Our last installment of Rebecca & Dave’s day…the sweetest end to one wonderful wedding!

“There is that unmistakable Midwestern hospitality that creates such a warm, inviting atmosphere. Chicago has many different facets, and is the perfect backdrop for an urban wedding. It can be approached so many different ways—a slick soiree in a downtown highrise, or a quaint affair in a tucked-away neighborhood. But there’s also so much open space and bright, airy countryside and farmland that seems like a world away from the skyscrapers and El tracks in the city. And, of course, Lake Michigan is a wonderful backdrop! As someone who didn’t grow up in the Midwest, and traveling across the state for the first time, I had to admit that it was just as I had imagined it—warm people, cornfields, baseball, and a certain casual sensibility that is both practical and inviting.”

“Mindy Shafer, the Director of Special Events at Frasca, where our reception was held, was wonderful. She was so diligent about helping us pick out a menu that was within our budget, and gave us a number of options for customizing it further. In the end, the food was excellent and plentiful, and the the staff at Frasca were fantastic—always making sure wine glasses were filled and everyone was accommodated. They really knocked our socks off with their service.”

“I created the icons of the two of us, which were used on our invitations, which I had also designed, as well as buttons that were given to our guests prior to the ceremony. Two sets of rubber stamps were made by Terry at Lakeview Rubber Stamp, a neighborhood shop, and were used for the fondant discs on our cupcakes, as well as for the design of the vases. The favor vases were made by Dave. There was one for each of our guests, and all were different. They also served as the decorations for the reception—they were interspersed throughout the tables, buffet and the bar, and people took them when they left.”

Rebecca created and screenprinted the couple’s programs, the ‘Just Married’ sign on the motorcycle, and the coasters as well. “The soda can garland that was attached to Dave’s motorcycle were created by Karen Elizabeth of Wedding So Sweet. She created them to match the color of the bike, and was one of my favorite handmade elements of the wedding.”

“I insisted on riding away on Dave’s 1970 Honda CB350 motorcycle—I’m so glad the weather held up! Some of our friends planted a petal bomb on the bike, which blew rose petals as we drove off. Weeks later, we were still finding them on our street! It was a real kick to ride through our neighborhood and have pedestrians, dog-walkers, and diners along the sidewalk cafes on Roscoe St. cheer and wave at us as we passed.”

“Our afterparty was held at the Long Room, a bar just north of the wedding festivities, that is owned by our friends Clark Fowler and Jason Burrell. The bar has always been the epicenter of social gathering among our friends—a “Cheers” of sorts, where everyone seems to converge after a long week to relax and reacquaint. Our friend Mikey spun old records, we danced, drank, ate tamales from the guy who travels to various bars and sells them out of a cooler, and Drew, Dave’s best friend and best man, proposed to Belen, my bridesmaid, in the photo booth.” Congrats, Belen!! One of our very favorite Chicago photogs, we’re so excited for you!

Rebecca’s advice: “Be yourselves! Have a wedding that is perfectly suited to the kind of couple you are. If both of you are casual, beer-and-football kind of people, a wedding that is laid-back and replete with comfort food will speak much more to your guests about who you are, than lavishing them with caviar and escargot that seems out of character.”

“And, be flexible and open to anything. Sometimes, as we discovered, our budget didn’t allow for certain things, so that’s where creativity and ingenuity came in. Decisions that seemed so deliberate and well-executed were often as the result of finding a cheaper (and better) alternative to something much more expensive.”

“And, nothing makes a wedding more special than having your community rally around you. Tap into the resources of your neighborhood, the talents of your friends, the ideas of locals. If your budget is limited, trade for services! You don’t have to be creatively-inclined to offer to trade. Use your own talents and knowledge base to provide a return favor to those who contribute to your wedding.”

Congrats, Rebecca & Dave! Congrats, Belen & Drew! Two great beginnings—cheers all around! We wish you all the best!

More from Rebecca & Dave’s fab Chicago wedding…lovelovelove this next part of the day!

“We were very much inspired by our own neighborhood, West Lakeview/Northcenter/Roscoe Village, and wanted to honor this little pocket of Chicago in which we live and work. We shop here, dine here, and try to patronize the local businesses that give our neighborhood its character. As they say, Chicago is a city of neighborhoods, each with its own vibe, and often very different from the next. I loved the idea of getting married in our neighborhood, and going around the corner to a local restaurant to celebrate after the ceremony. There seemed to be something distinctly simple and old-fashioned about it. In a culture where weddings have become bigger, more expensive displays of wealth with extravagant elements, the rebellious nature in both of us wanted to have a wedding that didn’t have those sorts of trappings.”

“When we decided to have our wedding here (as opposed to my wonderful hometown of San Antonio), I’m sure that many of our guests had a preconceived notion of what our wedding in the city would be like—glitzy, sleek, cosmopolitan. But while there are parts of the city that reflect these tastes very well, the life we live, in the neighborhood we live in, is more relaxed and modest. We liked the idea of giving our guests a taste of what city life is for us—an interpretation that is laid back and unpretentious.”

“Father Sergio Romo, our officiant at St. Andrew’s, gave a wonderful sermon that was perfectly suited to our lives as an artist couple. The incredible thing is that he has an art background as well, and we all related to each other. In the sermon, he spoke about the joys and difficulties of artmaking and tied it into an analogy about both marriage and creation. It was so thoughtful and personal, and has stuck with me ever since.”

“The mariachi-led procession from the church to the reception site was, hands down, one of the best moments of the day. It’s funny, because Dave’s only demand for the wedding was to have a mariachi band. In San Antonio, where I am originally from, mariachi bands at weddings are ubiquitous—I often wondered if couples were issued one when they got married. But, they’re very much part of the culture of the region, as well as my family’s Mexican-American heritage, so it was a very easy sell.”

“We had cleared the procession with our alderman months before, but did not expect a Chicago police car to cordon off three blocks on Paulina St. to escort the entire wedding party and our guests from the church to the reception! Not only was the officer incredibly nice and accomodating, but it made for an event that everyone still talks about. As we walked, the mariachis played old Mexican boleros—the kind my grandfather loves to sing—and we literally danced in the street. People came out of their homes to cheer and wave from their front stoops and through their windows. Even the postwoman delivering the mail stopped to wish us well. The mariachis led us under the El tracks and through the intersection of Lincoln, Paulina and School St to Frasca, where our reception was held. Even now, many of our friends still rave about it. It stemmed from a practical solution to a dilemma we had—our budget was so small, and we couldn’t afford to shuttle everyone from the church to the reception. In the end, it all seemed so deliberately-planned!”

Dancing in the streets! Amazing, right? More to come—look for Part 3 coming up soon!

What happens when two incredibly talented artists fall in love? And a few of their best friends are photographers at Chicago’s Gerber + Scarpelli? You guessed it: one downright amazing wedding! Rebecca, a graphic designer, and David, a sculptor and ceramicist, made their day so unbelievably fun, funky, meaningful, modern, chic and oh-so Chicago, we love it! A complete original—just wait til you see the details!

“I met Dave a mere five days after moving to Chicago to attend graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, with the mindset that I would never date another artist, musician, or guy who rode a motorcycle. Dave happened to be all three. We were both at a mixer in Pilsen, hosted by artist Erica Lord, as a chance for the incoming MFA candidates to meet the second-years. It was love at first sight. We talked the whole night, and he told me his entire life story. But at the end of the night, he didn’t give me his phone number! Crazy man said he ‘wasn’t sure I was into him.’”

“I left the mixer and told the friends I came with that I was going to marry him. We went out the following week and have been together ever since. About a year after we began dating, I recall telling him, “‘Not that I’m trying to pressure you into marriage, but if we decide to get married, I’ll promise to give you a bottle of Caol Ila 25-year single-malt scotch the night before our wedding.’ Three years later, two days before our wedding, I finally walked into our little neighborhood wine shop, pointed to it on the high shelf, and bought it for him.”

Rebecca said even the date of their wedding was chosen special: “Our wedding was on September 5th of this year, chosen for being the day Dave’s (late) maternal grandparents were married back in 1942. Dave’s two older sisters were married (several years apart) on September 5th, and were delighted with the prospect of us joining the club. Plus, because we’re terrible at remembering dates, having four people to remind us of our anniversary date was a secondary benefit!”

The bridal party’s hair and makeup were done at Hush Salon & Spa, a new full-service salon in Chicago’s Lincoln Park. Rebecca told us, “Carla Alvarez, the owner, was incredibly helpful and helped keep me calm right from the start! She did a wonderful job.”

Both of Rebecca’s hair fascinators came from Australia. Chance and Linda of Hair Fascinators created her headpiece for the wedding, and the one she wore for the afterparty was made by Samantha Sultana.

“I created the boutonnieres. They were inspired in part by the boutonnieres by Fritts Rosenow. From the start, I knew I wanted them to be whimsical, things that the guys in our party could wear again. In addition, I liked the idea of creating conversation pieces to help break the ice. Because our wedding party were such characters, I incorporated all sorts of things—aliens, robots, beer cans, airplanes. Dave’s dad’s had a Willie Nelson record and a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Nick’s, our photographer, included a can of PBR and a miniture roll of Kodak film, in reference not only to his task of the day but also his hometown of Rochester, NY.”

“Making my husband’s boutonniere was such a labor of love. I incorporated a few heirlooms, including his late grandfather Don’s Shriner pin, and a photograph that my mother-in-law found of his great-grandfather, Harry, taken on his wedding day in the early 1900’s. What was so special about the photograph, in particular, was that Harry is a spitting image of Dave but with brown hair. Harry’s bride, Dave’s great-grandmother Genevieve, was the original owner of my wedding ring—a beautiful white gold Edwardian ring that Dave’s sister Melissa, and her husband Steve, both jewelers, meticulously restored and re-plated. Some of the filigreed elements from my ring were hand-engraved onto a simple band for Dave.”

Steve Quick Jeweler in Chicago is owned by Dave’s sister and brother-in-law, Melissa and Steve Quick. Rebecca said they did a wonderful job of restoring my wedding ring, and it was also where she bought Dave’s ring.

“My gifted mother-in-law, Sarah, has a way with flowers, so she did all of the bouquets and flower arrangements. She picked all of the flowers, which had very quirky, graphic qualities. She had idea of incorporating chili peppers into our bouquets, a little reference to my hometown of San Antonio, which I loved.” How cute is the rick-rack? So sweet!

“Our style, as a couple, is based on a love of similar things—art, obviously, but also an appreciation for old things with great history—furniture, bad ’70s movies, motorcycles, musical instruments. We’re both multi-instrumentalists, and our apartment is filled not only with Dave’s giant ceramic bunnies, but a collection of instruments between us that could form another Arcade Fire. We really were meant for each other. That said, we certainly were broke! As artists planning a wedding, we realized that there were many wedding elements that we would have to forgo, simply because we couldn’t afford them. Ingenuity stemmed directly from this factor—what we lacked in money, we had to make up for in creativity.”

More to come from Rebecca & Dave…can you see why this is wedding is a fave? So smart and sassy! Just wait for what’s next!