July 24, 2010

That's the date, friends. Brian Buck and I are getting married at Murphy's Irish Bistro on Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.

Basically no other details about this day have been determined. (Save a few things like that our friend MDS is performing the ceremony, that several of the reasonable number of people in the wedding party are decided upon, and that we'll have open bar.)

My parents were able to stop by Murphy's after a basketball game at the United Center this weekend (Illini loss to Gonzaga - boo!). I believe they were both genuinely impressed. The bar was getting set-up for a wedding as we toured. In some ways (full-bar rent out, expecting 150 people) it was just like our plan, but in other ways it was very different (January conditions, holiday-ish decor). But it certainly helped give us an idea of how flexible the bar is, how beautiful the space is and how happy we are that it's ours on July 24.

This post is my open plea for ideas and help of all sorts. We have quite a bit to decide upon (see list below) and just a few rules or requirements about things (see notes on list). If you have an idea or wisdom about this, please share! I don't want wilted daisies in my bouquet or appetizers that taste bad on sunny days. Help me if you can, otherwise, just mark your calendars!

• Flowers - My aunt is an amazing florist and might be able to help, but I don't know for sure at this point. Since the bar is pretty lovely we don't need to do much flower-wise (nothing large), but I'd like a bouquet and perhaps tiny vases of flowers on tables too.
• Dresses - I fear that I'm the only person who has tried on many dresses and hasn't found the dress. But I've recovered from my post-shopping freakout and I'm ready to try, try again. I'm going to be more insistent about what I want and try more bridesmaid dresses that come in ivory too. I trust my friends enough to let them find dresses that match in some fashion, so we'll figure that out once they start shopping.
• Menu - This is actually a little scary. Murphy's will let us decide what we want, within reason, so we can really go in any direction. I'm sure we can figure something out (we have until July 10th, I think) that will work but any ideas about perfect July wedding food are appreciated.
• Suits - Totally Brian's department.
• Music - Maybe we need a pianist? We have a friend who can run some DJ-type stuff so that's possibly taken care of, but we'll need to figure that out.
• Photographers - We have a secret hope to pay a few Daily Illini photographers to shoot our wedding and just give them a rough draft of pictures to get. We've got to explore this soon (definitely in February when we see our DI friends at the Billy Goat). There are certainly photographer options in the city, but it can be pretty pricey. We'd also like to have mostly candid pictures if possible.
• Hotels - Northside of Chicago isn't exactly a land of hotels, but there are a few. Do we go with those or further out ones? Totally under investigation.
• Cake - Yum.
• Invitations, etc - We know a lot of creative people so hopefully these can be done without too much trouble.
• A bunch of other things I didn't even know about.