I LOVED Jenny and Marten Spencers wedding at the Zimbali Lodge in South Africa. And especially so as I was a bridesmaid and was so happy to be there with them celebrating.
Pumpkins and your Fall Chicago Wedding
It is Halloween week! That exciting time when we get to give out candy to little kids in our neighborhood (we get like 400 trick or treaters) and also carve pumpkins. Pumpkin is a "hot" topic right now. I see just about everywhere ads for pumpkin lattes. At restaurants I see pumpkin soups on the menu and at the grocery store I see lots of mini pumpkins for your mantle or table.
Music to Get Ready to Before you Get Married
Chicago Wedding at River East Art Center and Holy Name Cathedral
We LOVED Morgan and Mike's wedding last fall at the Holy Name Cathedral and River East Art Center. Elizabeth Anne Designs featured it on their wedding blog last week and we wanted to share on our own website too. Morgan and Mike's favorite season is Fall and they embraced that in their wedding day details. Who does not love a fall wedding in Chicago? Enjoy!
Nail Polish Color for your Bridesmaids
You picked out the perfect dress, shoes and jewelry for their bridesmaids and even may have helped them pick out their hair style. But did you let them know what color nail polish you prefer them to wear? It is a good idea to let your lovely bridesmaids know if you want them to maybe have french nails or soft and neutral pink nails on the weekend of your wedding. Have a bridesmaids that is prone to wearing bright yellow or lavendar and it does not match your color scheme? Then it is okay to let them know what you are hoping them to have on their nails and toes that weekend.
Ask Ali: Questions for a Chicago Wedding Planner
Today I am excited to announce a new Blog Series called "Ask Ali". As a wedding consultant in Chicago I answer a lot of questions for my clients or potential clients about weddings in general. I also answer a lot of inquires on email for people interested in the wedding business or those wanting to become a wedding planner.
Soup to Warm Your Chicago Wedding Guests
"Baby, it's COLD outside", in Chicago that is!! If you are hosting a winter Chicago wedding, why not have your guests enjoy a wonderful warm soup for the first course of your wedding dinner? When a bride and groom of mine could not narrow down their favorite soup in their catering tasting I recommended we serve both! Above you can see they served the two soups in cute clearless mugs with a handle with a mini salad with goat cheese rolled in nuts.
Ali Phillips, Wedding Consultant in Chicago, Attends Annual Association of Bridal Consultants Conference
I "Fell in Love with Indy" last week when my assistant, Kristin Weis, (seen above in the picture) and I attended the Association of Bridal Consultants Annual Business of Brides Conference. This is my sixth annual conference I have attended and was excited when they decided to host it in the Midwest this year. The Indianapolis wedding planners from ABC did a great job planning this event and event greater that they ordered up 60 degree weather in November! There were 40 wedding planner attendees from Chicago as well so it was so fun to spend time with people from my hometown.
Bride Wars Debuts Today
I don't know about you, but I love a "wedding movie". ANY movie related to weddings I always want to run out and see right away. I already have the time and movie theater picked out for tonight. (Have bribed my husband with going out for ribs after the movie). Looks like a fun movie and I can't wait to see it tonight.
Lovely Wreaths
The Business of Brides - Part 1
The Assocation of Bridal Consultants Annual conference held in Newport Beach, California was one of the highlights of the fall! I had a great time connecting with old friends and making some new friends. The Fairmont Hotel was the site for the event and they did a fabulous job keeping everyone well fed and happy.
My Gorgeous Brides
Fine Living Article
Register with Pampered Chef
What a great new idea from the ever innovative company, Pampered Chef. One of the trained kitchen consultants in your area could be available to meet you at your house and recommend the things you will need to have a fully stocked kitchen in your new home with your new spouse.
To register and learn more Click this link
Katie and Mike Cunningham's November Wedding
I LOVED working with Katie and Mike Cunningham on their November 3rd Wedding at St Joseph's Church and the Renaissance Ballroom at the Intercontiental Hotel. Everything about Katie and Mike's wedding was wonderfully elegant and sophisicated. Katie chose a black and white color scheme for her modern wedding style.
Wedding Hair up-do's that I LOVE
There are so many fun new ideas on how to wear your hair on your wedding day. Here are some of my favorites from Theknot.com! Brides are opting to add "bling" to their traditional up do's by adding a brooch, feathers, a pretty flower or even pretty rhinestones. Talk with your hair stylist on ideas for your updo. It is a good idea to try and schedule your hair trial the same day you do a dress fitting so that you can see how the hair style looks with your dress on!! Make sure to bring your camera to your hair trial to take pictures so that on the wedding day you have those pictures of what you did to refer to!
Allie and Mike Escudier
From the moment we met Ali, our minds were put at ease about our wedding. She was so organized and helpful with any little question that we had. There was no doubt that everything would go as planned. Instead of being stressed with all the details leading up to our wedding, that time ended up being such a joy for us! The day of the wedding went exactly as we had hoped, and it was even more magnificent than we could have imagined! Thanks to Ali, we could sit back and enjoy our wedding since we knew she had everything handled perfectly! She is the quintessential professional, and you will be free to enjoy every minute of this special day if you put your wedding in her capable hands. Thanks for making our day so special, Ali!
Allie and Mike Escudier
Kirstin and Erick Ives
We can't say enough about how glad we are that we chose Ali to help us with our special day! With both of us being attorneys in Washington, D.C., Ali made the planning process so easy by setting up full day schedules for the weekends we were in town and dealing with the vendors for us when we couldn't be there in person. It saved us so much time by having everything so organized ahead of time. Ali also served as a friend to us throughout the whole process, helping us figure out complicated family issues and keeping us sane in the days leading up to the wedding. Our wedding was everything we dreamed of, and that was largely due to Ali and her great ideas and support. She even helped us book our honeymoon and made sure that was great too. I don't know what we would have done without her!
Licensed to Wed movie premieres July 4th
Premiering on July 4th at a theater near you, Licensed to Wed!
License to Wed follows newly engaged Ben Murphy (John Krasinski) and his fiancée, Sadie Jones (Mandy Moore), in their quest to live happily ever after. The problem is that Sadie’s family church, St. Augustine’s, is run by Reverend Frank (Robin Williams), who won’t bless Ben and Sadie’s union until they pass his patented, "foolproof" marriage-prep course. Consisting of outrageous classes, outlandish homework assignments and some outright invasion of privacy, Reverend Frank’s rigorous curriculum puts Ben and Sadie’s relationship to the test.
Ali Phillips Presents at Bridal Showcase
I recently was asked to present at the Bridal Showcase on Sunday, January 28th, 2007 at the Highland Park Country Club in Highland Park, Illinois. I was one of four wedding consultants from The Association of Bridal Consultants that was asked to present. I chose to speak about "Quality on a Quarter" and offer the brides who attended some fun and new ideas that are both affordable and easy to make at home.