Wedding Season is here!
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under Wedding Reception Ideas, Wedding Resources
 Beautiful colors of summer! Thank you Elegant Petal for this gorgeous photo! |
Today is May 1, the official start of wedding season here in Chicago. So for those of you still looking for summer wedding ideas, look no further. Thanks to The Knot for these inspired ideas.
The wedding cake! Choose summer flavors you loved as a child. Think strawberries & whipped cream filling, orange vanilla (remember creamsicles!), or lemon meringue…so summery & so yummy!
Cocktail Music! Do you have memories of attending Jimmy Buffet concerts every summer? Have your DJ create an Island Themed Cocktail Hour to really put your guests in the mood to have fun.
Green Wedding Favors! Treat your guests to a favor that will last long after your wedding is over. Locally grown herbs planted in glass jars are a unique way to be kind to the earth. Or try pretty wrapped packets of your favorite flower seeds for each guest. This also adds a lovely touch to your summer wedding.
For more fabulous wedding ideas for Summer and more…visit www.theknot.com
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Tags: knot.com, The Elegant Petal
Fall Wedding Trends We Love
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under Wedding Reception Ideas, Wedding Resources
Beautiful Fall Wedding Colors
Well I think Fall has finally arrived here in Chicago! We have had some amazing warm weather this October and it almost felt like weren’t going to have a Fall…but alas the weather is becoming cooler and the leaves are falling, so it is time for our beautiful Fall wedding season. And thanks to The Knot, I am sharing some of their favorite fall wedding trends with you…of course with our own twist.
Fall Wedding Colors Golds, Browns and Purples make for a gorgeous color palette for your Fall Wedding. Two of my favorite combinations for fall are Orange/Brown & Hot Pink/Brown. Use these colors for Flowers, Linens or Decor to create a dramatic backdrop.
Fall Food Trends For me Fall means comfort food! Think pumpkin soup, mac and cheese, mulled wine, and anything that includes apples. Consider mini-apple cobblers or apple pies for your dessert station accompanied by warm apple cider.
Fall Wedding Cake Trends For many of our brides it’s all about the cake! Think about all of the amazing fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Carrot Cake or Pumpkin Spice Cake with cream cheese frosting says Fall all the way! You can decorate your cake with gorgeous fall accents like branches and leaves.
Enjoying some yummy Pumpkin Soup this Fall!
Tags: knot.com
Top 5 Tips for a Fun Wedding Reception
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under Wedding Reception Ideas, Wedding Resources
Wedding guests dancing the night away!
The knot.com recently shared fun tips for wedding receptions, so I thought I would adapt a few of theirs and add our own Something 2 Dance 2 spin on how you can have a fun wedding reception.
Be Creative with your First Dance! Your first dance is a great opportunity to “set the tone” for your wedding reception. Don’t feel that you have to dance to a traditional slow song. If you love to swing dance, select a jazzy version of a classic. Or feel free to bust a move after you have danced to a few minutes of a slow song. This will be a fun and welcome surprise for your guests.
Plan Interactive Food Stations! Great food makes great celebrations, but customizable and creative food choices are even better. A mashed potato bar, made to order pasta, or grilled cheese stations where people can choose their own toppings and sauces will leave you with happy, well-fed guests ready to have a good time.
Play Danceable Music! If you want to keep the dance floor packed, plan a playlist of songs that will please the crowd, not just you two. Remember, you will have guests at your wedding ranging from age 8 to 89! You may love obscure rap music, but now isn’t the time to show off your discerning taste in music. People love dancing to Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, and Madonna–so let them!
Give out Party Favors! Don’t forget that a reception is a party! Let your guests know that is ok to let loose after a formal ceremony by handing out fun party favors at your reception. Our clients enjoy glow necklaces, hats for the guys and feather boas for the girls. It also makes for great photos on the dance floor!
Late Night Snacks! If you want to ensure an all-night crowd arrange for your caterer to bring out trays of late-night snacks like Gene & Jude’s Hot Dogs, cheeseburgers and fries, mini pizzas, mac & cheese or warm donuts. If you stick with yummy comfort foods your guests will wish the party would never end! One of our favorite events had a Cupcake Truck waiting outside as guests were leaving..a perfect way to end a party! I recently ran into a bride who was married in 2009, and she told me her friends still comment on how much they enjoyed having cheeseburgers and fries at her reception!
A Cupcake Truck waiting for guests as they leave your wedding reception.
Tags: Colin Lyons Photography, Gene & Judes, knot.com, More Cupcakes, Something 2 Dance 2
Chicago Photographer Colin Lyons
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under Wedding Reception Ideas, Wedding Resources
Amazing Dancing Shot by Colin Lyons Photography
While attending our Something 2 Dance 2 Ribbon Cutting last month, I had the opportunity to sit down over a cupcake with Wedding Photographer Colin Lyons to learn more about his business.
Tell me about yourself and your business. I grew up out in the southwest in Santa Fe New Mexico and moved to Chicago to attend the Art Institute. Being a photographer comes from my neighbor, a studio photographer who I worked with and watched for years. After graduating from school I become a second shooter for established wedding photographers and got to see how a lot of different wedding photographers shot weddings. It was great experience as I developed my own look and direction within the photojournalist wedding photography style. I really want my work to be about celebration. My photos are undoubtedly influenced by my artistic background at the art institute as well. The work should be fun, be uplifting, and show success in a personal sense. In 2010 I began carefully adding associate photographers who can also provide great work to the brides who want fun and artistic photography.
What town is your business located? I am located in downtown Chicago.
What type of event makes up the most of your business? I almost exclusively shoot weddings.
What other services can you offer? I also do Engagement Photography.
What sets your company apart from other photographers? This is perhaps the ultimate question for me and my brides. The work I provide is unique in the sense of how much I am able to cover in a single wedding day. My style of photography takes me from traditional family portraiture through outdoor magazine style location photos, and finishes with action photography of the dance floor. I always provide the disk of the work to my couples, and I have a great online slide show to help share the work with guests and friends.
Do you have a favorite location in Chicago that you like to shoot? I went to school at the Art Institute of Chicago and I have an affinity to shoot in the Art Institute for sure. There is a great city view from the roof of the new modern wing.
What a small world…we just did a wedding there on May 21, and it is a beautiful space for a wedding!
What are some 2011 Photography Trends? Sparklers for photos have been huge recently. I like them too!
Has your business won any awards? 2011 Best of The Knot, 2011 Bride’s Choice Award from Wedding Wire & Chicago Social Brides Lux List.
If you could only have one song on your I-pod, which song would it be? For today it would be Kid Cudi “Day and Night”, but I am very trendy with my favorite song.
To learn more about booking Colin Lyons Photography for your Wedding please visit: http://weddings.colinlyonsphotography.com
A fun candid shot of the bride with a bit of frosting on her face!
A very unique goodbye from Colin's Bride & Groom
Tags: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Social Brides, Colin Lyons Photography, knot.com, Wedding Wire
Wedding Food Trends
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under Wedding Reception Ideas, Wedding Resources
Enjoying delicious Greek Pita Bread
For those of you who know me or who regularly read my Blog, you can see that I am a huge foodie. I love trying unique foods both sweet and savory, so when I came across an article on knot.com focusing on unique wedding food trends I had to share some of my favorites with you.
Savory Cupcakes You may remember my post a few weeks ago about the Pizza Cupcake from Jaycakes, Inc., but how about a meatloaf cupcake with mashed potato icing. Your caterer can be as creative as you would like. What a fun idea for cocktail hour.
Street Food This is a great way to introduce your guests to a favorite food from your culture. From Falafel and Pita Bread to Indian Samosas, or even miniature tacos, your guests will have an experience like no other.
Nitro Dessert Station I was first introduced to this cool new concept at The Special Event Conference in 2010, and I have been a fan ever since. Made to order ice cream in minutes! Imagine the look on your guests’ faces when you serve them handcrafted ice cream using liquid nitrogen. And guess what…it is available right here in Chicago through Polonia Catering and it is delicious! http://www.nitrodessertstation.com
Individual Wedding Cakes I have seen this a handful of times at weddings and it is still a favorite of mine. Use your imagination and create mini wedding cakes as the centerpiece for each table. Your baker can mix and match a variety of flavors and during dessert guests can enjoy a slice from their own table or trade with another table. The possibilities are endless and it really adds a lot of fun and excitement during dessert.
Are you serving a unique food item at your wedding reception? Please feel free to share your comments. Happy Planning and Happy Eating!
Tags: jaycakes, knot.com, Nitro Dessert Station, Polonia Catering, The Special Event Conference
Contest Winners Announced
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under News and Updates
Our team at Something 2 Dance 2 would like to thank all of our past Brides & Grooms who voted for us in the Knot Best of Weddings 2011 contest. We will find out early next year if our company was selected as one of the Best in the Chicagoland area.
The lucky winners of the $200 Visa Gift Card are Meagan & Tom Begley who were married on June 4, 2010 at the beautiful Hotel Baker in St. Charles.
And our $100 Visa Gift Card winner are Heather & John Doyle who were married on March 17, 2007 at Stonegate in Hoffman Estates.
We truly appreciate all of the wonderful comments that were posted on weddingchannel.com, weddingwire.com and our Facebook fan page regarding our team of DJ’s at Something 2 Dance 2.
Tags: facebook.com, Hotel Baker, knot.com, Something 2 Dance 2, Stonegate, weddingchannel.com, weddingwire.com
Knot.com hosts amazing event at Chicago History Museum
Posted by Tamara Sims | Filed under News and Updates
Carley Roney of Knot.com shares a photo with DJ Jay Sims
On Wednesday evening, Jay & I had the opportunity to attend an amazing Wedding networking event at the Chicago History Museum hosted by Knot.com. We were surrounded by beautiful flowers, delicious food, and the top wedding vendors throughout the Chicago area including Elizabeth Wray Design, Melissa Phillips of Simply Perfect by Melissa, Jim Verraros & Bill Brennan of Bridal Expo Chicago, and the marvelous wedding planning team of Jena Warren & Audra Byrne of An Affair to Remember just to name a few.
I had a great conversation with Jim & Bill who had recently returned from New York (my favorite city next to Chicago) where they attended Bridal Market. They were so excited to talk about the beautiful designer wedding gowns they saw go down the runway. I was especially delighted to hear about the new partnership between Vera Wang and David’s Bridal. Gowns will range from $600 to $1,500, with most coming in under $1,200, which will make a designer gown much more affordable for today’s Brides. And of course we had fun talking about Kleinfeld’s Bridal in New York City, made famous by the TLC show “Say Yes to the Dress.”
The highlight of the evening was meeting cofounder and editor in chief of The Knot Inc., Carley Roney. She was so generous with her time and spent the evening speaking with Chicago Wedding Professionals about current trends in our industry.
It truly was a beautiful fall evening in Chicago…and what could be better than sharing ideas with so many wonderful wedding professionals!
Tags: An Affair to Remember, Bridal Expo Chicago, Carley Roney, Chicago History Museum, David's Bridal, Elizabeth Wray Design, Jay Sims, Kleinfeld Bridal, knot.com, Say Yes to the Dress, Simply Perfect by Melissa, Something 2 Dance 2, Vera Wang
