I adore this morning’s wedding. The colour palette of blush pink and golden hues is beautiful, and bride Susie’s blush tulle BHLDN gown (a super flattering hue for fair-skinned blondes by the way) glimmers from head to toe in full-on floor length gold and silver sequins. I LOVE it.
Susie found her dress a year in advance and it became the inspiration for the rest of her wedding decor and her chosen theme of gold and blush (one of my favourite colour combos).
This is city chic done delicately and beautifully – it’s so elegant, pretty, and relaxed. Just wait until you see the simple but oh so dreamy chuppah, the divine florals and the vivid and contemporary ketubah design.
The images are courtesy of Thomas Slack from Slack Photography, who has captured Susie and Andrew’s day exquisitely. With every image, the tone is just right. Anticipation, fun, laughter, love and joy all come through.
Personally, I think this is a fabulous way to start the week…and I really hope you’ll agree.
A restaurant venue
Susie, the Bride: We are not “ballroom” people, and we wanted something different and less formal, so we decided to go with a restaurant. South Branch is located right on the river in downtown Chicago and the outdoor ceremony space and bar seemed perfect for our ceremony and party. We were also very busy while planning the wedding (I was finishing up my MBA) and South Branch made it so easy for us. The restaurant is beautiful and needed very little in terms of decor, which was perfect for us!
A romantic wedding with a gold colour scheme
I wanted the wedding and reception to be romantic and warm, so we used a lot of gold. Our vases and votives were gold and we had gold table numbers. We also had a gold table cloth for the welcome/gift table. Erin Carroll from South Branch was our wedding planner. She was amazing throughout the planning process and she made sure everything went smoothly and according to schedule during the event.
Stationery
We used Minted for our invitations. We used one of their designs (gold foil to go along with the gold theme) but customised the wording to fit our style.
A blush coloured wedding Dress covered in gold and silver sequins
The dress was from BHLDN and the designer was Rachel Gilbert. I fell in love with the dress because of its simple silhouette and unique style. It is blush tulle covered in gold and silver sequins. I found it a year in advance and it became the inspiration for the rest of the wedding decor.
My veil was also from BHLDN. It was blush to match the gown. My earrings were from Etsy shop GracefullyGirly.
Kate Spade shoes
My shoes were by Kate Spade New York – the ‘Sage‘ pump. They were gold glitter, with a 3 inch heel.
Hair + make up
I wear my hair down all the time, so I decided to keep my hair down in loose curls for the wedding. I was a little bit worried that my curls would fall, since I have thin hair, but Alyse did an amazing job and it held up through the whole night. I went subtle with makeup, since I don’t wear a lot normally. I had fake eyelashes to add a little glamour. I was so happy with my hair and makeup!
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The handsome groom
Andrew wore a black suit by Hugo Boss.
Bridesmaids in black
My bridesmaids each picked their own dress. I told them to pick something black, short and with no embellishments, but I wanted them to feel comfortable and have their own style.
The ceremony
Andrew is Jewish, but I’m not. We decided to have a Jewish wedding and have a rabbi perform the ceremony. It was a learning experience for both of us, as we crafted and personalised the ceremony with the Rabbi.
I absolutely loved walking down the aisle with my dad. It was a breath-taking moment to see all our friends and family and to see Andrew at the end of the aisle waiting for me. We also had a funny moment when a wind gust blew the chuppah cover off. Luckily, one of Andrew’s groomsmen was able to hold it up for the rest of the ceremony!
Chuppah design
We used a chuppah from our florist. They designed floral clusters to match the rest of our flowers for the reception. It was a simple chuppah with tree branches as the posts, which we thought tied in nicely with the decor of South Branch.
Music for the ceremony
We played music by the Vitamin String Quartet. Our bridal party walked down to You’re My Best Friend, Andrew walked down to Fell in Love with a Girl and I walked down to Something. We thought those songs sounded beautiful as instrumental and our DJ did a wonderful job of timing the songs. Our recessional was to Crazy Little Thing Called Love.
Flowers
Asrai Garden was the florist we chose. We had a mix of flowers including juliette garden roses, ranunculas, dahlias, quicksand roses, and dusty miller. We wanted soft and romantic, so the blooms were a mostly blush colored. We used gold bubble bowls for half the tables and gold vases for the rest.
Our amazing photographer
Our photographer was Thomas Slack and we found him on Yelp and loved the photos on his website. We met with him in person and knew right away that he would be perfect to work with. Our engagement pictures were amazing, which made us even more excited to have him photograph our wedding.
Cupcakes and catering
We used our favourite cupcake place, Molly’s. We had a variety of options including some plain and some centre-filled. My favourite was the cake batter filled! South Branch is a restaurant, so they took care of the food!
Entertainment
We had a DJ for the ceremony through the reception. Nigel from Style Matters did a wonderful job and kept the party going all night. We were originally supposed to have the dancing outside on the beautiful outdoor patio, but the weather was a bit cold, so we ended up having it indoors.
We had our first dance was to The Black Keys’ Everlasting Light.
Favours
We had treat bags full of Garret’s Chicago mix popcorn and personalised M&M’s.
Advice to other brides
Try to take it all in. It really does fly by like everyone says.
Susie + Andrew’s LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Slack Photography
Venue + catering – South Branch
Bride’s dress + veil – BHLDN
Bride’s Earrings – GracefullyGirly
Bride’s Shoes – Kate Spade New York
Groom’s Attire – Hugo Boss
Flowers – Asrai Garden
Hair – Alyse Kushnir
Make up – Jaclyn Mednicov
DJ – Nigel from Style Matters
Cupcakes – Molly’s
Stationery – Minted
What a great blog post, with fantastic photos, of a beautiful wedding!
So happy to be a part of this day. Thank you!