Wedding Photos at Kitchen Chicago

I am still waiting for my photos from the wedding, but I do have a few photos shot just outside and inside (by the staircase) of Kitchen Chicago! They came out great! Kitchen Chicago is a fantastic venue, and the outside made it very rustic/urban meets chic.

Plus take a peek at my new blog and wedding photography website: www.melissaisaiphotography.com

194 days...

Until the wedding!

I can't believe it's already 2012. I'm sitting here typing up this blog a year and one day after Joe purposed to me. Ahh such sweet memories.

I have really been slacking in the planning department. I planned to do some planning in December, but with work and Christmas, I never really felt up to it. I am finally anxious and ready to continue the planning. Below are things I have already booked/purchased.

1. Venue - Kitchen Chicago
2. DJ -  Windy City Mix
3. Photographer - AE Photography
4. Dress - David's Bridal

My next goal is the table/chair rentals and catering. This has been ridiculously difficult. Everything is so expensive. I knew what I was getting into, but it doesn't make it any easier. My biggest worry is the room transformation after the ceremony into the reception. I've been watching a lot of Whose Wedding is it Anyway? and it makes me long for a wedding planner who can make everything go smoothly. Those are just so expensive. 

I am now trying to find somebody who can make jewelry. I know what necklace of my dreams looks like, I just need somebody to make it!

My small goals are to create a timeline of the day and brainstorm on what the decor will consist of. It will help to book the rentals first, so that I know exactly how much I have. 

I need to finalize the save-the-dates and send them out this month!

Bridesmaids dresses need to be picked out (this month?) and purchased soon

Ahh, I also need to start eating better and losing weight! This starts tomorrow! 

So much to do!

What I've said yes to!

My goal was to get the major parts of the wedding booked before school starts. I know that once school starts, wedding planning will be harder to do. So here is what I've said yes to.

1. Kitchen Chicago! I'm still very happy with my choice. If you google "Kitchen Chicago Weddings" it now comes up in a google image search. That made me so excited to see two/three other weddings there. It made me go crazy with ideas on how to decorate the space. 

(screenshot of a google image search)

1. I said yes to the dress! After going to a total of three bridal shops, I had to go back to the first one and try it on again. It felt very Melissa. That dress described me perfectly. I must say that I went to another bridal shop which I will do a review on, and it came close. It was so close that, like I said, I had to go back to the first place to try it on to compare while everything was fresh in my mind. A week later I purchased my dress. I'm so silly. I have no idea why it takes me so long to make up my mind. I rang the good luck bell that every bride rings when they've found their dress at David's Bridal. It was a good feeling. I said yes to the dress! 

1. Photography is very important to me. After a lot of drama with the photographers of my dreams, we worked everything out and I signed the contract. Yes, you heard me drama. We had a bump in the road. I have to suggest that when e-mails start getting lengthy it is best to insist that you call them. I had asked to, but she kept e-mailing and it came to a point where she misunderstand me and things got a little bit crazy. I still don't know went wrong exactly. Anyway, we "hugged it out" as my brother would put it. I called the husband (in the husband and wife team) and went over the package. I e-mailed her. She seemed very friendly towards the end, and we booked them. It will be a huge relief when I get the hard copy of the contract. They are amazing though. I love their work. I am excited to work with them. I get an engagement session as well, which I am stoked about. 

1. DJ! We just met up with a DJ on Friday. I am about to e-mail him to see when we can sign the contract. I love the price and the fact that he is going to give us a discount if we pay in full! He looked like a DJ (haha) and has been doing it for 18 years. With the company he has, it's been 5 years. He is all about customer service and making sure the wedding runs smoothly. If the kitchen is dragging and the timeline seems off, he is more then willing to talk to the kitchen. There is no extra charge for us if we need ceremony help with sound (since the reception and ceremony are at the same place). I'm so excited. There is always a back-up DJ on call and equipment. They have insurance and the price just seems right. The DJ I met with the be the DJ on the day of the wedding and he is hispanic! It is important to me that he is bilingual with his mom and some of our guests that are spanish speaking only. I need somebody who can play spanish music without me holding their hand on which songs to play. I'm going to e-mail him right now I'm so excited! The price is way under $1000 which is hard to find in the wedding world. If the reception is 4 hours or 6, there is no extra charge! If you are interested the website is www.windycitymix.com.

This was too cute to pass up.

I'm so excited that I've gotten so much done. Despite the fact that I hate the fact that I start school next week, I feel ready-ish. 

Kitchen Chicago it is!

The venue has been booked!
Joe and I are super excited.

This also means that we have our wedding date. Drumroll please! haha

July 21, 2012

Corny picture, I know. :)

It is a huge relief to have signed the contract and to have picked a day. It's one thing I can finally cross off the really long to-do list. 

It looks like the ceremony and reception will all be there. I e-mailed my old church about the possibility of having our wedding there, but they are trying to sell it and are no longer booking weddings. I was devastated. It's ok though, Kitchen Chicago is fantastic. 

The next thing on our list as far as the venue goes, is trying to figure out if we want a sit-down dinner. It means 130 people will be invited. Unfortunately, that does not include some friends and co-workers. We now have to decide if we want a cocktail reception for up to 200 people or a sit down dinner. It's very tricky. I have been considering, if there is room in the budget, to do a dinner with the parents and bridal party only. That gets a little bit tricky, but imagine if we were able to do this at the Signature Room!? It would be fantastic!  We will have to see. I am getting a lot of negative thoughts on it. I don't know...

I made my first appointment for wedding dress shopping. I am going on Saturday morning to David's bridal. I feel like it's important for me to start there. There were about 7 dresses that I liked. I am super excited and very nervous. We'll have to wait and see what happens! 

What I can't give up (for a wedding on a budget) and tips for planning

Planning a wedding on a budget is proving to be a huge challenge. The average wedding costs around $25,000! That's a lot of money to spend on one day! That is more money that I have to spend. So here begins my journey of a wedding on a $15,000 budget. I know, that sounded like a lot to me too in the beginning, but that number proves to be a challenge in this city.


There are a few things I cannot give up!

1. It must be in the city of Chicago. I'm not quite sure why that means so much to me, but it does. Maybe it's because of the fact that Joe and I spend so much of our time outside the 'burbs. I go to school and Joe works in some of the greatest parts of the city! Not to mention that we spend a lot of our free time there. Chicago is amazing, and I want to say I do! Right here in the windy city.
2. I do not want to have it in a banquet hall or a hotel.  Nothing irritates more then a windowless, gloomy,  carpet covered, chair covered, room. It is not in my definition of beauty. Am I being too hard? I guess I can thank my artist eye for that. haha
3. I just want to have fun! It is supposed to be the most important day of our lives right? That doesn't mean everything has to be a traditional cookie cutter wedding. Joe and I want to have fun with the people that surround us. We want to laugh and start our lives officially together with a bang! 

I have talked about Kitchen Chicago before. Online, I had bumped into a fellow blogger who just got married for $10,000. She got married in Kitchen Chicago, and I am now determined, to not give up one of my requests. It is so hard to not fall into the whole banquet hall thing. I could easily get the hook-up from two people! It just isn't what Joe and I envision. So seeing another blogger go through exactly what I am going through really helps! What helps even more is seeing it decorated! I went to the place to visit with my parents. I'll post photos soon... It really helps transform the place! To see photos now, go to her blog. She has just updated photos from when she got married!

Kitchen Chicago is a beautiful space, and I think it is the one. 

The next step is finding out where I can rent everything. I have a notebook full of prices from different companies to compare and see which is cheaper. The dilemma Joe and I have is if we want a sit down dinner for 130 people or a cocktail reception for 150 people. At this point the cocktail may be just a bit cheaper and we could have more people come! Our list doesn't even include co-workers or any important extras that our parents would like to invite. At the same time, my parents like the idea of the sit down more. They are old school and that is the more formal route. Joe and I are 50/50 right now. 

As soon as we decide the smaller details and what companies to go with, we will be going to Kitchen Chicago (most likely) to book and save our date (late July of 2012)!  We want to do this by the end of the month. I am so excited.

Tips...

I do have to say, planning a wedding on a budget has caused many headaches. It has been stressful. I'm still stressed now. It will take a lot of work, but I am determined now. I think we can do this! The times I am not so sure though, Joe has been really supportive. That has really helped. The best thing in planning though, is doing your research. It takes a lot of time, but it helps to see what all our options are. I have probably looked at every venue in Chicago (other then banquet halls and hotels). I emailed them and then ruled them out when they had a ridiculous minimum or cost per person. Joe and I made a spreadsheet on excel or we just wrote down all the  prices to all the venues we liked and broke it down to how much each thing cost (like venue, food, alcohol, tables, chairs, and so on). This helped us visually see what everything would cost even if it was just an estimate. Some places where cheap, but then you had to go through their bartenders and purchase their alcohol packages which rose the price a lot. This brings me to some more tips on what to think about.

Some things to look at when you are just beginning your search are...

1. Rental cost / minimum (this applies towards restaurants)
2. Don't forget to add about 31% to your venue if it is an all inclusive one. Sure it may not cost that much, but when you add an extra 31% for tax and gratuity it all adds up. 
3. If it just the space you are renting do you have to go through their caterers? This is why Joe and I turned so many down. Their required list was way more then we could afford! The place wasn't so bad but the cost of the food is the same a place that already includes everything. It got to be a little bit crazy. 
1. A suggestion for this is to get catering from a cheaper place. Joe and I are seriously considering Gino's East! It is more affordable and it is food we really love. My point? Have an open mind for food and think outside the box.
4. Think about if your guests have parking. Joe and I visited some places and a con was the cost for parking or the fact that there wasn't any parking at all in that neighborhood. That was a turn off. I can't afford shuttle busses like they suggested! 
5. Again, DO YOUR RESEARCH! 
6. Don't forget to check to see if they offer discounts of Fridays and Sundays!

Some of these may be really obvious to some, but they were tips I wish somebody told me when I started to e-mail vendors and find out pricing information. 

That's all for now. I do have two/three more venues to post and write about for brides on a budget! That will be coming soon!  

A New Leaf - Wedding Venue #2

When I was searching for lofty type spaces in Chicago, I stumbled upon A New Leaf. The pictures I saw caught my attention, and I knew I had to see what it looked like in person. I'll talk about the pros and cons after the pictures. Again, you can get a better a feel about the place from the pictures. If you want to view their website, you can click here to get more information.

40 of these chairs and 8 tables are available for use. 

These are the stairs that lead to the dance floor.

Stairs again. I thought they looked cool. 

This is where Joe and I would put the dance the floor. It was large enough for sure! 

If you look at the previous picture you can see that there are two steps that go into a random hallway. 

There are a couple of windows, and I thought it made a good photo op. 

Hallway

This is the first floor in the front of the space. I thought it was another perfect photo op!

Dance floor again!

This is the first floor. 

There are stairs that lead to a second floor. (Not the dance floor, that is separate).

Stairs.

This is a video I took of the space. I think I showed the place best with this video. 

Ok so this place was nice. We knew from the moment we walked in, it was too small for a sit down dinner for 130 people. After that we kind of strolled around the place and took pictures. 

Pros:

1. It was nice and those tables/chairs were pretty.
2. Good photo op with the store front. 
3. The place is located in Lincoln Park. Since we want a Chicago city wedding, the location is perfect! 
4. Multiple floors can be beneficial. 
5. You get all floors as well as the courtyard garden. Good for smokers I guess? It wasn't breathtaking or anything, but perhaps it looks better in the summer? 

Cons:

1. The place was too small! After seeing Kitchen Chicago I realized it is possible to have a sit down dinner so A New Leaf turned me off. Even for a cocktail reception, the people would be scattered on any of the three floors!
2. The dance floor I talked about was completely cut off from the rest of the place! What if some people don't want to dance? I won't get to see them or pull them onto the dance floor! This was a big turn off. 
3. The place only has 40 chairs!!! Those chairs are so beautiful, but even for a cocktail reception I think I would like more then 40 chairs. 
4. You have to pick from their list of caterers. It is an extended list which I appreciated, but I don't like their list very much. 
5. No parking lot. This wouldn't be that big of a deal but Joe and I had a hard time finding parking for one car! Image a whole wedding party trying to find parking in the Winter! Yikes! That was a turn off. We are trying to save money so Valet is not something we want to consider and want to avoid if possible. The only parking garages are a few blocks away.

The price is neither a pro or con. It is a con when comparing it to Kitchen Chicago, but it isn't horrible. It is $3500 for a Sunday and $4000 for a Saturday night which is better for your budget then other lofts I've seen online. It really adds up for the bride on a budget when adding food from their list though. That is why we decided that we will not be having our wedding at A New Leaf.

Check out a fantastic photographer for your wedding day here!  

Search for the perfect venue! Kitchen Chicago

So far Joe and I have visited 3 venues.

I'm just going to talk about one today. That one is Kitchen Chicago.

I stumbled upon another bloggers blog. That Chicago blogger is BudgetBridesChicago.

She had found Kitchen Chicago and I knew that I had to check it out. I made an appointment to view the space with my fiance. Pictures can describe what I saw better then I can with words... so below are several pictures I took with my trusty iphone! 

The space has two floors. This is the view from the balcony/2nd floor.

This is where we were thinking of having a dance floor. 

HAHA that's Joe talking to the owner. 

I really liked the windows. I think some color lighting can set the mood.

First floor. (Those tables are available for use)

I loved the high ceilings!

The stairway can make a great platform for a speaker? Maybe?

Good photo op? I think so!

Taken with my iphone 4 fisheye lens.

Joe is eating the city. This window is in the hallway outside of the space where the bathrooms are.

This door looks way cooler in person. 

Good photo op #2? I think so again!

Me down by the elevators.

Fire escape also makes for a great photo. I am thinking the photographer can stand from the p.o.v that I took the picture from and Joe and I can hang out on the stairs.  

Around the corner. Another photo op. I am thinking grunge (real chicago) meets chic.

Joe and I are hoping we can have access to the roof. haha.

So as you can see there are plenty of great photo opportunities. Joe and I also really like the idea that we can put a lot of input into what goes on in the space. We can decorate it however we want. There are no restrictions on the space, and we can use whatever caterers/vendors we want. This is a really big perk. A lot of lofty type spaces have certain restrictions and you have to pick from their cater list which means food will be pricey. 

Ideas for the space? 

Food = Joe and I 100% if we pick Gino's East.

• Cheese sticks (my fav)
• Hot Wings (Joe's fav)
• Pizza - Stuffed crust of coarse (my fav which is also very Chicago)
• Fettucini Alfredo (Joe's fav)

Decor 

• Black and white
• Table seating - Instead of table numbers there will be pictures taken by myself on each table from different places in Chicago. Please be seated at the blue line please. HAHA! 
• In the hallway (where that cool door/window is) we are thinking about having chairs and pictures on the wall to represent the way he purposed to me! haha

There is also another room not pictured. There is another bathroom in that extra space. There is a blue coach. We are thinking that we could put a photo-booth in that spot. It may be a DIY photo-booth with a digital camera on a tripod, props?, and a backdrop. 

Those are all the ideas I have for now. I am uber excited to see all these ideas and plans to fall into place.

I don't know if this is the place Joe and I will pick, but I do like how it inspired Joe and I to get creative...

the best part? The space is only $2000! Yeah, you heard me correctly. 

'Till the next blog, 

Melissa

melissaisaiphotography.com