On May 15, 2021, Kyle Cook and I got married in the presence of 14 guests on the East Lawn at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois. We had a small wedding reception afterwards at the St. Charles Country Club. Here’s a sneak peak of pictures in the week leading up to our micro-wedding.
Wedding Week
In the week leading up to the wedding, Kyle and I flew up to Chicago and were able to meet with our vendors, tour the venues for the first time and get all of the final details organized. We took COVID tests ahead of our Hawaii honeymoon, wrote our vows, picked our music for the reception and finalized seating arrangements. During the planning, so many wonderful things happened in our favor. The first game changer was Cantigny Park allowed us to switch locations from the Rose Garden to the (much more beautiful!!!) East Lawn. And my florist had fallen in love with the original table design and wanted to do the whole arrangement I had dreamed up, despite it not being in my original budget.
I stayed at my grandma’s house, while Kyle stayed at his parents. We choose the Chicago area as our wedding location to accommodate our grandmas and baby nieces who couldn’t travel due to the pandemic. In the weeks leading up to our trip, we were super proactive about getting vaccinated and being as safe as we could. After traveling weekly for work the pandemic was a huge shift in my lifestyle. The first time I got on a place since February 2020 was the one to my wedding–so crazy!
While in Chicago, my grandma checked the weather daily. Our wedding day was forecasted to be 70 degrees and sunny. We planned everything to be extra safe and entirely outside, so grateful that the weather gods were pulling through. Though naturally, when Kyle and I did a mini pre-wedding shoot in downtown Chicago it was 40 degrees and I froze walking around in my mini-white dress!
SHOP THE LOOK
Wedding Day
On Saturday May 15, 2021, I woke up to 40 degree weather and rain. It was overcast and misting all morning and at noon I needed to make a go/no-go decision for the vendors so they knew whether to set up indoors or outside as planned. I was in love with the East Lawn at Cantigny Park and so we decided to move forward with the original outside plan. Come ceremony time, the weather had risen to the mid-50s and the rain faded away, so it was overcast and puddle-y at the park, but possible to host a wedding outside!
Cantigny Ceremony
This micro-wedding ceremony at Cantigny Park with just 14 people was intimate and personal. I loved being able to spend quality time with our siblings, parents, and grandmas.
The wedding day was filled with meaningful touches that connected us to our greater family. I wore my mother’s wedding dress and walked down the aisle with both my parents. Kyle and I wrote our own vows based on values and principles that we value in our relationship and officiant Jessica was awesome–weaving in personal stories about our dating history into the ceremony. During the ceremony we lit the same unity candle that my parents used in their wedding in 1987. At the conclusion of the ceremony, guests tossed a “potpourri of blessings” towards us with botanicals that represented virtues like well-being, commitment, and friendship.
Click here to see the before & after pictures from designing my dress.
Here’s a collection of pictures of from the Cantigny Park wedding sneak peak sent by my photographer. Can’t wait to see the rest of the moments of this magical day!
I’m expected to get the full suite of Cantingy Park wedding pictures back in the next month or so! Click here to subscribe to my email list to get the lasted on my Chicago wedding and Hawaii honeymoon updates.
Details
Here are some of the details and vendors that helped bring our Cantigny Park wedding come to life!
- My Dress: Vintage 1987, redesigned with David Peck
- Rings: Lindsey Leigh Jewelry
- Shoes: Loeffler Randall
- Hair/Makeup: Pin Me Up Chicago
- Kyle’s Suit: Imparali
- Photographer: Brittany Bekas
- Videographer: Michael O’Grady
- Venue: East Lawn at Cantigny Park
- Reception: St. Charles Country Club
- Officiant: Jessica Shilakis
- Paper Designer: Hannah Rose Creative
Want more stories on my wedding planning journey? Click here to read about my Texas flamingo bachelorette and our proposal story!
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