We’re so excited to be featuring the beautiful Jewish wedding of STG Brides Club member Leah, a food scientist, and Scott, a middle school science and social studies teacher – and these two might just have the coolest venue story we’ve EVER heard.
You see, back in the ‘60s, Leah’s grandfather owned a movie theater in Chicago, The Alvin – it’s such a big part of the bride’s family’s story that her father was even named Alvin in its honor! After many years of abandonment, just a few years ago the theater was finally renovated and turned into… wait for it… a wedding venue! What more perfect place for these two to wed – especially given that they themed their big day around their love for their home city of Chicago? #livinlavidavenus indeed!
This is just one of the many amazing personal touches that added up to make Leah and Scott’s wedding truly one for the books. How cute are the mini Heinz (in honor of the bride’s workplace, Kraft Heinz, as well as her love for ketchup) ketchup bottles with personalized labels they gave out as favors? And of course we adore the pair’s tree of life ketubah by the wonderful Rachelle of Smashing The Glass Recommended Vendor The Delicate Brush!
Jamie & Eric Photography captured all the details – not to mention the emotion – exquisitely, and we can’t get enough of the shoot they did with the couple at all of their favorite Chicago landmarks.
Now over to the bride, who could not have looked more elegant in her classic Pronovias ballgown…
How we met
Leah, the bride: We actually met 5 years ago through Jcrush! Swiping right really paid off as I married my best friend.
A Family Venue
My husband and I got married at The Shapiro Ballroom in Chicago, IL. The venue was formally known as The Alvin Theater – the first one screen movie theater in the city of Chicago. My grandfather happened to own it back in the 60’s and named my father Alvin after his theater. For many years the theater was abandoned and within the last 3 years, it was renovated and turned into a wedding venue. When my husband and I saw that we could get married at my grandfather’s old movie theater, we knew it was our dream location.
Chicago Vibes
The wedding theme was “Chicago!” I was born and raised in Chicago and my husband was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, as soon as we got engaged I told him I wanted my dream city wedding and decided a Chicago theme would be a lot of fun.
We chose our favorite landmarks for photos including The Chicago Theater, The Bean & Art Institute. All of our table numbers were different Chicago landmarks and our guest book was a Chicago Wooden Flag to hang in our home.
The color scheme was mint, grey and silver, we gifted our groomsmen Converse with Scott and I wearing matching mint ones and personalized kippot with their monograms. Our venue provided a wedding planner that helped us throughout the process and happened to be our day of coordinator as well.
What ‘Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club’ Did For Us
I joined Smashing The Glass later in our wedding planning and absolutely loved every second of it. I started as trial member but immediately fell in love with the community and knew I had to officially become a member. Wedding planning was by far the hardest thing I had to do, having lots of family drama and a death in the family 3 weeks prior – I don’t know if I would have been able to handle it all without the amazing support from the Brides Club.
I may not have been an active poster/commentee but when I did post, the support was so wonderful that it helped make the last 3 months of planning a lot more smoother. We purchased our Ketubah from The Delicate Brush, she happened to find me via Instagram and explained she was a STG vendor, this then only confirmed that I needed to join the Brides Club community!
Invitation
My husband designed our wedding invitations and made sure to include “Meet us under the Chuppah”, it was a very classic wedding invitation.
A Pronovias Dress
My wedding dress was a Pronovias dress purchased at Simply Luxe Bridal. It was a very classic ballgown with a lace back and short lace sleeves. I added a beaded belt to give it some more bling! The dress happened to be the last dress I tried on and only tried it on because I knew it would be something my mother would love. As soon as I had the dress on, I knew it was absolutely beautiful and that my husband would love it!
Accessories
I purchased a chapel veil from David’s Bridal with lace to match my wedding dress, I added my mother in law’s veil to be my blusher, which happened to be my husband’s grandmother’s veil as well. I gifted my bridesmaids silver knot bracelets to match with me and I wore long diamond earrings. My dress had a high neckline so no necklace was needed.
Shoes
I wore Sam Edelman bright white leather heels with a strap at the ankle and wavey strap by the toes. I only wore these heels to walk down the aisle because my mother and mother in law did not approve of my converse shoes. After the ceremony I immediate changed into mint Converse to match my husband and to go with the Converse theme that our groomsmen wore.
Hair + Makeup
I worked with two amazing women for my hair and makeup!! I normally do not wear makeup and I wanted to have a very natural look. My husband commented that he wanted to make sure he recognized me while under the chuppah. I had two hair styles for the evening, a classic braided low bun for the ceremony which then was easily removed for loose curls for the reception.
The handsome groom
My husband wore a dark grey tux from Men’s Wearhouse while his groomsmen wore a lighter grey tuxes. They all had matching mint and gray pattern sock Converse. Having him in the tallit that I purchased for him as wedding gift topped it off!
Bridesmaids
I had 6 bridesmaids standing by my side, all best friends from different points in my life. They all wore floor length mint dresses with slightly different styles which they picked themselves. I gifted them silver knot bracelets to match with my bracelet and they had white sparkly Tom’s to change into after the ceremony for dancing!
Chuppah
I knew we wanted to get married under our fathers’ tallits, due to sizing we ended up using my husband’s late grandfathers tallit as the top of our chuppah and added my father’s to one side of the chuppah. Our amazing florist designed the chuppah for us and added delicate whites and greens to each corner of the chuppah. It turned out better than I ever imagined and looks beautiful in photos.
Ceremony
We had a traditional Conservative Jewish wedding. Our rabbi was phenomenal and truly shared our love story and the reasoning for why we chose each other. Having more than half of our guests not Jewish, they appreciated all details and traditions they witness during our ceremony.
Ketubah
My favorite part was our ketubah signing, we only asked for family and bridal party to be in the room with us which turned out to be 50+ people and it was exceptional. We chose the tree of life to be on our ketubah as we start this new life together, I worked closely with Rachelle from The Delicate Brush on trying to decide the right ketubah for my husband and me. She was exceptional and created the most beautiful ketubah!
Our music choice
Processional: ‘Can’t Help Falling in Love’ – Elvis for the bridal party, for the bride I walked down to ‘A Million Dreams’ – The Greatest Showman;
Recessional: ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ – The Beatles;
Reception entrance: ‘Hand Clap’ – Fitz and the Tantrums;
First dances: first dance was to ‘Shut Up and Dance’ – Walk the Moon Acoustic; Father and Daughter was a remix of 4 songs – ‘Nina Bonita’, ‘Brujeria’, ‘Calypso’, and ‘Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting’; Mother and Son was ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’.
Flowers
We worked with Nancy Krause from Nancy Krause Floral Designs – she was phenomenal! My bouquet included: white roses, white hydrangea, white freesia, white wax flower, gunni eucalyptus and dusty miller. The stems were wrapped with white satin ribbon and wrapped with my husband’s great grandmothers hankie that all the cousins in his family walked down the aisle with.
The bridesmaids’ bouquets included: white roses, white freesia, white wax flowers, mini green hydrangea with gunni eucalyptus and dusty miller. Stems were wrapped in min green satin ribbon. Flower girl had a white rose ball with min green ribbon to carry.
My husbands boutonniere consisted of small white roses, white hydrangea, grey brunia and gunni eucalyptus and wrapped in a light grey satin ribbon. The groomsmen’s boutonnieres included white spray roses, white wax flower, grey brunia, gunni eucalyptus and wrapped in dark grey ribbons.
Photographer
We used Jamie & Eric Photography, I instantly fell in love with their photos when I found them on Instagram. The husband and wife couple were absolutely amazing to work with and we can’t wait to see their photos! We knew they were the right choice based off of their experiences capturing other diverse and cultural weddings.
Food
We wanted a Sephardic dinner menu including a Chicken and Fig dish with saffron rice or Napoleon Eggplant. To go with our Chicago theme, we had Mini Chicago Hotdogs, Mini Italian Beef and Fries served as a late night snack. We had a two tier cake for photos and a large dessert table including a donut wall! Our signature drink was a Paloma!
Entertainment
We had a 9 piece band! Ring of Music was phenomenal and working with Matt Stedman was incredible. He made the planning very easy. The one requirement my husband had was making sure we had a band vs a DJ and I have to say they were the hit of the night. They even incorporated our Latin music during their breaks which our guests loved!
Favours
Mini Heinz ketchup bottles with a personalized label that we created. I absolutely love ketchup and work for Kraft Heinz, so we knew it would be a great hit. It was even extra special because my husband’s grandmother also had the same love for Heinz ketchup as me!
Honeymoon
We are about to start planning our honeymoon! We are looking to visit the Galapogos Islands and Machu Pichu sometime next year. My husband is a teacher and started school two days after the wedding, so we are planning to go when he is on break.
Advice to couples currently planning their wedding
Even after all the stress of family drama, a tight budget, hand crafting and sleepless nights… it was totally worth it because all our guests said we threw the party of the year! Having our guest notice all the small details and all the hard work that went into my dream wedding paid off!
Leah & Scott’s little white book
Photography – Jamie & Eric Photography
Ketubah – The Delicate Brush {offers 10% discount to all members of Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club}
Venue – The Shapiro Ballroom
Bride’s dress – Pronovias found and fitted at Simply Luxe Bridal
Bride’s shoes – Sam Edelman and Converse
Bride’s veil – David’s Bridal
Groom’s attire – Men’s Wearhouse
Hair + Makeup – Blush and Braid Beauty Bar and Elegant Brides Chicago
Flowers – Nancy Krause Floral Design
Band – Ring of Music
Trolley – Windy City Trolley
Rabbi – Rabbi Russo
Dance choreographer – from Vibe Entertainment
Smash The Glass Pouch – Smashing The Glass Etsy Shop {or join Smashing The Glass’s Brides Club and get one for free!}
If you’re a Jewish or Jew-ish bride-to-be, join Smashing The Glass’ Brides Club for step-by-step guides, handpicked wedding vendor discounts, Jewish wedding action plans, a free smash glass pouch, Jewish wedding checklists and templates, and SO much more!
Guided by the world’s number 1 Jewish wedding expert, Karen Cinnamon, Brides Club is the private community for brides that minimizes wedstress and overwhelm and maximises your budget. Join our Brides Club here.
