Being a seasoned Chicagoan, I, like most, people realized that after 3 months in the city, my car had been parked on the very same street corner for quite some time. It was a hard decision, but I sold my car almost 3 and a half years ago. Up until just recently, I have been quite content without a car, but now that wedding errands are starting to pick up, I began to feel the need for my own set of wheels. So, I compromised and signed up for Zip Cars, and it is amazing. Not only am I helping the planet by sharing cars with thousands of other Chicago residents, I am able to reserve a car basically at the drop of a dime for all of the running around I will be doing over the course of the next several months. The cars are clean, drive well, and parked all over the city. The process is unbelievably easy, 100 times easier than renting a car and you can make a reservation for as little as an hour. The rates are pretty reasonable, considering the car comes with a gas card… that’s right, you do not have to pay for gas. Just make your low annual payment and the car rents for under $10 an hour. Totally perfect for Chicago Brides like me that has important errands to run only a few times a month.
Zip Zip
RSVP Organization
OK, after months of creating the perfect RSVP card, I am now stuck with the one dilemma that every bride worries about, what if my guest does not fill it out properly? I have seen before where there is a small handwritten number on the back of the RSVP, but after spending the time to carefully craft and design my RSVP's I didn't want to have anything handwritten appearing on them. So, I used my sleuthing detective skills and came up with a solution. I just bought an invisible pen! The numbers will not show up on the cards, but upon their return, I will simply use my new tool to detect the number in place. This way even if my guest forgets to put their name, I can revert back to my records and determine who it came from. Brilliant I tell ya!
Art Fair Jewelry
Spring is here, and I am on a mission this summer to find my bridesmaids some one of a kind pieces at one of Chicago's many wonderful art fairs. I want to pick out something that reflects each individual girls, and stear clear of the ever-so-ordinary bridal store rhinstones. Some of the my bridesmaids love sporting colorful pieces, and some of the girls are a bit more conservative, so I am mixing am matching simple and dynamic jewelry.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Wells Street Art Festival June 14-15, Wells St & North Ave
Taste of Randolph June 20-22, Randolph Street
Custers Last Stand June 21-22, Evanston
Fountain Square Art Festival June 28-29, Evanston
Gold Coast Art Fair August 8-10, LaSalle Street
Birds of a Feather, Eat Cake Together
I have not decided if we will want to go this route for our cake topper yet, but I came across the most incredible little alternative to your standard, not so inspiring, porcelain cake topper. These little birds are hand made by Ann Wood, a Brooklyn artist that has some of the most incredible little creatures you have ever seen. I will definitely keep her in mind, and wanted to share my amazing find with all you Chicago Brides.
Pieces of our Day
I have been searching for a unique way to create a guest book. I decided to make a mosaic table using tiles signed by our guests. I am using white unfinished tiles that are 1.5" square. To fill in, I will use colorful mosaic tiles that can be purchased at any craft store. I will also start shopping for a table I like, and will have a recessed level routered on the table top, leaving about an inch border. Our guests will signed each tile individually with a permanent black sharpie marker, and the will be stored safely on our wedding night. I will later finish each one with a sealant so they will not smear. I can then start arranging the tiles on my table top, and finish with a light amount of grout. I will also allow room in the center for one larger tile with our names, and wedding date. This will make for a great conversation piece, and will be perfect for displaying our wedding photos in our new home.
Filed with Love
In addition to my flash drive, I have also seen an accumulation of physical paperwork that is very important in regards to wedding planning. Being the overly organized gal that I am, I do have a file cabinet at home, but I found that my one ambiguous Wedding file was soon filling up and organization across categories was lacking. I found a solution that works absolutely perfect. I purchased a file tote, and have sub folders for all of our vendors, and documents. Since the file tote has 7 compartments, I generalized into the most used categories: Church, Reception Site, Photographer, DJ, Flowers, Transportation and Attire. This way each of the main vendors has their separate folder, making it very simple to keep organized for the ongoing meetings and correspondence. This is also a way to keep handy all of our swatches and color palettes for each visit with a different vendor. I also found some room to fit in a wedding receipts envelope and a to-do list. If I have something that I do not need to reference as much, I throw it into that existing Wedding file of my home file cabinet. The file tote is great for a bride that seems to be running in all different directions.
Shue Hue
If you are a stylish bride, try pairing your gown with a beautiful pair of colorful shoes. This is the perfect way to incorporate a bit of fun into your all-too-white attire. If you chose not to go with an extreme hue, try a metallc heel that will still give a bit of contrast to your ensamble. This is a great wow factor, and you can have so much fun with it.
