“Nothing evokes more thoughts of a Spring wedding than blooming nature, crisp pastel colors such as yellow, bright colored fresh flower bouquets, and of course a glowing and smiling bride. The above photos are a few favorites from our two visits to Starved Rock State Park with Tom + Julia this year. We love spending time at Starved Rock in any season. In any time of the year, it’s always beautiful.

 

Tom + Julia decided to set a Winter engagement session date to capture pictures underneath one of the canyon’s frozen waterfalls. Without a doubt it was an amazing frozen formation, but as guessed without a doubt it was also very chilly. For the April wedding day, Tom and Julia were relieved at how beautifully warm the temperatures were and incredibly much warmer than our first visit. A Spring wedding date can often regrettably bring rain, but luckily the rain did hold off. Julia was very happy with the dry day and continuing on shooting outdoors. Despite the still incredibly windy day, the bride, groom and bridal party enjoyed our hike in the canyons to capture some picturesque photos up top of the amazing rock formations at the park. We also ventured into a fresh blooming, green grassy field. Next, we found a couple of places where not only was the view unbelievable, but the wind was calm. It was up top the rock cliff and bluff that Tom reminded us how much he loved how we captured a day regardless of the lack of sun and especially was in love with our cloudy sky shots. So it was perfect. I asked Julia about her and Tom’s unique DIY wedding favors project they incorporated into their day…

 

Julia wrote: “Our major DIY project was our wedding favors. Tom grew up making maple syrup with his dad and grandfather using the maple trees around his childhood home. To honor this tradition, we decided to make individual bottles of the maple syrup for each of our guests. As far as inspiration behind the day, we wanted a happy spring feel to our wedding. In keeping with this idea, I asked our florist for a wide variety of spring flowers that looked like they had been cut from a garden. I particularly wanted daffodils. Ever since I was young, my favorite poem has been William Wordsworth’s “Daffodils.” Both the poem and the flower perfectly capture the light-hearted and optimistic feeling we hoped to convey with our wedding day.”

 

Julia originally from Peoria and Tom from Milwaukee Wisconsin, the couple invited out of town friends and family to meet half way in between each of their family’s home towns. The decision on Starved Rock was for a number of reasons, but especially because of the abundant nature of the parks 2000+ acres of wooded trees, canyons, the Illinois River waterways area, and the park’s Northern Illinois location. Inside at Starved Rock, you’ll find a dark and cozy wooden lodge which is a popular reception venue for couple’s who have a love for nature, hiking & the outdoors and would like to carry that outdoorsy theme into their wedding day. During the engagement session, we had a chance to preview the couple’s catholic wedding ceremony venue of St. Mary’s Church located in downtown Utica, Illinois. The small town of Utica is charming as is the couple’s choice in the historic 1888 Catholic church also located in town… a picturesque setting the sanctuary was filled with day light and smiles.

 

We had an amazing time at the park with you Tom + Julia. We wish you the best on your many adventures together in life ahead. Hope you enjoy these preview pictures, more will be coming soon.”

 

 

 

 

Tom + Julia’s highlighted vendors included:
Catholic Ceremony: St. Mary’s Church, downtown Utica, Illinois
Wooden Lodge Reception: Starved Rock Lodge, Utica, IL
Bridal Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero
Dress Shop: Savvy Bride, Brookfield, WI
The Bride’s Glittery Platform Pump Heels: Enzo Angiolini a Nordstrom exclusive
Hair: Head Hunter Salon and Day Spa
Bridesmaids Dress: JS Boutique
Tuxedos: Savvy Bride, Brookfield, Wisconsin
Food + Catering: Starved Rock Lodge, Oglesby, Illinois
Transportation: Starved Rock Lodge Trolley
Wedding Favors: Individual maple syrup bottled and handmade by the bride + groom for each guest
Cake: Kelsey’s Kakes, Peru, IL
Flowers: Mary’s Special Touch Flowers, LaSalle, IL
Honeymoon: St. Lucia

“A BIG congratulations goes out to Bobby and his beautiful bride Brittany who were married at Lake Lawn Resort on the shores of Lake Delavan. Bobby + Brittany are a Chicago couple who planned for an out-of-state “mini destination wedding” in the Southern Wisconsin Geneva lakes area. Lake Lawn is about 90 minutes North of downtown Chicago. When Brittany first contact us about her wedding at Lake Lawn mentioning we’d have to travel, we couldn’t wait to hear more as we love traveling for unique weddings + not to mention we love the lakes in this area of WI. With a number of past visits boating Lake Geneva, Lake Delavan, Powers Lake, and other small lakes in Wisconsin before, spending time up in Wisconsin was an easy YES for us.

 

Bobby + Brittany’s wedding was a weekend long celebration. With about 300 guests attending their Wisconsin destination wedding, you can imagine the hotel’s corridors and hallways and the resort’s marina, pool, restaurants and grounds were filled with many familiar faces throughout the weekend. The wooded resort sits along the shores of Lake Delavan and is surrounded by rolling hills of Wisconsin woodlands. A beautiful, picturesque spot to have an outdoor lakefront wedding… but unfortunately with heavy rains on the evening before and on the wedding day morning, left behind was a wet lawn. So Bobby + Brittany opted to be married indoors in the resort’s Lake Lawn Room and nonetheless the room was breathtaking! The timber wooden beam lined room buzzed with family and friends, smiling, cheering and watching as Bobby + Brittany exchanged wedding vows. Even a tear ( or a few ) were shed… Brittany had mentioned there might be a few emotional moments.

 

With so many details on their wedding day, just few things we especially enjoyed … the rustic and luxury lodge hotel rooms which were cozy + woodsy decorated, discovering a few creative shooting spots around the resort for some unique wedding photography, and pictures of Brittany + Bobby together officially for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Stineman. We enjoyed staying on our toes while organizing our biggest bridal party yet this year ( the twenty five member bridal party ), photos at the marina out on the dock where we captured some dramatic shots against the overcast sky, romantic pictures on the lakefront park bench, and strolling along the resort’s lakeshore. Then indoors it was a must capturing a few poses under the lodge’s stone fireplace and moose before enjoying the final minutes of the cocktail hour. B+B’s wedding reception at the resort’s Geneva Ballroom was an amazing, jaw dropping setting with not one detail overlooked – the ballroom was beautiful! Each and every detail was refined with elegance, personalization, creativity and dashes of luxury. An elegant, fairytale reception setting with ambiance in shades of red and pink lighting and pastel centerpiece floral arrangements and stringing pearls + candles. Visually, the floating petals dropping from the dance floor ceiling created undeniably the most beautiful and romantic center stage setting we have yet to see this year. It was beautiful. Brittany says she developed many of the visual concepts for the wedding, but her coordinators from Speakers and Events R Us helped to execute them.

 

Highly recommended is the live entertainment by Standing Room Only. Both outside in the courtyard during the cocktail hour and later for the reception, the band continued to provide amazing, versatile wedding music with not only a variety of vocals and music styles, but an ensemble of talented musicians and instruments. If they aren’t already booked on your 2011 wedding date, they are surely a must have wedding vendor to check out. Nothing is better than live music at a wedding, and a good wedding band can be difficult to find. Brittany says she fell in love with the wedding band and surprisingly planned her date around their availability. Yes… they are that good!

 

To Bobby + Brittany, we hope you enjoy our pick of favorite blog photos and they create some lasting memories for the two of you. We are so glad Brittany that you found our wedding blog back last Fall. We wish to you love, joy and happiness… nothing but the best! Ryan and I are looking forward to hear about your bright futures ahead. We hope you will keep in touch, we had a great time working with you. And thanks again… we greatly appreciate your hospitality over the weekend including the invitation to the Sunday morning brunch. Thank you Bobby, Brittany and Leslie ( and many others ) in making Ryan and I feel like a member of the family.”

 

 

 

Bobby + Brittany hired a group of awesome wedding vendors:
Destination Wedding Location: Delavan, Wisconsin

Ceremony + Reception: Lake Lawn Resort, Wisconsin on Lake Delavan

Coordinator: Speakers and Events R Us, Milwaukee and Chicago

Ceremony Officiant: Reverend Marcia Boyer

Dress: Watters Dress, from Vanessa’s Modern Bride, Arlington Heights

Hotel + Bridal Suite Prep Location: Lake Lawn Resort, Lake Delavan, Wisconsin

Bridal Jewelry: Erin Cole

Bridesmaids Dress: Vanessa’s Modern Bride, Arlington Heights

Flower Girl Dress: Dear Lilly

Tuxedos: Joseph A. Bank

Caterer: Lake Lawn Resort, Lake Delavan, WI

Cake + Cupcakes: Bridal Cakes By Ann, Kenosha, WI

Flowers: Speakers and Events R Us, Milwaukee and Chicago

Cocktail Hour + Reception Band / Live Entertainment: Standing Room Only, Chicago

Honeymoon: Hawaii, arranged by Laurie Rovell, FCM Travel

 

 

 

Revisit our April downtown Chicago engagement photography session with Brittany + Bobby.

We are excited to announce Bobby+Brittany are a featured couple on the www.wedsavvy.com blog. Check’em out!