This is clipaj's Red Wedding!

My future cousin-in-law, sister-in-law, and friend have all purchased their dresses at the Brides Room in Wheeling, IL as have I and we have all had the most amazing experiences. They only see one bride at a time so you have their complete undivided attention. They are so good at taking your mental picture and picking dresses that are 100% what you were picturing. They really know what they are doing and unlike all of the bridal salons downtown they do not discourage you if your budget is on the low end. I did not want to spend more than $1000 on my dress and they pulled 10 or so dresses that were exactly what I wanted and they were ALL under my budget. I have NEVER come in under budget on anything I planned for the wedding until that point!

Just my general vision for what I picture for my wedding. I know red is not great for a spring wedding but I have always loved the idea of red with black and white accents. I think it is so romantic!

I like the idea of a...

white cake with black ribbon and red rose petals

or

a white cake with red and black flower petals.

We have not picked out our invitations yet but I really like wedding paper divas selections in our color scheme. They are super affordable which is great because we decided from the begining that invitations would not be something we wanted to spend a lot fo money on. But the design is still really nice.

www.weddingpaperdivas.com

I am thinking that my bridesmaids will all wear claret colored dresses. I am going to pick about 4 styles I like and let them choose what they are most comfortable with. My maid of honor will wear the same color dress but with a black sash.

I am a little torn between that idea or just the idea of having them all wear a claret dress with a black sash to be more consistent with the groomsmen who will be in black suits with claret colored vests and ties.

I found a lot of really cute bridesmaids dresses on www.dessy.com and the place I got my dress at will give my bridal party a discount.

I would like to have my hair in a low bun with the veil placed underneath. I am going to look into sharing a veil with my future sister-in-law who is getting married at the end of August. It would just be finger tip length with some Swarovski crystal accents to match my dress.

This is a great cover band. They play a lot of really up to date music and they pack the dance floor. We saw them at a local bar in the area and loved them.

www.spokenfour.com

We had already met with three photographers when we met Tony at Life on Prints. We didn't see anything that we were completely in love with until we saw his work. They do not advertise so I was lucky that someone at my work had a friend who had just gotten married and used them. She suggested I meet with them and there pictures are amazing. They capture so much of the emotion from the day that looking though other couples albums you felt like you were there with them.

www.lifeonprints.com

We will be getting married on the rooftop with the skyline in the back ground and then follow the ceremony with cocktail hour on the roof. The reception will be in the ballroom on the next floor down but we will have use of the roof for the entire evening. This venue has the most amazing view of the Chicago skyline, we fell in love with it right away!

I am thinking either red flowers with black and white ribbons like one of these pictures, or red flower pomanders with black ribbon to hang over the side of the aisle seats.

I love the idea of all roses but in different shades of red. I would like to have some kind of black and white accent such as ribbons around the vases. I would like to try to do low centerpieces if possible but I could change my mind! I love the idea of the enclosed white pillar candles with red rose petals around the base as decoration for each end of the bars.

I would like to carry a bouquet of red roses in different shades of red. For my bridesmaids I am thinking a single stemmed flower such as a gerber daisy or something that could stand on it's own and not look to minimal. The flower girl will just carry a red pomander down the aisle since we are on a rooftop and would like to avoid throwing petals.