The Greenhouse Loft is, hands down, one of my favorite Chicago venues. The 20th century building was transformed into an eco-friendly, rustic meets modern wedding wonderland, allowing couples to completely transform + customize the space. And this Mr. and Mrs. did just that. Bringing in bold colors, gorgeous florals and a whole lot of DIY amazingness, they created the casually elegant soiree of their dreams! Click here to see it all.
From the Bride… We really wanted our personal style to shine through on our wedding day – in each and every detail! After all, a wedding is all about the details and it’s a celebration of our love and lifelong commitment to each other right? It was really important to us to incorporate our college pride into the details of the wedding and we tried to wherever possible.
Probably one of the most personal things about our wedding was the ceremony – it was so special and so far from traditional. A long time friend of my family, officiated our wedding.In our meetings with Clint, we expressed that we really wanted the focus of the ceremony to be about commitment and loyalty and we shared how important our family and friends were to us. During our ceremony, he talked about the fact that almost everyone in our bridal party were lifelong friends and siblings of Mike and mine – relationships and friendships we’ve had and maintained for more than 20 years. He also talked about the respect and admiration we both have for our parents and their relationships – mentioning that our parents have been married a combined 77 years! While our ceremony was short, it was one of the most personal and romantic experiences.
When we first started the planning process, we wanted to create an experience that was really personal and unique to us. We wanted our guests to be at our wedding and say, “This is totally Kristen and Mike!” Mike and I had never been to a wedding with food stations before and were a little nervous about how this would work logistically and esthetically for dinner service. After the first meeting with our catering manager and our vision of what we hoped our menu would look like, we knew it was the perfect set up. To promote our theme of casual elegance and a fun, conversational atmosphere, we decided to do heritage themed food stations – a blend of our cultures through food.
The Greenhouse Loft itself is an early 20th century loft building with garden-facing floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The space features recycled wood floors from an old Edison Factory found in New London, Wisconsin – they are over 100 years old! Right outside the doors of the Greenhouse Loft glasshouse is the 8,000 square foot organic sky garden which was the sight of our wedding ceremony and cocktail hour. We prayed for good weather so that we could use this elegantly gorgeous outdoor space.
I am an extremely detail oriented person and I really wanted to be involved in the selection and/or creation of every detail for our wedding. So much about our wedding was DIY – from the invitation assembly and calligraphy, to the table numbers, to the Mason jar guest favors. My family is pretty creative so I wanted to take advantage of that! One of my favorite memories of wedding planning will forever be our wedding invitation assembly line. My mom, sister, and I sat around my kitchen table on two Sunday afternoons for hour and hours to put them together.
Wedding Photography: Heather Parker Photography / Wedding Venue: The Greenhouse Loft in Chicago, Illinois / Wedding Planning: Lauren Knuepfer from LK Events / Floral Design: Allison Denny from Stems / Officiant: Judge Clint Hull / Wedding Cinematography: R.E.M. Videography / Catering: The Hearty Boys / Wedding Cake: Amy Beck Cake Design / DJ: Christopher Vittorio from Spin Productions / Ceremony Musicians: Dolce Strings / Cake Topper + Thank You Tags: The Pink Koala / Favor Tags: Leafy Vine Design / Ring Bearer Sign: 4 The Love of Hannah / Wood Signs: And The Sign Says / Wedding Stationery: Paper Source / Wedding Dress: Custom made via The Gown Shop / Bride’s Jewelry: Left Bank Jewelry / Bride’s Veil + Accessories: Sara Gabriel via The Gown Shop / Bride’s Shoes: Kate Spade / Bridesmaids’ Attire: BCBG / Bridesmaid Jewelry: Five Little Gems / Groom + Groomsmen Attire: Calvin Klein via Men’s Wearhouse / Groom’s Tie: JoS. A. Bank / Groomsmen’s Ties: Tie Bar / Flower Girl Attire: Target + Claire’s / Hair: Livia Caporale / Makeup: Brian Sutherby