Thoughts on planning a wedding part 3: Location, Location, Location

I have been fortunate enough to travel to Europe several times, and it is inevitable that I will visit a historic cathedral or basilica during my travels. I have always enjoyed going inside houses of worship. It’s quiet, and there seems to be a common understanding between whoever is inside that you are standing on hallowed ground. Even if you don’t ascribe to that school of belief, I think you would have to be made of stone not to feel something while inside these grand structures. Chicago is a city of many churches, and many of them are just and grand and beautiful as those I have seen overseas. You can be walking down a residential street and out of nowhere appears a church. Sometimes I go inside as I appreciate the momentary respite from busy city life.

It was December of 2007 and I was in tech rehearsals for a holiday production I was working on. For those of you who are unsure what a tech rehearsals is just know they usually involve twelve hour days, lots of waiting under hot stage lights, and if your lucky only mild levels of chaos. All actors have a love/hate relationship with tech week. On one of our breaks I wanted to find a place of calm during the storm and I remembered a church around the corner. Despite the frigid temperatures outside I walked the few blocks to St. Clement Roman Catholic Church and let myself in. It was breathtaking. The only source of light was the multitude of flickering candles all around the sanctuary. Still they produced enough light to behold the splendor inside. The huge domes, the stunning stained glass rose windows, and the exquisite marble altars. I was alone and I felt like I was in a scene in a dramatic mystery movie. I sat quietly taking it all in. Letting the stress of tech melt away and I knew I have to bring Jürgen back here.

We didn’t even consider getting married anyplace else. Once we decided on a day we phoned St. Clement right away to see if our day was available. It was! However there were a few more important bits of info to find out before we made it the official site of our marriage sacrament. I am not Catholic (gasp!), I am an Episcopalian and some churches will not allow you be married if both parties are not baptized Catholic. Luckily St. C’s is a more forward thinking parish and they do not mind my Anglican ways. Also, it was very important to me that my first cousin, Reverend. Benjamin Robertson IV would be able to officiate my wedding, which again some churches do not allow. Again, major props to St. Clement for being so cool. So that is how an Episcopal girl ends up getting married in a Catholic church…anything is possible.
The next step now was the reception. Along with my original dream wedding of being married in a garden I always wanted it to be on the grounds of some grand historic home. Well there are not many of those in Chicago, so I needed to rethink my ideal reception site. I knew I wanted it to be in Chicago, and I didn’t want all my out of town guests to have to travel further out to the suburbs. I also wanted to keep the church and the reception site close by one another, because it after all it will be winter in Chicago. We both agreed that we wanted a site that was unique but also beautiful on it’s own, for I didn’t want to spend a lot of money gussying up the party space. I did a search online and looked through some magazines and came up with six possible reception sites. That seemed like plenty to me. One (Café Brauer) was not available, and Fulton’s on the River were difficult to Jürg on the phone, so they were crossed of. We visited the other four in this order.

1) The River East Art Center.
We visited the space during a gallery opening so we got to eat yummy passed bites and drink free wine. It is a very cool, open, modern space (plus!). Located near Navy Pier and the Chicago River (minus…not very close to our church). It would no doubt be a very cool spot for a reception, but we both felt it was a tad “too cool” for us. We are not trendy or cool people at all. Jürgen watches homestarr runner regularly, and I like to Google myself from time to time. Not trendy art gallery material at all. Next please.

2) The Ivy Room
Also a part of an art gallery but a very different feel. Located downtown off of the Mag Mile (minus, closer than the first but not as close as I would like), it’s a very simple warm space that overlooks an enclosed courtyard (plus!). Sadly the courtyard would not be open during our wedding (minus), but the tress would be lit up with Christmas lights and the old time lamp posts would be on, creating a warm and cozy atmosphere (plus!). Also, since it is privately owned we could have the space open as late as we wanted too (plus!). A downside though was it was the most expensive locale on our list (minus), and while it was simple and pretty it was perhaps borderline boring (kind of a minus). Still after we left we decided to keep it in the “to be considered” pile in our minds.
3) The Peggy Noterbaert Nature Museum
The museum is not far from St. Clement, which was certainly… a plus! It’s located in a beautiful area of Lincoln Park near the lake, and it’s certainly a unique space (plus!). Lots of exposed stone and glass. One cool perk you get when you host an event there is you have access to their butterfly haven, which houses over a hundred different species of butterflies. However the actual event room itself was totally underwhelming (minus), and it even had carpet (minus). Bleck (minus).
(it's a small photo but do you see the carpet?)

We knew right away this space was not for us. Like I said earlier, we didn’t want to spend a lot trying to make the space beautiful.

Now it was off to visit our fourth and final reception destination.

The Chicago History Museum. I had been intrigued by the museum from the moment I visited the webpage. The photos looked stunning, and I don’t know I just had a “feeling.” It is also in Lincoln Park and not far from our church of choice (plus!). It has stood for over a hundred years giving it the historic feel that I so love (plus!). As soon as we walked up the stairs and into the “American Room” we just…well we just knew. The first room was just stunning. Designed in old colonial ballroom style (I am not sure if that is a design term as I just made that up) there is a beautiful chandelier hanging in the center flanked on either side by beautiful columns and classic crown molding. A perfect spot to have cocktails and late bites.
This is Kelly Milam (now Cavanaugh!) our go-to gal at Blue Plate. She just got married at the CHM so I decided to use her photos for this entry! Yay Kelly!

You then travel through the doors into the Robinson gallery. It’s exactly how we want our wedding to feel: simple, classic and elegant. Lovely panels of stained glass designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and Tiffany adorn the walls, and along the east side the walls are lined with windows over looking a beautiful plaza. This plaza will probably not be used as we are getting married during one of the coldest months, but it will still make for a lovely view.
This is one side of the Robinson room.
I love how the back looks like a grand old mansion!

More of the plaza and the museum.

We needed to look no further. We had found it. After only four places too, and that’s not a lot. Again, it’s all about knowing what you want, and trusting your gut. You will hear me repeat this over and over again. It’s sort of my mantra, and maybe I should make it my mantra for life. Hmmmm…..