More Photos from Greg and Maria's Wedding

Erica Rose, sent me some of her photos from Maria and Greg's wedding in May. Thank you Erica

To contact Erica go to: http://www.erosephoto.com/ or http://www.ericaroseblog.com/

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Style Me Pretty - Little Black Book

Style Me Pretty’s Little Black Book is a highly edited collection of wedding service providers – from mom and pop boutiques to A-Listers. Bottom line, these vendors are the best of the best. For more information about the Little Black Book, including a detailed description of how vendors are selected and get listed, see our Little Black Book FAQ

Sandra and Nate's Wedding at Prairie Productions

Olivia Leigh Photographie provided these wonderful photos for me, thanks Olivia.

Prairie Productions is a very popular venue, the owner told me he has booked over 50 weddings in 2010. As you can see from Olivia's photo above, the room is large with a lot of natural light. The ceremony and reception is usually held in the same room but there is another space and an outdoor patio for cocktails following the ceremony.

I've conducted several weddings at Prairie Productions and the room has looked entirely different each time. It must be fun for the florists to design how to use the space and the results are often striking.

Other vendors included in Sandra and Nate's wedding were:

Park West Strings

Food for Thought Catering

Kloeckner Preferred Flowers

Columbus Park Refectory

Maria and Greg were married on Friday, May 21 at the Columbus Park Refectory. Located at 5701 W Jackson the Refectory has three porticos that fill with sun during the summer. The grounds, created by the dean of prairie landscape architecture, contain two natural looking waterfalls, stratified stonework ledges and abundant native plant life.

Inside, Spanish-influenced architecture, arched entryways, and ornate terra cotta are quite lovely and the generous-sized Dance Hall has magnificent windows that overlook a lagoon and comes complete with a grand piano.

The photos taken with my IPhone don't do it justice but that's what I have for now.

Don't write off the Chicago Park District sites for your wedding venue, at least check out their website, they have some very nice sites.

Erica Rose of Erica Rose Photography was the photographer. I have not worked with her in the past and it was good to get to know her and I hope she will send me some professional photos later that I can post here.

Jill and Mark's wedding on January 1, 2010

Jill and Mark were married on January 1, 2010 at Trump International Hotel and Tower. Aristene Aurand, is the wedding specialist at the Tower and weddings there are always very special.

Tara Swift Moser from LOLA Event Production (312.513.6531) was the planner and florist and was great. It is always a pleasure to conduct weddings with the team from LOLA!

Andre LaCour was the photographer and provided these excellent photos to. Andre is the director of photography at Edward Fox Photography and can be reached at 773.794.5149. Thank you Andre.

Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010

Spirited Weddings has been chosen to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2010. This award recognizes the top 5 percent of local wedding professionals from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service and professionalism.

The Bride’s Choice Awards™ are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds (brides and grooms) through extensive surveys and reviews, which means my past clients have spoken on my behalf and selected me to receive this honor.

I am honored to receive this award again this year!

One of my favorite readings

Sonnet XVII – Pablo Neruda

I don’t love you as if you were the salt-Rose, Topaz

or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:

I love you as certain dark things are loved,

secretly, between the shadows and the soul

I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom and carries

hidden within itself the light of those flowers,

and thanks to your love, darkly in my body

lives the dense fragrance that rises from the earth

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you simply, without problems or pride:

I love you in this way because I don’t know any other way of loving

But this, in which there is no you, or I

so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand.

So intimate that when I fell asleep it is your eyes that close