Category Archives: Wedding Planning

Erin and Brian’s Chicago Wedding

Posted in Dating, Love, Wedding Planning by

This year’s wedding season came and went for us rather quickly. We had three weddings from March-June and now, sadly, they’re over! I really love going to weddings, but I will also enjoy not having to travel this summer.

The two most recent wedding I attended were here in Chicago for two of my girlfriends. First was Erin’s. Erin is a college friend of mine who also happens to work with Luke…she even introduced us at her birthday party three years ago!

Erin made a gorgeous, elegant and very classic bride. Her reception followed suit too! It was held at the Union League Social Club, which really embodies old-world Chicago with the dark wood, chandeliers and amazing artwork.

They had a live band that got everyone dancing…

Luke and I loved the slow songs…

My favorite part of Erin’s reception was when her father-in-law took the stage to play some traditional Irish music. Brian, Erin’s husband, and his family took center-stage to show off their Irish step dancing skills.

Everything about Erin’s wedding was gorgeous, classy and fun! – just like Erin herself :)

I must say, one special moment of the evening for me was when Erin’s mom stopped me (we’ve never met) to tell me she is a abattylife reader! That was pretty cool.

Mrs. Fitzgerald and Erin…you put on an amazing wedding! Thanks for inviting us.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of the other wedding I attended recently- black tie and the Four Seasons, ooh lala!

The Makings of a Memorable Wedding

Posted in Party Ideas, Wedding Planning by

Weddings that are planned and personalized down to the last detail are all the rage these days. As I’ve written before, it’s really hard to live up to those expectations when you’re on a budget and don’t have endless time to DIY everything.

Now that my wedding is over, I’ve realized that it’s not making every little detail personalized that makes a wedding memorable, it’s about the one or two things that really stand out in people’s memory. Think about it. When you recap your experiences at someone’s wedding, do you say “they had 10 things that were hand-painted with their monogram!”

Probably not. You likely WOULD say though, “They did XYZ that I’ve never seen done at a wedding before. It was so cool.”

For Luke and I, the special things we wanted to stand our from our wedding were our swing dance, the personal notes we wrote to each of our guests and Batman-themed table names. Everything else was just icing on the cake.

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I think it worked too, because we’ve gotten a lot of comments from people saying they remembered our “details” and were impressed with the level of thoughtfulness our wedding had.  Honestly though, we really didn’t focus on the little things like favors, monogrammed matches or centerpieces at all! It was just those few personal touches we paid attention to.

What aspects of your wedding did you focus on? What ended up being the things your guest remembered most?

Our Wedding Video!

Posted in Wedding Planning by

Our amazing videographers, Ashley and Brian Newman, finished editing a montage of our wedding!

(I’d suggest watching it full-screen to avoid ads popping up at the bottom.)

At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted/needed a wedding video. It wasn’t really in the budget and I despise seeing videographer’s ruin weddings with their crazy lighting and excessive crew.

But then a few of my friends told me they were really happy they had a video to remember the moments from the day. So I used my resources and reached out to Jeremy Lawson, my photographer, and he suggested I connect with the Newman’s who were just starting to do weddings.

I’m so happy I did, because they offered to film and edit our wedding for FREE since it was their first one! They were a dream to work with…no crazy crews, no appearing in the background of all my photos, no bothering me during the day. They are the biggest sweethearts too.

If you’re in the Chicago-area and are looking for budget-friendly videographers, Ashley and Brian are tops. Their rates are $500 (WELL below the normal $2,000-$3,000 most videographers charge) and they do a wonderful job capturing and editing the day into a montage.

Here’s their email if you’re interested! [email protected] Tell them Liz sent you. :)

Our Pictures Are Up!

Posted in Wedding Planning by

I’m sooo excited! Jeremy Lawson emailed me today to tell me our pictures are up on his blog. Click here to see them. It’s a sampling of Jeremy’s fav photos. When we get the rest, I’ll be sure to post more on here.

Love that Abattylife.com got a shout out! Be sure to leave Jeremy and me lots of comments…us bloggers like that. :)

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