Info for the Wedding Guests

Couple of things:

- If you're staying at the hotel during our wedding weekend

- DON'T bring a car - it costs 55$/night to park at my hotel.

- The pool is closed right now for a major overhaul. We have an agreement to let our guests use the pool at another nearby hotel. Check with the Front Desk on the exact hotel.

- If you're driving to the wedding reception, street parking is limited but available. We will have a Valet service that will valet your car for 10$.

- LOTS of people have asked about the dress code for the party. Think "very nice cocktail party". Not formal, but by no means casual.

More to come!

Next up, things to do in Chicago!!!!

T-minus 2 months and counting....

We're just under 2 months away from our big-ass party! (It's a party, and me and my big ass will be there...hence....)
Anyway, lately we've been making some final decisions on certain things. Centerpieces have been decided, we're deciding on the table linens, looking over place cards, I'm combing through TONS of old pictures for a display collage, we're trying to find the right guest book, we decided on a cake topper (reminder for self: have to ORDER the cake toopper we decided on!).

Oh, AND WE BOOKED A DJ!
We're super excited about this. Her name is Emily, and she is super-duper cool and does this for a living. She was recommended by a theatre friend and we just love her. She'll be able to keep things organized and flowing smooth - and she's on board with our music tastes and decisions. I think she's goingt o make the night unbelieveable!

But here's the best thing --- as of about 8am this morning, the invites are all in the mail!!!! My tongue tasted like crap after licking all those envelopes, but hey, it's DONE!

Some Wedding pictures

I just realized my last post (which was in JULY) said that I would post pics from the Wedding day.... and I never did! My bad! We took a BUNCH of pictures, but here are a handful of the best. (Also, I'll be working on some more posts in the coming weeks with Reception details, Hotel info, and starting some posts about "Things to do in Chicago". )

Anyway.... On with the pics!!!

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Here we are outside the Marriage Court entrance - we're about 15 minutes away at this point.

Almost there!!! This is right outside the Judge's chambers, waiting our turn. We're now about 5 minutes away!!!!

The Vows!

The Rings!!!!

The Judge! (isn't she adorable?)

And lastly, here's a super-duper-awesome cake our friend Pontip made for the people we had over the house after the ceremony it was delicious!

We went to the Chapel....

...and we got married!

Part one of the Wedding Escapades of Dianna & Sara included getting hitched at the Chicago Marriage Court on Saturday 7/16. We headed down around 830am. Court is only open 9am-12pm and we knew there'd be a line, and we just wanted to be sure we got IN!!!!

We got there about 8:45am (Man, there is NO traffic on Lake Shore Drive at that hour on a Saturday!), and there was already a long line. We parked and then headed over --- and then we realized that even though there was about 35-40 people in line, there were a lot of families and groups -- so all in all only about 10 couples ahead of us! Not bad!

When the building opened, they led us inside down to the court and we got in line there. It took about 30 minutes to get inside the court's waiting room. Not much different than being in line, but we were able to sit, and enjoy a tiny amount of air conditioning.

Joining us were Sara's mom & Dad, her cousin Pam, her close friend Pontip, and our mutual friend Chris - who took video.

Once we finally got IN the Judge's chambers, it was VERY fast.

I cried a bunch (surprise, surprise), and then it was done!
We took a pic with our super awesome Judge, and then we were MARRIED!!!!

I'll post some pics in a seperate post later.

Rings & things (part TWO!)

Rings have been ordered, and are on their way....from Isreal....

We didn't realize when we saw them, fell in love and ordered them, that they would be coming from so far. But, if all goes well, they should be here a few days before we do our courthouse ceremony. Cross your fingers for me though, wouldja?


Oh, here's what they'll look like:

























It's recycled silver, and it's wrapped with recycled green wire. We LOVE them.

They are custom made and we're so excited to see them :-)



Speaking of courthouse eceremony, we picked a date! We'll be heading to Marriage Court around 930am on Saturday July 16th. Hopefully with our rings from Isreal in our pockets!



We've made the decision - iPod for music! It's so EASY and all we have to do is set up playlists for each period of time where the music should vary (cocktails, Dinner, post-dinner dancing!), and then just set it to shuffle! If there's something that hasn't come up yet that we're dying to hear we can just put it on, no biggie!



We also got our first "something borrowed"! Sara's sister Amy is lending us the large birdcage she used to collect cards in. Which is great, because who can picture ever using it again? Not us, and Amy seemed happy that someone would be able to use it again - so hooray!



So to sum up:

Ceremony Date? Set!
Rings? on their way from Isreal! (::crossing fingers::)
iPod as the DJ? DONE!
Birdcage for collecting cards? done!



Things are moving along swimmingly - Save the Dates should be out very soon - just need ONE more address!

Rings & things

SO, the Save the Date cards actually arrived in the mail on Friday,. 3 days early. They look BEAUTIFUL! We're using some of the design elements on the card as inspiration for themed items for the tables, etc.

And, we found and purchased our RINGS!!!! They're adorable.
I can't believe it, but we actually found a ring design that we BOTH liked - so even though we know they don't have to match, ours actually will!

"Moving right along..."

So, things are moving along at a nice pace:
- Venue reserved? DONE
- Save the Date cards? Ordered and on their way
- Addresses of friends and family? ALMOST done
- Hotel room block for out of town guests? DONE

Next up: we're looking over rings we like on Amazon, and trying to make decisions on DJ vs. iPod.

Just under 7 months to go!