It’s almost been three months, but finally I’m sharing our wedding photos with you. I’m not going to lie, our wedding day was everything I dreamed it would be and so much more.
I cannot explain how many tears went into putting our very special day together, but it was SO worth it. Everything went off without a hitch (except I did forget to buy one tie for Tony’s dad, but no biggie!).
My vision for our wedding was to be a mix of greenery, bohemian, romantic and vintage; I think it was more than brought to life. There were over 800 photos, so I had to split the posts up a bit. We’re starting with getting ready + our first look.
So without further ado, let’s get to our day!
We started our morning at the Westin in River North Chicago, where all of our party stayed the night before. It was easy and convenient since we were only getting married 10 minutes away. We also wanted everyone who was flying in to be able to have a true Chicago city experience. The night before our wedding my mom stayed with me so that Tony and I could have time apart before our special day.
About two months before our wedding I hired a day of coordinator to help organized things on the day of. If you are getting married, a day of coordinator is essential to helping you stay organized and get everyone in line leading up to final weeks and days of your wedding. Erin, my coordinator was AMAZING and so detailed. She got on the phone with me, organized sheets with timelines and helped everyone on our actual wedding day (including getting the tie I forgot to buy)! I WOULD HIGHLY recommend her!
The guys stayed in their room and did whatever men do while girls get ready (eat sandwiches?)
Anyway at the hotel the morning of our wedding, all the girls got ready, had breakfast and lunch catered in for us to enjoy in our room while my makeup artist, Shannon O’Brien, came and did everyone’s makeup. We also rotated our hair getting done!
After we all got ready, I started to feel INCREDIBLY nervous. Like shaking nervous. I hadn’t talked to Tony all day and I think that frankly I was just ready to get married and dance the night away. So when it came time to do our first look, I was more than ready.
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We decided to do our first look at Garfield Park Conservatory. Tony wasn’t obsessed with the idea, but we didn’t really have a choice since both our ceremony and reception were back to back in the evening. We met with Ren + Caleb of Studio 29 Photography a few weeks prior to pick a spot that felt like us. Not going to lie, it wasn’t easy to find a spot in the city with plenty of greenery during the month of November. However I fell head over heels in love with Garfield Park — it offered a mix of both indoor and outdoor and completely covered with various greenery. It was perfect.
Of course I know that a lot of you will ask how I chose my wedding colors so I wanted to make sure I addressed that. Frankly, I spent a ton of time searching Pinterest and Junebug Weddings for colors that were appealing to my eye. I also really leaned into my gut and intuition; colors aren’t easy to pick out but I basically just learned to go with the themes that I kept pinning over and over again.
Above all, I discovered that I wanted to keep the bridesmaids dresses neutral so that my flowers would really tell a story. Oh and I also knew that I wanted a flower crown. It was basically my ultimate dream.
That being said, I tried to keep everything else minimal besides a pop of color from Tony’s blue suit. Initially, it took awhile for my florist, Splendor of Eden, and I to work through what would work because I kept changing my mind with colors (I didn’t want any bright pinks, etc). Ultimately I just had to let go and trust that she understood my vision (she totally did)! The flowers WERE EVERYTHING!
About our first look: I’m actually really glad we did a first look because it helped prepare me for the actual ceremony. It was amazing to see his face and have that special alone time together before our ceremony. It also gave me a boost of confidence to walk down the aisle without bawling my eyes out (I get super emotional).
After we met at Garfield Park and did our first look, we took photos with our family and bridal party, which was SO MUCH FUN! Then we headed back to Salvage One for our ceremony and reception.
Wedding dress: Ines Di Santo via a&be bridal
Suits: Calvin Klein
Bridesmaid dresses: Show Me Your MumuÂ
Photography:Â Studio 29 Photography
Videography:Â Aaron Bean Cinema
Flowers:Â Splendor of Eden
Hair: Carrie and Issac, my two hair stylist from XO Studio in Lakeview, Chicago (she’s the best!)
Makeup: Shannon O’Brien
Day of Coordinator: Erin Shanley of Bride and Joy Events
First Look location: Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago, IL
Ceremony & Reception:Â Salvage One
39 comments
Your pictures are beautiful!! Can’t wait to follow along with the rest of your day!
Thanks girl! So excited to share the rest 🙂
beautiful Monique, just stunning, thank you for sharing XO
Thank you Sarah!! So happy I got to share!
Absolutely stunning! I am in love with your dress and earrings Plus I love that you let the colors of the flowers stand out. Congratulations to you & Tony. I hope you are enjoying married life. Can’t wait to see the rest!
Thank you so much, Courtney! Yes – the flowers were definitely my favorite part of the look 🙂 So excited to share the rest!
Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!! You look STUNNING!!!! And those flowers!!! It makes me want to get married all over again. Thank you so much for sharing your special day with us 🙂
Thanks Sara!! Aren’t the flowers amazing? My florist did an incredible job. So happy that I have a place to share these with you guys! Have a great weekend!
Stunning!!! Thank you for sharing your special day…I so enjoyed seeing these beautiful pictures!! Congratulations and wishing you a life time of joy, peace and health!!
Thank you so much! I’m so glad I got to share these with all of you 🙂 Have a great weekend, Judi!
Wow, the pictures are so beautiful! I love your color choices for the neutral dress theme and the flowers. I also like that you both had a first look private time and photo. I haven’t heard of that before but I think it’s a great idea. You look so beautiful. You both are a lovely couple 🙂
Thank you so much, Lynda! The private first look was really special – I loved it. Thanks again!
You are gorgeous. Your dress is STUNNING!
Aw thanks Kelli!!
The start of your wedding truly looked like a fairy tale!!
I can’t wait to see the rest of the photos!
It was! So excited to share the rest of them!
WOW! Incredibly beautiful photos! You made a very stunning bride and your dress was fabulous.
Thank you!! It was a fun one 🙂
These are beautiful!!! Where are you bridesmaid robes from?
Thanks so much, Nicki! They’re actually from Etsy 🙂
Hi Monique, can you share which Etsy site you ordered these robes from? They’re absolutely perfect!
You looked stunning. I can’t even describe how much I loved this and the photography and everything. I’m so happy you had an amazing team working with you! Lovely xoxo
Thank you so much! You’re right – we had quite the team helping us out and they made the day absolutely incredible. Thanks again! <3
Beautiful wedding. So happy to be have been a part of it. xoxo
So happy that you were part of it, Marissa! <3 xoxo
These pictures are phenomenal. You look stunning and both of you look so blissfully happy!
Thank you Jenna! It was such a fabulous day 🙂
Absolutely stunning!!! You are such a beautiful person!
Thank you so much, Randee!
SUCH a wonderful recap and photos! Cherish these memories 🙂
Thank you Liz! It was a time to remember 🙂
Absolutely BEYOND GORGEOUS! The photography and colors are just stunning and you and your husband look amazing!
Aww thank you so much Ema!!
Absolutely beautiful…the flowers and the dresses and most of all the happy bride. Wishing you all the best in the many, many years to come!
Thank you so much, Carol!
I’m sorry if I missed it but who created your floral crowns? Was it your florist or did you order from an Etsy shop?! I love them!!
My florist, Splendor of Eden, made them! <3
Hi Monique! Love your blog and all your recipes! Also, love the earrings you wore for your wedding and I was wondering where you got them as they would be perfect for my wedding this year?
So happy to hear that! I got them from my wedding dress tailor ‘Ette’ in Chicago.