lime and yellow.

For a view of went into their album design, we are excited present our first inspiration feature of this kind for album and decor coordinates.

© Wedding Creativo

Wedding Photo of the Week: Staying Cool at Summer Weddings

It's summertime in the city, which means fun in the sun for the most part, but on a wedding day soaring temperatures can be miserable for folks in formals.  For our featured photo this week we look back to Candice and Robert's wedding when the bridal party was lucky to run into an ice-cream vendor along the lakeshore.  He offered some sweet relief to the near 100 degree heat and high humidity.  Everyone in the bridal party got a cool treat.

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As we head into summer wedding months, here are our top 5 tips for staying cool at hot summer weddings:

1. Stay hydrated:  the top way for everyone to stay cool is to drink water.  Especially for outdoor weddings it is important to have plenty of cold water for guests throughout the entire time.  You could get creative by using old-fashioned picnic coolers placed around various areas with water bottles on ice.  Be sure to have a recycling bin for those empty bottles!

2. Wear cool fabrics:  consider light fabrics made of natural fibers for your formal wear.  Looser fitting clothing will help.  We love seersucker suits and dresses...we'll be saying more about that later this week!

3. Humans sweat:  there is no way around this, unless you are my partner Giorgio.  He is the only human I know that never sweats.  For everyone else, guys can carry a handkerchief in their back pocket and gals can keep blotting tissue papers in their purses.  Lower maintenance lighter makeup is best for the hottest days.  It is also a good idea to bring a few travel size deodorant sticks for women and men in an all-purpose "wedding day survival" bag.  Trying to fight what naturally happens during summer will always be a losing battle, so it is best to just plan for the inevitable.

4. Block the sun:  wearing sunscreen is a must, especially if you'll be outdoors for long periods of time.  A bad sunburn is not something anyone should experience on a wedding day.  Parasol umbrellas can be a stylish way for the bridal party to keep cool and also fun for pictures.  And, if we learned anything from William and Kate's royal wedding, hats can also be a fashionable way to keep the sun at bay.

5. Think of winter and go slow:  if it is going to be extremely hot, over 90 degrees, we will generally recommend couples take it easy and avoid being out in the sun too long during portrait time.  Extreme heat is just as bad as a thunderstorm when it comes to portraits.  As much as the bridal party will try to be good sports, no one likes having their portrait taken when they are hot, sweaty and exhausted in the heat.  For our couples with summer weddings we'll suggest cool - literally - indoor alternatives if the heat is going to be dangerously high during portrait time.  When we are outside in higher temperatures, we try to keep it as painless as possible, and remind folks to keep thinking about frosty the snowman and how much we all love Chicago winters, and that in just a few months the ice and snow will return.

Happy summer!

Kate and Brian's Cooperstown Wedding Sneak Peek

Kate and Brian had a wonderful destination wedding in Cooperstown, New York over the weekend, and here is a sneak peek.  Congratulations to the happy couple and thank you for including us in your fun celebration!

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Photo of the Week: Dance Rehearsal

We had a great time last month at Corrinne and Jeremy's wedding.  For our featured photo this week we share one of our favorite moments from their day as they practiced their first dance.  More pictures from thier wedding will be featured soon, and we'll be back to regular blog posts next week...we've been busy bees and have lots of fun weddings and inspiring ideas to share soon.

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Wedding Photo of the Week: Curious Kids and Vineyard Fun

This week we look back to Chris and Melinda's 2007 wedding for our Wedding Photo of the Week.  Their wedding was at Willow Harbor Vinyards in Three Oaks, Michigan.  It was a beautiful location with acres of open green space, horse barn, vineyards and private lakeside spot for the ceremony.  Southwest Michigan has many barns and vineyards available for weddings, but this was one of our favorites.  They had lovely and curious flower girls for their bridal party, and also lots of young nieces and nephews in attendance.  We love when kids are ate weddings because for us they are fun and always cute as can be!  However, we understand some couples and parents, might be apprehensive about including kids.  We think the barn, farm or vineyard wedding is the perfect solution.  At Willow Harbor the kids all had a lot of fun running around and playing all day.  We think regional locations like this are always great for weddings that have lots of children.  Outdoor games and fun activities can be set up just for them, so they can go have fun (optimally with older teens or college adults supervising), and then adults can have fun too not hearing their kids complain about being "bored" at the wedding all day.

© Wedding Creativo Photography 

Trisha and Scott Wedding at Chicago Cancer Survivors Garden

You couldn't get more cozy than Trisha and Scott's small wedding held at their home and in their back yard.  And oh yeah, their back yard is Chicago's Millennium Park and Grant Park.

We had a great time with this fun-loving couple, and from their first playful moments and all throughout the day, the theme for their wedding was fun fun fun!  We admired the bride's "Pippa-esque" gown, vibrant orange and yellow flora, and the groom's navy blue suit with orange striped tie.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

The happy couple escorted each other, arm-in-arm, to their ceremony at the Cancer Survivors Garden in Chicago's Grant Park.  This beautiful outdoor area is a gem among Chicago Park District's special event spaces.

There, they met their closest family and friends for what was possibly the smallest wedding gathering we've ever photographed.  It was very cute with everyone, including the bride and groom's dogs, circled around the couple while they exchanged vows.

After the kiss, it was hi-fives for all around, and a first dance that literally swept the bride off her feet!

Needless to say, the portrait time for this wedding was very relaxed and accomplished rather quickly, even with different variations with everyone. One of the portraits included everyone attending the wedding ceremony in one group shot!

Then it was off to their private reception at their home, which had absolutely stunning views of the city from their high-rise balcony, where more guests joined the couple for their evening celebration.

The bride changed into a lovely cocktail dress, and nearly committed cake-a-cide!  Then after the reception dinner the gang headed out to the after-party at one of their favorite bars.

Congratulations Trisha and Scott, and thanks for showing everyone that even a small wedding can be a big celebration!

Wedding Photo of the Week: Bride in Ride

We want to congratulate one of our couples, Wendy and Neil, on the birth of their baby girl last week!  We were so surprised to find out that they named her Sophia because Giorgio always thought Wendy had a striking resemblance to the famous Italian actress Sophia Loren. Giorgio was fortunate to make a portrait of her years ago (I'll ask him to scan the print and post it here some day).  Anyway, he would often refer to Wendy as our "Sophia bride."  Maybe you'll agree.  This week's featured photo is one of Giorgio's all time favorites, which is of Wendy in the car on the way to the ceremony.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

Wedding Photo of the Week: Alternating Height Centerpieces

Today we are highlighting a detail from Chris and Kelly's wedding who were married one year ago this weekend. We were inspired by their vibrant yellow, violet and lime colors and liked how they incorporated one of our favorite ideas at wedding receptions - - alternating height centerpieces.  Not only do they make a stunning statement, but when done well, will not obstruct your guests vision across the table or across the room.  The creative folks at Flora Chicago did a fantastic job alternating placement of the centerpieces throughout the dining hall.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

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 Photo of the Week: Reception Live Band Karaoke

Today is the 5th wedding anniversary of Kristian and Claudia! Congratulations you two! Their wedding reception is still memorable to us as one of the most fun parties we've ever experienced. The bride and groom were a "rockin'" couple and incorporated the awesomeness that is Live Band Karaoke to be the highlight of their reception.  After all of the usual traditions of toasts, cake cutting and first dance, all of the sudden their reception transformed into a local live music dive bar vibe.  After the Live Band Karaoke musicians warmly encouraged the first few brave souls to the stage (Kristian of course opened the show!), soon enough EVERYONE was taking multiple turns singing, with all of the "fans" dancing and screaming with excitement at the stage.  No one was embarrassed because all of the guests treated each other as if they were the Beatles or Rolling Stones.  It was so much fun that we didn't want to leave when our time was up late that night!  This was one of our all-time favorite receptions and we wish more couples would consider this idea for their reception. Thanks Kristian and Claudia for single-handedly changing our opinion about karaoke from that day forward!

© Wedding Creativo Photography

Fathers Day is June 19

Father's day is coming up soon! June 19, 2011 to be exact. For a sweet gift idea, might we suggest framing a loving moment from your wedding day?

For our current active galleries, you can order directly online from your wedding gallery.  If your wedding was a while ago and the gallery has expired, just contact us for help.

Please note our deadlines for Father's Day orders:

Framed prints - June 3

Loose prints - June 8

We're thinking your dad probably has enough ties. ;-)

Hold The Wedding Kiss! 10 Seconds in Heaven

If you learned anything playing 7 minutes in heaven at any teenage parties, we think you should apply that experience on your wedding day....except this time you don't have to go in a closet. 

The "wedding kiss" is one of the most iconic moments of any wedding day, and sometimes that moment goes all too fast.  We love to see couples take a few seconds to gaze deeply into each others eyes while their marriage is officially being pronounced.  Then, when they hear those words "you may kiss the bride," it is always wonderful when that kiss is anything more than a nanosecond peck.  Optimally, you'll be so filled with joy and love for your new spouse that you'll naturally have a long passionate kiss.  However, if you are going to be conscious about the kiss, it is a good idea to remember to hold it for at least a few seconds.

From our perspective as photographers, we can also have a more solid opportunity to capture this all important moment if you give us a nice long kiss to photograph.  I think our recent couple Cat and Matt may have set a record.  When I checked the time coded on the image files, apparently their kiss lasted a whopping 12 seconds! We were able capture 16 sweet shots of the moment. That's love, I tell ya!

© Wedding Creativo Photography

...1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi....or count the fireworks going off in your head

Best of all, this is likely something the two of you would enjoy practicing before the wedding day.  Also, there is no reason why married couples still can't play the kissing game! Grab your sweetheart and go in the closet for seven minutes of heaven today!

A New Leaf Chicago Wedding of Craig and Snow

Before Snow and Craig's intimate wedding at A New Leaf in Chicago, we spent the afternoon touring the city with them for pictures.  We started the day off with the couple getting ready at The Drake Hotel.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

Snow and Craig were attracted to the creative portraiture work that we do here at Wedding Creativo, so we planned the schedule and locations for the afternoon after discussing their preferences and aesthetic tastes.  Every couple is different regarding how much time they want to dedicate to portraits.  Snow and Craig planned for a brief wedding ceremony with only two bridal party members, but it was just the two of them going around the city for portraits, so we were able to stop at more locations than if they had a large bridal party to transport around.  They also made sure to schedule a few hours for their "city safari" so that we could be more creative and go at a relaxed pace.  One of our favorite parts of doing portraits before the ceremony is coming up with a creative idea for the "first see" or "reveal," which is a private moment between the bride and groom when they see each other for the first time on the wedding day. 

Since it was just the four of us traveling around, we also suggested the idea of getting a classic car for transportation.  Snow and Craig loved that idea, and contacted Classic Chassis on our recommendation.  They selected a vintage 1940 Cadillac limousine. The car has a name - Godfather II, and it is a beauty.  We love driver Pete! He is a sweetheart, knows the city like the back of his hand, is relaxed and cool, and is one of our all-time favorite chauffeurs.

The groom wore a grey suit and tie, while the bride's color accents were light blue and white with her calla lilies and wildflower bouquet.  She also wore red patent leather shoes in honor of her family's cultural tradition for the bride to wear red.  The ceremony and reception were decorated with with white and blue hydrangeas, brown manzanita branches, and simply elegant brown and light blue linens.  The wedding cake featured the bride and groom's monogram and minimal detailing in brown, and was made by Maggie Roeder Cakes.  For the ceremony, the warm glow of candle light provided the ambiance for their intimate gathering of family and friends.

For their readings, the couple chose passages from their favorite books.  Snow's was the Dr. Seuss classic Cat in the Hat.

Hearty Boys, one of our favorite catering companies, provided the delicious dinner, sweet table and linens. For the cocktail hour guests snacked on scallops wrapped in bacon, mac and cheese squares and spiced figs. The main courses included steak, chicken, and sweet pea tortellini, which was amazing and the dish many of the guests were raving about.

Their ceremony was filled with lots of humor, and on the whole, Snow and Craig chose simple, yet meaningful, unique ways to celebrate their marriage.

Snow was also one of the first brides we noticed bringing back the patent leather shoe trend.  We've been seeing lots of brides wear them lately in a wide variety of hues.  Her burgundy red heels were stunning, and inspired us to create this fashion board featuring some hot patent leather styles.

Pumps by Pour La Victoire
Platforms by Fendi

Wedding Photo of the Week: The Bride Spy

The bridal portrait by the window will forever be a classic.  Right when you finish getting ready is the optimal time since your makeup and hair are fresh and looking perfect, and the natural daylight spilling in from the window is likely the nicest it will be all day.  Sometimes there is actually something going on outside of the window to make the bride laugh or smile, and it can just be fun to spy on your guests as they arrive to the ceremony.  If there is a window to look out where guests will not really see you, it can be a fun moment for some brides.  For our featured photo this week, our bride Melissa has a laugh while watching her grandmother fix her grandfather's jacket and tie in the parking lot.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

Wedding Photo of the Week: A Rainy Day is OK

Giorgio and I find challenging weather interesting for photography.  Being based in Chicago, we really have no choice but to embrace the crazy weather changes we can have in just a matter of hours, especially this time of year.  Like they say, if you don't like the weather in Chicago, just wait five minutes.

It is a good idea to have a contingency plan for outdoor portraits in case of a relenteless downpour or severe storms, and we're always happy to help our couples with different suggestions for indoor alternatives.  However, in the case of this week's featured wedding photo, we like to show that a little rain isn't always a bad thing. And, as Giorgio says, "sposa bagnata, sposa fortunata," which is an old Italian saying for "wet bride, lucky bride."

© Wedding Creativo Photography

Katie and Ben's Wedding at Holy Name and Fulton's

Katie and Ben had a beautiful sunny day for their Chicago wedding at Holy Name Cathedral and reception at Fulton's on the River.  Vibrant pinks and greens highlighted their elegant fashions and decor.  Also, the groom's family flew in from England and helped the couple incorporate many lovely British wedding traditions into the festivities.

© Wedding Creativo Photography

The groom presented personalized pocket watches as gifts to his groomsmen, who were all sporting green ascot ties, similar to the one that was part of David Beckham's dashing Royal Wedding attire.

After the ceremony, we had fun taking creative wedding portraits of the bridal party at landmark downtown Chicago locations while making our way to the reception at Fulton's.

Note to Giorgio's photography students: notice his award-winning technique using a bridesmaid's pink flip-flop to extend his lens hood. Ha ha.

We loved all of the touches of British wedding customs including Ben's mum's fascinator hair clip, the bride's lucky wedding horseshoe, and the handmade personalized candies that the groom's parents brought for all of the guests to enjoy. Ben also surprised Katie with a traditional German silver wedding cup that they both had to drink from at the same time, but be careful not to spill for good luck. They were successful and didn't lose a drop!

THE emcee of class and impeccable music taste, Al of Okyne Media Lab, kept the party train on schedule and guests dancing all night.