It was Memorial Day weekend. The sun was shining in Chicago. It was the day I married my best friend. Tom and I got married after years of friendship and more years of dating throughout college and medical school.
I relished every moment of planning our wedding and every second of the actual day. I am happy to be reliving it through HAP wedding month!
Our wedding took place at my home church of St. Paul Lutheran in Mt. Prospect, IL and the reception was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington Heights which I chose for its modern but blank canvas room.
I wore a Tara Keely dropped waist, sweetheart neck gown with sheered lace and silk organza with a simple cathedral length veil.
The bridal bouquet was made up of yellow roses and green orchids while the bridesmaids carried a spring green bouquet filled with hydrangea, spider mums and looped bear grass.
The bridesmaids donned yellow and black chiffon gowns in three different styles while the boys looked red carpet ready in their all black tuxes and spring green ties.
The fan-shaped programs were handmade with the help of my family in a labor of love. Cutting and tying ribbons took some time but it was worth it.
In between the ceremony and the reception, the wedding party stopped at our favorite Italian beef joint, Johnnies. We enjoyed a beef (dry, not juicy) and Italian ice and took some great pictures!
The tables were covered in yellow and black linens and the chairs with black slip covers and yellow sashes with a kimono knot tie.
Tall centerpieces with yellow roses, green hydrangea and spring greens decorated the table along with wine bottles with a personal monogram as table numbers.
Green and black name cards were inserted into cut wine corks, cut by the groom himself. Yes, he really does love me.
We honored all the wonderful marriages in our family’s history by displaying photos on the guest book table.
Tom and I cut into a fresh strawberry and banana cake while the rest of the guests enjoyed yellow and green cupcakes.
We enjoyed the talents of our friends by dancing our first dance to “In the Moment” by Sister Hazel, played and sung by the wedding party and walked in to the stand-up comedy of our great friend Jack.
Our beautiful three-week old niece was our tiny flower girl!
All photography props go to the fabulous Brian Kinyon of Brian Kinyon Photography.
It was truly an amazing day that we will cherish for the rest of our lives!
Subscribe by Email
hauteapplepie.com 
What a fun day!
And a double woot woot to BK Photography!
Thank you for sharing such a personal day. All the details were beautiful. Congratulations! Wishing you a “happily ever after” beginning.
Love seeing these pictures again – such happy memories of a wonderful day!
Wow…this is gorgeous. The ode to weddings’ past is so classy and you and your husband’s love is extremely apparent. Well done!
I love your escort card holders and table numbers. I am actually planning to do the same thing for my wedding in September, I have already purchased wine corks and bottles; my question to you is how did you cut the wine corks? Is there a certain knife that you found worked best?
Hi Megan! We bought a carving knife. My husband sliced a small chunk at an angle so the corks would stand and then inserted the knife lengthwise across the top to put the cards in. I think we ended up putting a small dab of glue on the cards to make sure they would stand. Not going to lie, the cork cutting was a labor of love, it took some time, but totally worth it! Good luck on your wedding and congrats!