Where?

If wedding magazines are to be believed (there's a Chicago Bride around here somewhere), the first thing to decide is the location. Other than close to home (Chicago and/or Rockford), Manda and I only have two deal-breakers.


Flexibility to do things our way

We don't want to cook the food or take the pictures, but I think we can handle some of the legwork and preparation. It'll be more fun, more us, and a hell of a lot cheaper (we want to avoid the dreaded wedding markup at all costs).

Possibilities: hiring a chef and buying the food wholesale; printing (professionally designed) invitations ourselves; having the ceremony at a free location; music by iPod with rented sound equipment; or hiring a photojournalism student to take pictures. Above all we want o avoid having to choose from pre-packed wedding options because that's what the location insists on.

How much of this is workable, or even possible? We'll find out. We've got quite a talented cast of friends and family, so we won't be going it alone.


Memorable location

Banquet halls really aren't our thing: we'd like to find someplace original and cool. Hopefully not a place that's in the business of hosting weddings — we've discovered that if a location comes with a website specifically devoted to their weddings, it's probably out of our price range.

Some potential (and completely made-up) ideas: brewery, museum, state park, minor league baseball game, Medieval Times.


We're pretty flexible on everything else. The ceremony and reception don't have to be at the same place, though that certainly makes things easier. We'd like to get married outside, but that's not a requirement. And if we find a place we really love that has some restriction, maybe we can compromise on that, too.

Please, let us know any any all suggestions in the comments. We need to find a place pronto, if for no other reason than to have an answer when people ask us where and when the wedding is!