allison & jake

From prom flowers fast forward to wedding bouquet! This sweet local girl got married this summer to an officer and a gentleman and moved to Bangkok all in one week! 

Allison's dress was a beautiful and generous gift, donated through Brides Across America , from Deflorio Fashion and made in Italy. Alli got to go to the Brides Across America event at the White House and she met our first lady! We are so proud of you Allison and Jake! and so very grateful for your sacrifice.

 You can follow Allison's adventures abroad here.

Beautiful wedding photography: Rachel Lausten  Hair and Make~up: Salon 312 Flowers: Petal Play Design

Venue: Jacob Henry Estate

Parting is such sweet sorrow...

I got a new car... and am sort of sad, is that weird? After eleven years of great performance, 168,000  miles, countless floral adventures, crazy sudden stops on side of the roads to pick up  homeless pieces of furniture and tree trunks and many a memorable road trip. I am saying good~bye to my faithful friend. 

I got him (an SUV) in preparation of starting my business. If that car could talk... 

I drive cars to the ground, that's my thing. I buy them, I name them, and drive them to the ground.

I'm having a hard time naming this one; I need your help coming up with a name, and in return I will gift you with a delightful bouquet of fragrant blooms. 

I will tell you I've had cars with common names and fancy names, but all have been boy names, the  last one had a fancy name.

I bought the same car... except the shade of gray is now slightly warmer and called Urban Titanium, whatever!!! I got a grey car again :) but this one feels like a girl!

Thanks for your help, I hope you can think of something interesting for me! 

good by sweet friend...you made me proud............P/S Mark at Honda of Lisle was very nice :)

sara and ryan

One morning I got a call from a very charming guy telling me he was calling me to check me out... bold right? if your mind is in the gutter :) This sweet thing was doing some leg work for his bride to be; who was super busy teaching a class of youngins.

He told me this was to be a long distance relationship and we should have good communication skills; wow! This guy is a catch! ( they live out west and would be coming home to the Midwest for the wedding).
 Then he said, I will pass on this information to my bride to be and future moms in~laws.
A few days later I got an email from Sara and our long distance relationship started...
These two are so much fun, it was a bummer they live so far away; we met twice  and could not stop laughing , it's so great when you feel so comfortable with someone , it just does not feel like work.

This July they said I do, standing on  Midwest soil and roots. As you can see in these pictures their love and happiness is palpable. This was a smooch fest my friends, and I love it!

 

 The groom got to smooch the bride without seeing her before they said their I DOs !

Got to L O V E kids :)

 more smoochen...

and more...

and more...

Venue: The Narnia Estate  Photography:Carol Marzalek  Cake: Creative Cakes  Flowers:Petal Play Design

crazy nat

Nat came by last Saturday to bake cupcakes, she's crazy for the Betty Crocker instructional baking videos on youtube; So I asked her to tell me step by step how to bake these. 

I hope this is helpful next time you are baking :)

  

 

1.Lets make cup cakes!This is all the stuff  you need!

 2.put the cute paper thingies in a pan...

3.don't put your hand in the blender thing, it hurts, oh!!! and never put fish in the garbage can, I watched a whole movie about it!

         4.put wet cake in cute paper cup thingies and wait a long time for cup cakes to be ready.

5.decorate with lots of sprinkles !

6.mmm! Ready to eat them all!!

Auntie V! can you please call my mom to pick me up now, she has to take me to my job, because I work in an office charging cell phones now...

Laura and Michael

From the first moment I met Laura and her mom Evelyn I knew this would be a special event!
All four of us bonded (Louise came too) on a road trip to Madison WI looking for special vintage pieces for the wedding. We laugh, talked about their love of horses (they are both equestrians) and jumped for joy like high school girls when we hit the jackpot at A La Crate Vintage Rentals.

This was to be a day for celebration and a day to showcase Laura's love of science/ all things nature and Evelyn's love of the victorian era. We baptized her wedding "Victoria meets flora and Fauna".

The wedding took place at Joliet's Patrick Haley Mansion, it was the perfect summer day and Laura was breath taking;  it was more then the exquisite Alencon french silk lace gown , it was the pure joy, happiness and gratitude radiating from her never ending smile.  She couldn't stop expressing her gratitude to everyone, so very sweet. Take a look at these amazing shots from Michael Whealan Photography.

Library  book cards made by the bride were used as place cards and displayed in vintage sewing machine drawers.

Laura surprised Mike with a cigar roller, to celebrate his Cuban heritage and a silhouette artist made cut outs on the spot for guest's framed party favors. 

Dress:Rivini   Shoes:Badgley Mischka   Hair:Zazu Salon  Makeup: Special Moments 

Photography: Michael Whealan Photography Venue: Patrick Haley Mansion 

 Flowers:Petal Play Design    Cigar Roller:CF Domenica Cigar Rollers

   Silhouette Artist:Cindi Rose  Vintage Rentals: A La Crate Vintage