Here is the schedule we used.  Feel free to copy.

WEDDING DAY INFORMATION:

LIST OF IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS:

Bride                          Anne

Groom                        Brendan

Wedding Party -

Maid/Honor
Bridesmaid 1
Bridesmaid 2
Bridesmaid 3
Best Man
Groomsman 1
Groomsman 2
Groomsman 3

Usher 1

Usher 2

Parents -

Mother of Bride
Father of Bride
Mother of Groom
Father of Groom

Vendors –

Day of Coordinator  Sara Price
Hotel Coordinator   Sinisa Sirdic
DJ                                Mary Nisi
Officiant                     Tony Grimwade
Cake                           Georgia

Photo booth              Jeff Berger

Videographer           Steve Goodman

Florist                         Addison Ashland

Photographer            Laura Meyer

String Quartet           Michael Frigo

Venue:

James Hotel Chicago

55 E Ontario St
Chicago, IL 60611

DAY OF TIMELINE

7:45 AM – Breakfast, Shower

9 AM – Hair/Makeup Appointments
Mario Tricoci

Anne:  Hair:  Lynnae, makeup:  Brandon

900 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60610 (basement)

847-202-4236

11am:  Lunch- the Grand Lux Café.

600 N Michigan (bridesmaids and bride)

12:30 PM – Bridesmaids arrive to bridal suite bride to put on dress, jewelry.   Bridesmaids’ hair and makeup done, ready to go by this time.

Photographer, 2nd shooter begin shooting day.

Photographer arrives at bridal suite.

2nd shooter to hook up with Groom/Groomsmen at this point.

Groom’s location The James Hotel
Brendan- Groom’s phone #

Clay- Best Man’s Phone #

12:45PM – Put on dress, Pictures of putting on dress, bridal details (all rings, jewelry, shoes, dress, etc)

1:00 PM – Personal Flowers Delivered to Bridal Suite by Florist.
Bridal Suite James Hotel

1:30pm Day of Coordinator there to receive flowers and distribute.

Champagne!

2:00 PM – Bride Departs to meet Groom at Reckless

2:15-3:00 – first look, bride and groom portraits

Reckless Records

26 East Madison

Contact/Manager:

3:00 – 5PM – Photography

Everyone is entirely dressed and ready to go before arriving at the Art Institute at 3:00pm.

3:00pm Art Institute (meet on steps)

• Bride/bridesmaids
• Groom/Groomsmen

3:45pm Wrigley Building

• All Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

4:15pm River Walk- Ushers Join (meet at Wabash and Wacker)

• Bridesmaids, Groomsmen, Ushers

4PM – DOC returns to hotel to oversee setup

5:00 Family Pictures in James Hotel Lobby (both families be there at 4:45pm)

5:30pm- Pictures wrap up…everyone get inside to cool off and relax…Photographers take detail pictures at this point…everything should be set up by now.

Between 6:00-6:15 – Ceremony Starts
6:45 – Ceremony Ends, Cocktail Hour Begins

6:45-7:45 – Cocktail Hour

7:45 guests are asked to be seated for dinner, bar closes

8:00- Guests are seated for dinner,

Grand Entrance, Bridal Party Dance

8:10 – Champagne Toasts.

8:25 Cake is Cut

8:30:  Dinner is served.

Bride and Groom take pictures with each table after eating.

9:15:  First Dance

9:20 – Father Daughter dance, Mother Son dance (Simultaneous)

9:30- Dinner cleared, Cake is Served, Bar re-opens, Dancing begins
Ushers bring gifts to the bridal Suite with Day of Coordinator.

Sara leaves, Mary takes over

12:30- Last Dance, Last call.  (Determines how tired we are)

We walked around the city to take portrait shots.  I wanted to go to the art institute, and we went though Millenium park.

Outside the Art Institute.

I bought Brendan these socks the day before.

These last ones were taken back at the James right before my Bridezilla moment (more on that later)

1

The first look:

All photos courtesy of Laura Meyer Photography.

I called a local record store the week before the wedding to make sure we could do the first look there.  They didn’t mind.

I had the boys call when Brendan left, then I waited 10 minutes before we caught a cab.  We beat Brendan to the record store, and everyone was confused how we had beat him.  I knew it though, he walked.  Gotta get that excercise.

Me waiting

patiently waiting to go in.

Our first look at each other…………….

Let’s buy some records.  So casual!

Some of the other patrons wanted to kill us!  Oh well.

Ahh, on to portraits!

I am going to start recapping as soon as we get the professional photos back. Maybe some other photos, but the one’s I’ve seen aren’t the best ever.

I cried last night I had such a bad day at work. Total mental breakdown. But I promise I’ll get out of the funk soon.

BTW: Who got us a rice cooker? You didn’t leave a card.

I am still recovering. Now, looking back, I can’t believe I did it. Started a new job, did my National Board certification, was in a Masters Program (3 more months) and planned the wedding.

The Wedding:
Perfect
Tear-Jerking
Dancing
Funny
Fabulous
I loved EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

And I really have no regrets. It makes me so sad when Bridal Bloggers list their “should haves”. We got married! That’s all that matters!

I will blog about it more when I get all the pictures and finish recovering. My house is filled with wedding crap that I still need to go through, we just finished opening gifts on Saturday, I have a million thank you notes to write. Excuses, excuses. It’s only been a week, people!

Right now I am pissed because Brendan and I can’t share an Iphone plan because he has a different area code on his phone number. So I still have my jankity red razor phone.

Okay, a day of returns (extra cardstock, bone folders, wedding undies I never wore (I SWEAR)).

Sat
Oct 3

Partly Cloudy

68°
48°

20%

68°F

Wedding Weather: