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Eric and Lindsey were married at Café Brauer, a restaurant and ballroom building at the south pond in Lincoln Park. Brauer is one of the most beautiful examples of Prairie School Architecture in Chicago and was a perfect ceremony venue for Lindsey and Eric, both of whom are artists and creators in Chicagoland.
Their friends and family celebrated with them at the Aquanaut Brewing Company, which was founded by Eric in the Bowmanville/ Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. Their reception was wonderfully personal, with details created by the couple, their family, and their friends.
In the yard of the Aquanaut Brewing Company, Lindsey started a flower farm called Avium Flowers and sourced almost all of the flowers for her wedding from that farm. Eric brewed special batches of beer to serve to guests. Lindsey’s mom spent hours hand-lettering the signs scattered around. Every part of their day was meaningful and beautiful!
“When Eric first moved his brewing operation to the Wolcott location a few years ago, we were both ecstatic to have a yard in the city. I immediately had plans and ideas to create a garden and landscape the space but it started small and slow; creating a garden from scratch takes a lot of time and money!” Began Lindsey.
“When Eric and I finally decided to have our reception at the Aquanaut Brewing Company, the wedding became my excuse to create my dream garden. At first I just wanted the yard to look more beautiful but later decided I would attempt to grow my own flowers, probably after I started budgeting out for the wedding. I fully planned on scrambling for a florist a month for the wedding when nothing came up, but I just had to try it out. I held the very first Garden Day in April, and I asked our family and friends came out to help us start digging!”
“We grew all of the flowers used for the tables and brewery decor, and almost everything for the bouquets and boutonnieres, including the hops.” She added.
“Eric and I just like to do things ourselves. We had a lot of grand ideas about where to get married at first and when we started talking about doing it at the brewery, it just felt right. Aquanaut is like our other home. We like hosting people and parties anyway, so it seemed like no big deal, to hold this huge party. He had a lot of family coming in from out of town too so we figured it would be a good way for them to see what he’s been working so hard on while they were in the midwest.”
“I guess I’d say Eric and I both love old things and we’re always thinking “I can just make that” when we see things we like. We both get sentimental about family heirlooms and we prefer vintage and handmade over new any day. I think everything from our wedding kind of came out of that mentality.”
“My mom did ALL of the lettering for everything. She also made my garter and designed our programs. Also, one detail not a lot of people noticed was that our rings were carried down the aisle in an old dictionary. I did an art piece where I cut secret compartments into a series of dictionaries and painted the outsides and created little treasures for the inside. It was two days before the wedding and we didn’t have a pillow yet, so I repainted one of my favourite books for the occasion.”
“My parents got married in their own backyard during a rainstorm. I love the ‘old way’ of doing things when all of these details didn’t matter so much. They ran out of booze at their wedding and when my dad was at the liquor store getting more, my mom was running around the neighborhood inviting more people over. I like the idea of having a good time rather than putting on a show and I imagined our reception at Aquanaut just like that, a big backyard party!”
“I received some great from my cousin Kristen when she was planning her wedding. You will never make everyone happy, with so many decisions to be made. Plan the wedding you and your fiance want and make that the most important guideline for your choices. Also, handing things off to people and then accept their decision and end result wholeheartedly was so valuable! I wish I had taken that mentality at the beginning of the planning rather than trying to do and control everything on my own.”
Super Suppliers – Photographer: Sally O’Donnell Photography | Event Venue: Aquanaut Brewing Company | Floral Designer: Avium Flowers | Ceremony Location: Cafe Brauer | Floral Designer: Foxglove Studio | Dress Store: I Do Consignment | Event Designer: Le Sorelle Events | Musicians: Northside Brass | Bakery: The Rustic Tart | Submitted via Two Bright Lights |
