I spent two days last week in my favorite big city, Chicago, meeting new wedding industry friends and exploring neighborhoods. It was fun to visit with a new traveling buddy, so I tried unique restaurants and stayed at a new-to-me hotel. I have my favorites, but I definitely added some new ones to the list after this trip.This is great, because it looks like I’m going to do business in Chicago. Woo! Stay tuned for a fun announcement later in the month. For now, let’s just recap the pictures and see if you get inspired to do your own little trip.
I got into town several hours before my first meeting, so I hit up a coffee shop to do some computer work. Of course my computer was working on a snail pace, but I had a fun view of Michigan Ave. while I waited.
My first meetings were close to the Lincoln Square neighborhood. Note, I didn’t say Lincoln Park… This was a surprise to me. So quiet and quaint but so close to downtown. I stopped in a few vintage stores and just had fun walking around. This would definitely be the kind of neighborhood I’d live in if I was in Chicago.
Anyway, the meeting was with Lynn from Pollen Floral Design and Janessa from Forget Me Knodt. These two ladies are florists who do great work in a more natural design. As they said, they prefer “no dripping crystals”. I absolutely love this style. I also like these women as businesswomen. Both are casual and friendly, but have a good direction. Too bad I don’t live closer because I think they would be good friends and colleagues. I could learn a lot from them!
I have few regrets in my life, but one of them is not living in Chicago straight out of college. Granted, I probably couldn’t have afforded to live in a townhouse like this, but this is a dream of mine. Perhaps this will be my retirement get-away?
Carlene from Naturally Yours Events suggested Julius Meinl as our meet-up spot Tuesday afternoon. Oh my goodness. Their pastries and meals looked fantastic, but I just let myself have a freshly squeezed cherry lemonade (or two). The service reminded me of Paris – I love the little cookie and silver tray!
After my meeting with the fabulous Carlene, I met my travel buddy for dinner at Cafe Ba Ba Reeba. After a delayed train and bad directions, I was flustered by the time I finally got there. Four rounds of tapas and a pitcher of red wine sangria got me back to normal. This restaurant is definitely going on the regular stop list for future visits.
We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, which is my favorite kind of Chicago hotel. Just like the Drake, which has definitely seen better days, you can just feel the parties and visits and fabulous fashions of years gone by parading through the lobby. So much fun history!! It would be a great place for an art deco themed party.
I had a little free time on Wednesday, so went for a run/walk right on the lake. I never realized how relatively close the Field Museum is to downtown. This picture was taken about 200 yards north of the museum campus. It was a beautiful, humid day making the lake breeze feel glorious. It was fun to be on this quiet walk with crazy traffic happening only about 20 feet away.
My first meeting on Wednesday was with Shayna of Steel Petal Press. Shayna makes lovely paper products – invitations, business cards, holiday cards, etc. Her product is completely handmade. I mean completely…like put one piece of paper through the machine at a time completely. She has the patience of a saint! She shares a great workspace with two other people. I loved the creative vibe. Lots of great light and energy from the freeway outside. I love this picture of Shayna with one of her machines. This monster is an old gal, but puts out beautiful work. They definitely don’t make things like that anymore.
If you know me, you know I would stop for Chinese food for lunch. Yelp found a great place for me right off the main shopping drag. It was the peak of lunchtime, but very quiet. People don’t know what they are missing! It was great. That said, I especially loved my fortune cookie. This was the same life lesson I learned from each woman I met with during my trip. Here’s to seeing dreams come true!
A friend suggested I visit BHLDN to get inspiration for my next collection. My lamb. I have spent the last two years looking at wedding stuff. This was the first time I’ve wanted to redo everything about my wedding. Every single piece was gorgeous! The bridesmaids dresses were beautiful and not too bridesmaids-y. The accessories were adorable. The bridal gowns stunning. Oh, love.
A trip to Chicago wouldn’t be complete without a walk down Michigan Ave. and a pastry from the Corner Bakery, both taken care of while I waited for Christina. We had another great dinner together and then took the train home. I’m so happy to have a big city so close!
Many thanks to all the folks that I met during the trip. Y’all are fantastic!
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