Leslie and Jim’s Chicago brewery wedding at Revolution was a fabulous celebration with creative beer-themed details and a unique color palette based on the bride’s favorite color, gray! The bride chose white anemones, ranunculus and succulents for her bouquet, which looked stunning with her mermaid-style gown and glittery flats. The groomsmen all wore Avengers pins, and the flower girl carried a basket filled with succulents! Leslie made a welcome note and map for the welcome bags at the hotel as well as some calligraphy signs for things at the wedding like beer recommendations from the bride and groom. Angela Renée Photography captured their awesome wedding day!
A creative Chicago brewery wedding
We met online. I had just recently moved to Chicago for graduate school and didn’t know anyone. We knew pretty much right away it was something special. Jim canceled 2 other dates he had coming up the following weekend right after ours. I spent the whole weekend afterward chatting up my best friend about Jim. We were officially dating within 2 weeks of our first date & it wasn’t until months later that I found out Jim was driving 45 minutes or more to see me multiple times a week. I didn’t realize how far the suburb he lived in at the time was – it just made me love him even more. Jim proposed on our 2 year anniversary at the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, my hometown. I was showing him around one of the more secluded gallery spaces & he very coyly said he needed to ask me a question, at which point a museum security guard walked in and moseyed around for 2-3 minutes while Jim made up a fake question about the small airport outside of the gallery window. After the guard left, he told me that wasn’t actually his question & got on his knee and asked me to marry him (using my full legal name that no one except him calls me). I replied, “Are you serious?” And then, “Yes, of course!” I realized after that earlier that day he had talked me into wearing a nicer dress so that I’d be happy with what I wore when he proposed. I still have the outfit I wore on our first date & the day we got engaged.
Our venue, Revolution, was seriously the best place we could have chosen to have our wedding. We loved that it was a brewery because whenever we travel, we visit a local brewery or three. It was our first choice and after our initial meeting with their events coordinator, Meg, we chose not to look anywhere else. We showed up to that meeting with 2 pages of questions and after she described everything we only had 2 questions left. It made everything so easy and we didn’t have to worry about anything the day of. They even made sure to accommodate an allergy for us. And their food is amazing!
As far as traditions go, I am half Jewish, so we did the glass breaking at the end of the ceremony & the hora to start the dancing. I went up in the chair, but Jim didn’t. I hadn’t originally planned to, but in the moment I got drawn in. I also wore pearls from my maternal grandmother and carried a lace handkerchief that four generations of my father’s family have carried in their weddings. None of my grandparents are still living, and Jim’s grandparents were not able to attend, so it was nice to have those connections. Jim also carried a handkerchief that his aunt had my new monogram embroidered on that he handed to me during our ceremony when I began to cry. Our favorite moment of the day was at dinner. We had chosen to sit with each other alone at the bar & share our personal vows during that time. We will cherish that moment forever. – Leslie
Artists
- Photographer: Angela Renée Photography
- Floral Designer: Halsted Flowers
- Makeup Artist: Kate Johnson Artistry
- Reception Venue: Revolution Brewing
- Stationery Designer: Minted
- Dress Designer: Maggie Sottero
- Dress Store: CC’s Bridal Boutique
- Jewelry: Alexis Bittar
- Bridal Shoes: Keds by Kate Spade
- DJ: Andrew, Style Matters
