Take a tour of Chicago at this Fall wedding that closed the bars down
After meeting in high school and deciding that they were definitely not each other's type, Heather and Chris said "I do" in 2022 with the goal of throwing the best party of their lives. Chris proposed with an elongated hexagon ring with a salt and pepper diamond from Point No Point Studio, designed with Heather's help, and before long, they were planning their wedding at Warwick Allerton Chicago with the help of the coordinating team at Urban Allure Events who also helped them on the day of. The city of Chicago was inspiration enough, as the couple loved the architecture, art, history, and people. Cue a "fancy in the city" theme mixed with the perfect pairing of personality, and you have this couple's wedding, all captured on camera by The Adamkovi.
Invitations with an edge
The design for Heather and Chris's wedding day was inspired by the bride's love of all things dark and vintage. On the invitations, the couple brought a bit of personality through a sprinkling of swear words, while the bride's mother made the save the dates to look like vintage postcards of the hotel venue they had chosen. Each and every detail was incredibly intentional down to the all-black dress code that acted as the perfect compromise to implementing a black-tie dress code.
Choosing the perfect venue
Once bride Heather learned that the venue let couples take a picture in front of the stunning neon sign on the fire escape of the 23rd floor, she knew that she and Chris had to get married at The Warwick Allerton Chicago. Their ballroom was beautiful and looked like two completely different venues during the day versus at night. Their food was outstanding, which was important to the couple, and perfectly complemented their vibe of a fancy night out downtown!
Vintage style with contemporary accessories
As a nod to her mother-in-law, Heather wore a long-sleeved dress by Sarah Seven. While she wasn't into the idea of wearing a veil, she opted instead to wear a superhero-inspired bridal cape for the ceremony, changing it up later in the night and swapping it out for classic tulle gloves.
Opt-in to burnt orange
Groom Chris wore a burnt orange tux from Nicholas Joseph that made him stand out in front of everyone else in all black. To add that special something, he had Grateful Dead lyrics embroidered into his tux.
Chicago-themed gift boxes
Anyone staying in the hotel received a Chicago-themed gift box, but one that was outside of the box! The boxes included Chicago specialties like Garretts popcorn, customized matchbooks with all black matches, Wrigley gum, canned old fashioneds (the couple's favorite drink), giardiniera, vintage Chicago postcards, brownies from Sweet Mandy B's, and a small bottle of Malört. The best part about the mini canned cocktails was that the brand was called Tip Top, and the name of the ballroom on the 23rd floor of the hotel was called The Tip Top Tap, so it all came full circle!
The ceremony: Vintage autumn vibes
For the ceremony, Biota Co-op created the floral arch of Heather's dreams using autumnal-inspiration and a variety of colors.
Table magic for cocktail hour
For cocktail hour, not every guest was going to be drinking, so they couple had a magician, Benjamin Barnes, go around to do "table magic," which originated in Chicago. While this was happening, harpist Dawn Bishop played all of the couple's favorite early-2000's pop and rap hits; however, instead of sticking around to enjoy cocktail hour, Heather and Chris ran all over the city taking pictures at specifically chosen locations.
Wedding portraits: A tour of Chicago
Locations for their photos included dangling off of the 23rd floor fire escape at night just to get the picture Heather wanted at the venue, the merry-go-round at the Lincoln Park Zoo, the couple's favorite jazz club, an old theater near where they live, and other Chicago landmarks.
Mix-and-match custom vintage details
The hotel was willing to customize everything to go along with the bride's vision, from adding mini hotdogs and pizza at the end of the night to creating a customized napkin fold. The tables were decorated with tall, autumnal florals, mismatched colored glasses, and gold cats as place holders, while guests enjoyed taking lots of candid (and blurry!) photos with the disposable cameras at each table.
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Pressed vinyl guest book
To honor the bride's 89-year-old grandfather (their ring bearer that day), the bride and groom placed pictures of him and his wife, as well as the couple's other grandparents on their guest book table. For their guest book, they opted for After the Tone - guests recorded messages on a vintage-inspired phone, and the recordings were sent to the couple after the wedding on both a pressed vinyl and digital copy.
Closing the bars down
After dinner, an absolute party of a band took over and the Naked Karate Girls tore the place down. The party continued at one of Chicago's oldest piano bars/cigar lounges where they stayed and sang songs together with friends and family until the bar's 4 a.m. closing time.
A "haunted" costume bar crawl
The next day, Heather and Chris booked a trolley to take their remaining guests on a tour of 4 "haunted" bars that were also Chicago staples. This costumed bar crawl (in honor of Halloween the next weekend) was one of the bride's favorite parts of the weekend!
After-the-fact advice from the bride
"It sounds cliché, but it goes so fast, so give yourself time to reflect, even if it is a year later. Always remind each other that a wedding is more than a party, and a marriage is more than a piece of paper. Spend actual time with your partner on your wedding day because it is what you make it."
One year later...
For their one-year anniversary, Heather bought a replica of her dress and shoes (both in black), and she and Chris went to a magic show, ate a (fresh) piece of cake from Vanille - the bakery that made their cake. They re-read their vows, drank at the hotel bar, looked at the disposable camera pictures, and Heather even wore the same perfume that she did on their wedding night. The couple enjoyed a complimentary night at the hotel in honor of their anniversary, so naturally they crashed a wedding there as well. It was the perfect celebration of the day these two best friends said "I do!"
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- Wedding Photographers: The Adamkovi
- Wedding Planner: Urban Allure Events
- Venue: Warwick Allerton Chicago
- Dress & Veil: Sarah Seven
- Hair & Makeup: Makeup by Jaycie
- Manicurist: Mary's Hot Nails
- Groom's Attire: Nicholas Joseph
- Florist: Biota Co-op
- Bakery: Vanille Chicago
- Live Band: Naked Karate Girls
- Ring: Point No Point Studio
- Magician: Benjamin Barnes
- Guest Book: After the Tone
- Live Musician: Dawn Bishop