Must. Get. This.

We read a LOT of wedding magazines down here in our office (I know, fun job, right?) and this one is BY FAR the best we've seen! I can't believe all the helpful planning advice and ideas presented. As an added bonus, it's not nearly as heavy from excessive advertisements as most of the larger wedding mags, so you can fit it easily in that binder all brides have. This one is definitely worth picking up!!!



Oh, and a quick shout-out to our pal, Greg, at Medleys in Motion for making The Knot Chicago's list of best DJ's. See, I told you he was good!

Real Wedding - June 19, 2010

This was the kind of weekend I actually kind of wish I had more than one wedding just because the weather was PERFECTION! Ashley and Paul got married in the gazebo and then enjoyed cocktails on the Waterfront Patio on a glorious 80 degree Saturday in June.

After cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, they headed up to the Ballroom for dinner. She did a blue linen on her placecard table which really made the cards stand out, don't you think?

Ashley's colors were pink and blue (I say they were Ashley's colors because Paul just didn't seem like a "pink and blue" kinda guy) and I think they worked really well in the Harbor Ballroom. The servers all commented on how good the room looked, very light and airy for a June wedding.
This is the first wedding we've had this season that set the dance floor on the upper level near the windows. She brought in 12 lanterns to hang over the dance floor, as you can see below.

Congratulations to Ashley and Paul and best wishes for many happy years together!

Real Wedding - June 12, 2010

It was a fairly slow weekend here at The Abbey, with just one outdoor ceremony and this small luncheon wedding up in Porto.


Flowers were from Lily Pots in Lake Geneva. They used our house white linens and napkins, so this shows our standard table set.

This is a great shot from the back of Porto, showing the A-frame windows that look toward the harbor. And here's one of the A-frame on the other side looking over the front courtyard.

All photos courtesy of Mozart Photography.

This is where we normally put a dance floor but with this being a luncheon, they didn't have dancing.

We're looking forward to a beautiful sunny weekend and a wedding for approximately 100 people on the lawn. Oh, and Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially the ones who got married here and became dads very shortly after. I warn all my brides that in the two years I've been here, this has been VERY fertile ground on which to get married!

Luminary Bags

Here's an inexpensive way to add a lot of ambiance to a wedding: luminary bags. These are on the path to the Tent but we've also seen them lining the aisle toward the gazebo for ceremonies. Flameless candles are, of course, the safest option.

Real Wedding - June 5, 2010

They say it's good luck when it rains on your wedding day so the brides from this past weekend should probably play the lottery! We had to pull both of our ceremonies that were scheduled for the Harbor Gazebo inside to banquet rooms which is never fun, but it's a reality here in southeast Wisconsin. For this reason, we always block back-up space and hope and pray we don't have to use it. Most of the time we don't because ceremonies are usually just about 1/2 hour long but sometimes you just have to. This, unfortunately, was one of those weekends.

Here are some pictures of wedding that was in the Tent:


The bride provided lanterns for us - 60 of them - that our engineering staff hung throughout the room. There were 3 different sizes and they were all lit by batteries.

They rented white chair covers and you can see the runners on the tables were in soft yellow and a sage green.
Centerpieces were from Renee at Frontier Flowers of Fontana. She's one of our favorites, as I've probably mentioned before.

And the cake by Dea. Yum!

Real Wedding - May 29

Amanda and Mitchell got married this past Saturday and will forever enjoy a 3 day weekend on their anniversary. Some people think it's not a good idea to have a wedding on a holiday, but I think it's great because then your anniversary is much more fun to celebrate and possibly (hopefully!) plan a quick get-away!

Their ceremony was at a church in Elkhorn and then guests arrived for cocktails on the Waterfront Patio and dinner in the Harbor Ballroom. This is a great picture of the view from the ballroom...

The flowers were done by Locker's Flowers in McHenry, IL. These little bubble vases looked so cute on the cabaret tables near the windows!

Pictures courtesy of Mozart Photography.

The cake was from Lakeland Bakery in Elkhorn. It was gorgeous and equally delicious. The cake arrived at the same time as the florist so they were able to add the fresh baby roses. I loved this cake-topper, too, with Amanda and Mitchell's names engraved and the date. I'm sure they'll keep this on their mantle forever.

One of my favorite parts of planning weddings is just hearing about the honeymoon. I guess if I can't travel myself, at least I can hear about it. They will be going to Mexico in a couple of weeks. So jealous!