When it comes to throwing magical weddings, this darling duo really knows how it’s done. I mean, they reallllly know how it’s done. Because not only did they pick one of the coolest venues around to hold their festivities (the Ravinia Festival), they hired an amazing team of vendors to bring their rustic meets awesome dream to a total reality. I’m talking the planning prowess of North Shore Weddings & Events, the fab stylings and florals of Ivan Carlson and the photographer extraordinaire Olivia Leigh Photographie (just to name a few) all coming together to create one can’t miss, seriously stunning affair. Get your pretty on right here.
From the Bride… Ravinia was the perfect mix of rustic beauty, musical inspiration and architectural history for our wedding in March 2013. The location was the inspiration for the wedding design and overall set the tone for the wedding. We both wanted the feel of an outdoor wedding without it actually being outdoors (Chicago Springs can still be chilly). Ravinia was the perfect location with its open grounds completely empty for our event (a normally VERY crowded music festival all to ourselves!!). The ceremony and reception both took place in Ravinia’s main building with floor to ceiling windows using the outdoor trees and landscape as the ceremony backdrop. It was the perfect quiet oasis for our Rustic, Simplistic, and Elegant Wedding. We chose muted spring tones of pale green, white and gray which felt very simplistic yet elegant. We brought in the rustic elements through the use of branches, wood, and lanterns seen throughout the ceremony and reception. All these elements were reflections from the landscape of Ravinia.
Ravinia has a fabulous mixture of contemporary architecture and historical character in it’s buildings. As an Interior Design Major in college, I have a passion for beautifully designed spaces. We used the entire grounds for photography. The historic buildings in Ravinia provided not only richness to the photography, but it brought in my husband’s love for music. We expanded on the musical inspiration by having the song “Your Hands in Mine” by Explosions in the Sky, specially scored and played by a full band as the processional music. The song added a contemporary element to the rustic surroundings and was truly authentic to our event.
The main details to bring into focus: the AMAZING mix of silver and bronze lanterns that lined the entire ceremony aisle. This brought romance to the space while still keeping that clean simplistic look and feel we wanted. The gorgeous dark drift wood centerpiece with beautiful white peonies at the head table. Our guest table centerpieces with a mix of white and green floral with a touch of curly willow accents. Tree branch gobo projection on the dance floor and curly willow stage backdrop. Customized chalkboard menu and sweet table sign. Our beautiful textured cake placed on top a round wood table accented with botanical elements. This was a great mix of the simple and rustic feel we were going for.
Our main focus with all these details was to take full advantage of the amazing seamless view we had to the outdoors. Out interior and exterior became one!!
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Photography: Olivia Leigh Photographie | Event Planning: Megan Estrada of North Shore Weddings & Events | Cinematography: Xpress Video Productions | Floral & Event Design: Ivan Carlson | Ceremony & Reception Location: Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois | Wedding Invitations: Designed by the Bride and Groom | Shoes: L.K. Bennett | Bride and Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Make-up: Elise Brill of Leesi B Make Up | Hair: Joanna Santoro of Hair by Joanna (joanna.santoro@gmail.com) | Wedding Cake: West Town Bakery | Catering: Levy Restaurants | Sweets Table: Gotta Sweet Tooth + Bent Fork Bakery | Band: Skyline via Arlen Music