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Elaine and Greg were married in the park house at Pulaski Park, 1419 West Blackhawk in Chicago. The room was nice and not fancy. I suspect it is an affordable space for a lower budget wedding. I think the bride and groom rented the chairs and they had their reception elsewhere but as you can see, it was a nice setting.
Greg and Elaine chose to do the sand ceremony and they purchased vases online from Things Festive.
The sand ceremony is often done at outdoor weddings but it works fine inside too. I really like these particular vases. Often couples will get sand that has special meaning for them. In a wedding a couple of years ago the bride and groom who lived in Hawaii brought different color sand from their favorite beaches to use in the vases.
Michelle Morales was the cellist. She can be reached at 773.910.8690 or azcello@gmail.com. The wedding was nearly 30 minutes late and she provided wonderful prelude music the entire time.
I conducted a wedding at the Newberry Library on April 14 and a couple of days ago the photographer Ana of anamiyares.com sent me a link to her photos,. Check it out they are great!
Ana can be reached at ana@anamiyares.com or 773.852-376
I had never been to the Grand Piazza or even heard of it for that matter and then I had two weddings there on the same weekend. The Grand Piazza located at 1431 West Taylor Street Chicago, IL 60607 and is home to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, a museum that pays tribute to athletic greats such as Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Lasorda, and Mary Lou Retton. Natalie Arakelian is the contact person and she can be reached at 312.226.5566 or kperez@levyresturants.com
One of the best features of the Grand Piazza is its rooftop terrace, the views of the downtown skyline are incredible.
But, with outdoor weddings there are a lot of things that can go wrong. The first wedding was on a Friday night and it rained almost all day and evening. So, the wedding had to be moved inside into the ballroom. The space was nice and worked well but it would have been nicer outside.
The wedding was about 30 minutes late because I had not carefully thought through how to get the guests up to the third floor on a very slow elevator and then how to get the bride, who had not seen the groom that day, off the elevator without being seen by the groom. She ended up riding up and down the elevator for about 20 minutes while the groom waited patiently at the front. Nevertheless, I think they were happy with how the ceremony turned out.
The second wedding did take place on the terrace but in the midst of gale force winds. You can't see them in the photo above but there are actually guy wires holding down the hupa. The aisle runner had been tapped down but as the wedding party walked to the front it sort of billowed up in front of them. The ceremony however came together beautifully and the bride and groom were cheered as they walked down the aisle as husband and wife.
Marcia Hemphill and her staff from An Urban Affair coordinated the Saturday wedding, they are always a pleasure to work with.
The other cast of participants included:
- Daniel Gin, photography, 312.285.0388 and dg@dangin.com
- Kate and Rachel from Toast & Jam provided the music for a wedding and reception. I’ve worked others from staff in the past and they are first rate.
The sand ceremony is often done at outdoor weddings but it works fine inside too. I really like these particular vases. Often couples will get sand that has special meaning for them. In a wedding a couple of years ago the bride and groom who lived in Hawaii brought different color sand from their favorite beaches to use in the vases.
