“We can’t believe Spring is here and how fast the recent months have flown by. It feels like just yesterday when we were outside in the chilly December weather photographing Sean and Emily’s Chicago Winter engagement photography session and now… these two are happily married! Sean + Emily planned an early in March wedding day. It was a formal event, with classic details, style and utter sophistication. A mix of cultures and traditions from both the bride and groom’s families were tied into the day, including an Irish bagpiper during their exiting down the aisle at the ceremony, photos at the father of the Groom’s alma mater the University of Chicago, and later Persian music and gifts at the reception. The lavish Empire Room ballroom hosted the couple’s reception dinner and dancing. The Empire ballroom is located inside one of the most famous of hotels in Chicago The Palmer House Hilton Hotel. When planning the decor and florals for the room, S+E hired a florist located nearby their Hinsdale home where they could work closely with and refine the details of the space. What stunning results and we believe it was exactly what they sought out to achieve, a jaw dropping room and presentation to their guests.

 

“For the ballroom, we wanted the decor to reflect the beauty in our church and the Palmer House. We saw the hotel and room as regal, with romantic touches, so we spent a lot of time with Sadie Belman our florist at The English Garden Flower Shop creating the centerpieces. We wanted people to gasp when they walked into the Empire Room. We were not looking for something conventional such as flowers low on the table. Because the room is so special, we wanted to add height with a grand, mystical feel.”

 

Chicago’s Palmer House Hilton hotel offers a number of historically stunning rooms and grand ballroom spaces. Photographically, we found the hotel to have an abundance of amazing photo settings around every corner. ( And great for couple’s who enjoy romantic and magazine style Chicago editorial wedding photography as Sean + Emily love, where we incorporate the room. ) If your searching for a stylish venue with historic and architectural details, the Palmer house is a excellent downtown hotel venue. Sean + Emily choose the hotel’s Empire Room, and the room defines the word luxury and grandeur. With it’s rich tapestries, painted molding and metallic embellishments, a centered in the room stage where historically celebrity performers took that same stage, and balconies on the sides, The Empire Room is one of the most captivating atmospheric settings we have photographed a reception within. Undeniably the most memorable of of element in the ballroom is its gold, ornate ceiling details. The rich elegance of the room, gold and brilliantly gleaming chandeliers offers an unmatched feeling for the bride + groom to feel truly like a celebrity and royalty for the day. With recent renovations in 2009, the Palmer House has undergone a complete restoration back to the hotel’s architecture from its 1920′s era glamour. Historically the hotel has been re-constructed a few times, from it’s original and first construction dating to 1871. The original building was a casualty of the Great Chicago Fire, rebuilt in the 20′s, and today stands as the second largest hotel and acclaimed the fanciest post-fire in all of the City. It’s a legendary space and the perfect setting which defined Emily + Sean’s classic and formal wedding theme. We decided to not only photograph the couple inside at the hotel before dinner began, but also at the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Chapel. Another architectural significant building, the Rockefeller’s cathedral with it’s circular drive, Porte Cochere “covered doorway” entrances, and towering limestone and concrete walls presented another amazing setting for incorporating historical architecture and wedding photography together in pictures.

 

Thank you Emily + Sean in choosing us as your engagement and Chicago wedding photographers. What an amazing day it was, truly a memorable fairytale event. We can’t help but to feel like we’ve become close friends. We enjoyed the entire day, our photo shoot outside at the University, catching smiles as the cold March wind provided the perfect excuse for you two to get closer and warm up, the day’s Irish and Persian elements, and spending the day with you documenting all the celebrating. We hope you, family and friends enjoy seeing the photos. More will be coming soon.”

 

 

 

Sean + Emily’s Vendor Details:
Theme: Classic + Formal Wedding
Ceremony: St. Thomas More and photography at Rockefeller Chapel University of Chicago
Reception: Empire Room at the Palmer House Hilton
Bridal Dress: Badgley Mischka
Bridal Dress Shop: Ultimate Bride, 106 E Oak Street, Chicago
Bridal Shoes: Badgley Mischka
Jewelry: Family Heirlooms
Bands: Custom from Browning and Sons Fine Jewelry, Hinsdale
Engagement Ring: Family Heirloom Reset
Hair: TJ from Zazu Salon, Hinsdale
Make-Up: Morgan Byrnes, Freelance MUA
Bride’s Veil + Lace Bolero: Custom by Ultimate Bride
Bridesmaid Dresses: Jim Hjelm
Catering + Day of Coordination: Jane S. Himmel of Palmer House Hilton
Dinner Details: Soup: asparagus and green pea; Salad: champagne and saffron poached baby pear, ripe brie cheese, dried cranberries and candied walnuts, with balsamic vinaigrette; Entree: grass fed filet of beef encrusted with blue cheese and a pinot noir reduction-or-phyllo pouch stuffed with sauteed spinach, mushrooms, onions, and sundried tomatoes, with a red pepper reduction
Cake Dessert: Red Velvet, Yellow Cake, Layer with Buttercream and Chocolate Fudge Frosting by Take the Cake
Flowers: The English Garden Flower Shop, Clarendon Hills
Invitations: Sass n Class, Hinsdale
Church Exit: Red Rose Petals + Irish Bagpiper
DJ: James Traut from Big Fish Productions
First Dance: Tu Recuerdo, Chambao
Transportation: White Vintage Rolls Royce from Chicago Trolley Rental
Videography: Keith Jorgenson of Poetic Productions

 

Favorite Memory: Emily said the entire day was so perfect. But she said Sean had the most perfect of all answers. Simply he said and Emily says “I have to agree seeing him at the church and promising our life together was by far the best memory I have of that day. :)”

 

Honeymoon: With a love of traveling Sean and Emily are hoping to spend 3 weeks in Switzerland and Italy exploring. Honeymoon plans include starting in Geneva, Switzerland and then driving through the Alps to Milan. On Emily’s “bucket list in life” ( that Emily says Sean has promised her they will complete together ) they plan to attend a horse race ‘the Palio’ in the center square in Sienna, Italy. After leaving Sienna, they plan to drive down the breathtaking Amalfi Coast and end the trip in the Island of Sardinia, and do nothing but swim, sail and drink wine in the Mediterranean.

 

 

♥ Check out our recent photo blog photos post of Sean + Emily’s Winter engagement photography session.

“Do you remember Julia + Shaun’s Spring, vintage Chicago engagement shoot we posted a few months back? That was just a small taste of the vintage style these two had planned for their vintage decorated wedding day! Wow, we… loved… this wedding, their awesome venue, and artsy unique style! In gathering words to describe the awesomeness of this wedding, I could write a novel. : ) As a little recap here are a few distinctive parts of our day with Julia + Shaun.

 

First, we loved the Chicago wedding vintage venues Shaun + Julia chose. We spent some time when we first arrived on their wedding day with Julia at Chicago’s Hilton Palmer House Hotel, a world renown landmark hotel with French Baroque styling and metropolitan flair. A historic, grand and beautiful Chicago hotel… one we recommend staying at for future brides on their morning of the wedding or in booking for a reception. Julia, family members, and her bridesmaid ladies were finishing prepping and getting dressed at the historic hotel in one of their large suites with adjoining parlor room. The room was unbelievable with touches of luxury and warm tones of gold, yellow and carmel colored leathers. After Julia put her wedding dress officially on for the first time, both Ryan and I captured pre-ceremony bride wedding pictures of the glowing Miss Julia in the Palmer House Hotel Lobby and in the Palmer House Empire Ballroom. With the hotel complementing Julia’s yellow wedding color palette, she pre-planned continuity in selecting both venues. We love catering to each of our bride + groom’s wedding day distinctively, discussing and providing our Chicago wedding photographer services per each couples wedding day’s events. Staring the day with Julia at the hotel was a great idea… thanks Julia!

 

The second vintage venue of Salvage One, located in Chicago’s West Town Neighborhood is an unbelievable warehouse loft space where both Julia + Shaun’s ceremony and reception took place. The ceremony was a mix of both Shaun + Julia’s family cultures and incorporated were a few traditional Persian wedding elements. Their late afternoon summer ceremony proceeded in front of the west facing venue’s stained glass window, casting beams of sun, and a warm glow over their vows. A beautiful and picture perfect setting for their matrimonial moments!

 

Salvage One served as the perfect vintage plus modern loft style Chicago wedding venue for S+J. The venue provides the unique opportunity to utilize the store’s items for sale and architectural elements as backdrops, tables and chairs to define their own distinctive decorated wedding day style. This worked well in catering to both Julia’s vintage interests and the science fiction interest of Shaun. We loved shooting Chicago wedding photography at Salvage One one of the most unique chicago reception venue spaces. If you are a bride looking for a modern and vintage City wedding reception location, this vintage loft space offered S+J’s guests to move throughout two floors and with their inventory changing daily, we hear no two weddings are the same. Salvage One also offers an outdoor bonus space with their tucked away, outside courtyard which is a great space for either a unique Chicago outdoor ceremony or a location for the cocktail hour.

 

The decorated vintage theme was a mix of eclectic worldly with Persian inspired elements with lots of yellow + vintage items. Julia + Shaun provided some of vintage details, but most of the concepts were pulled together by Lauren Le Pine of Ryan Alexander Events. Lauren did an excellent job helping Shaun + Julia’s personalize the reception venue to their vintage styled wedding day tastes. With S+J moving to Chicago a few years ago from their home state of North Carolina and being newer to the Chicago area, hiring a planner to fill in the raw Chicago loft space worked out very well. Lauren Le Pine of Ryan Alexander Events selected items in a variety of earth tones which complemented yellow, the primary wedding color. The table decor elements displayed beautiful floral and vintage items in shades of yellow, combined with earth tones of blues, greens, browns and subtle softer shades of grays and whites. It was a refreshing color palette. Finding tons of reception wedding photography details to shoot was an easy job with such a beautiful table displays! Lauren provided a little extra fun for the reception guests by setting up an “in prompt to” vintage wedding photo booth in front of a chalkboard with a hand drawn robot. Bringing a little sci-fi touches to incorporate Shaun’s If you’re looking for a Chicago wedding planner, we highly recommend you check into Ryan Alexander Events.

 

Shaun + Julia are the sweetest couple! Both creative, they added a few personalized items to their wedding day. Julia is an artist in the kitchen… she prepared and baked her own wedding cake and the array of desserts for the wedding. Shaun created their custom invitations adding a touch his sci-fi interests as a personalized robotic theme. With under 100 guests, S+J’s reception was a fun and open atmosphere a bit dinner party like. The music was great and the food delicious! A buffet style and open seating, S+J offered heavy appetizers and h’orderves with various food stations. Signature dishes were provided by FIG Catering creating a mix of American, Middle Eastern and Latin American foods.

 

Congratulations Shaun + Julia and best wishes to the two of you! We hope you enjoy our selection of wedding day pictures and our favorites we highlighted above from your amazing wedding day! After the wedding ends, happily ever after begins. We hope are enjoying being married, creating your home in Chicago, and wish you the best in your future together.”

 

 

 

Shaun + Julia’s beautiful wedding day consisted of a group of amazing wedding vendors:

Ceremony + Reception: Salvage One, Chicago

Wedding Planner + Coordination: Lauren Le Pine of Ryan Alexander Events, Chicago

Couture Wedding Gown: Lezu Atelier from New York Bride & Groom, Charlotte, NC

Hotel + Bridal Photography Session: Palmer House Hotel, Chicago

Bridesmaids Dresses: Anthropologie, Chicago and Charlotte

Groom + Groomsmen Suits: J. Crew, Chicago and Charlotte

Buffet, Signature Dishes + Catering: FIG Catering, Chicago

Cake + Specialty Desserts: Julia Kazemian

Flowers: Asrai Garden, Chicago

DJ: Toast and Jam, Chicago

 

Revisit Julia + Shaun’s Chicago vintage engagement photography session and day around downtown Chicago back in April 2010.