It’s gonna be a BIG day tomorrow! The Soirée team is splitting up and celebrating two fabulous weddings! Congrats to Megan and Adam, getting married at Newberry Library…and Samantha and Mike getting married at Chicago History Museum!
Prepping all our decor…..busy, busy, busy!!
TIGF and Happy wedding Saturday to all the June 23 brides and wedding teams out there!
xo-tm
We are soooo excited to be featured on Style Me Pretty today! What a fantastic bit of news to find out as I was ending a new client meeting at Starbucks!
I can’t wait to share some of the photos with you – Click here for the full post:
The Murphy Auditorium Wedding by Mattson Pictures | Style Me Pretty
Renee and Phil were such a joy to work with! They are so in love – but also so sweet and adorable! Renee will always hold a special place in my heart – because she was my first (ever) client! That’s right – she took a leap of faith and signed with me before I had coordinated any weddings! However – she was so far ahead of the game – by the time her September 17th wedding rolled around – I had coordinated several weddings! Either way, she will always be special to me! (thanks Renee!)
I loved her dress! It was a sample Amsale, and thank goodness for Dress Doctor – they were able to alter it to fit the petite bride!
The inside of St. Michael’s church of Old Town was absolutely breathtaking! I just think wedding when I see it! Oh, and how adorable are the card catalog drawers for escort cards?! Luckily Phil’s mom is a librarian and she had a card catalog in her personal collections of antiques!
Who doesn’t love cake pops?! What a fun and sweet favor treat!
Jeweled toned flowers by Kloeckner‘s – along with old books made for the perfect centerpieces.
By now you guys know that I love giving my couples personalized cake forks as a wedding gift. How cute are these? “I Do – Me Too”
Isn’t The Murphy absolutely exquisite? Maybe I am a little biased, but The Murphy has to be one of my favorite venues in Chicago! (look for more of The Murphy coming soon – my wedding on the blog!)
again – for the full gallery check out the link from Style Me Pretty:
The Murphy Auditorium Wedding by Mattson Pictures | Style Me Pretty.
Hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did!
All photos by Mattson Pictures
Although Christmas decorations started to go up in mid-November, there is just something about taking advantage of the long Thanksgiving weekend to pull out all the boxes of Christmas ornaments and decorations… and shop for a tree!
Last year we had a new puppy, and felt that between the rambunctious (and LARGE) puppy and our instinctively curious cat – a full sized tree would be a bad idea. So I reluctantly put out my “single girl” tabletop tree with hopes that this year we would do it up right – with a live tree!
I am excited to announce that this is the first year to have a real (live) Christmas tree!! We feel so grown up. 🙂
here it is…(notice the cat)…even at age 9…still curious!
another…and again the cat, getting even closer..ohhhh boy!
This is an 8ft Fraser Fir. The needles are soft and rarely fall, they also smell great! I was on the mission for a skinny tree. I love skinny trees! They have a modern look and are also more practical for a condo. We got this one at Old Town Gardens. They have a great selection and are also our neighbors. We like to support the business in our community!
So I am pretty sure finding a pine cone in your Christmas tree is good luck! 😉
instant ornament!
So of course, being a wedding planner and event designer, I love to decorate!! I had to splurge a little on some new (larger) ornaments for our full sized tree. But I got the ones that are shatter resistant (read: good for a house with the wrath of a Berner dog tail! and also great for storing)
I had some decor from last year that I can still use. But I am excited about our new family tradition – collecting Christmas tree ornaments from our vacations. Don’t get me wrong, I do love chachkies from my travels (well, any kind of chachkies really!). But recently I realized the best place to display a (quirky and often non-useful) souvenir is on your Christmas tree! You can decorate your Christmas tree however you want! That is an area of your home that you can be quirky and creative – however you choose to be. So we liked the idea of adding to the collection with each vacay – and also reminiscing on past travels while we trim the tree!
We got this one during our trip to London this past April…
The elf with the Danish flag is from our trip to Copenhagen, Denmark. The disco balls are from Rick’s 70’s themed birthday party last year!
Throw in some ornaments that I have been holding on to these past few years…
We picked this one up at Peet’s (Rick’s favorite coffee)
…an angel at the top – a gift from my mom that she hand-painted..
and voila! the finished product!
(btw – check out etsy for tree skirts! that is where I ordered mine! hand-made and much more affordable than the less-personal store bought ones!)
Don’t forget to decorate your dining room table or buffet – or both!
I heart mercury glass! btw – West Elm has tons right now if you wanna stock up 🙂
and remember to get a poinsettia!!
Stockings, candles and mantel garland are also a nice touch!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! Happy Holidays! 😀
xo-tm
Do you have any holiday traditions?
What is your favorite ornament or holiday decoration?
Do you prefer real or fake Christmas trees?
Soirée to Z. 