Another Venue Visit

So... Easter weekend, E & I went to The Country Squire again to talk with our coordinator Mike about some lingering logistical questions and to pick out the fabric for the chair covers.

Chair Covers
I'm not sure how I feel about these still... We picked white ones with light blue bows. I'm not sure how close the color is going to be to our light blue color but it'll just have to work because E is very attached to them. He wanted white with navy bows but I'm just picturing what the hall will look like when we first see it, and I just can't handle the navy. I mean, Navy is an accent color - not the main color. I just don't want it to look too nautical!

Questions/ Logistics

• Gave Mike this picture of our cake.
• 
• Figured out placement of seating card table, guest book table, and gift table.
• Verified that our seating card idea is acceptable for Mike. (I'll talk about those during another post - E is handling the "construction" of them!)
• Figured out timing logistics for our wedding flutes, favors, and centerpiece set up.
• Finally got Mike to agree to reduced price "vendor" meals — 3rd time's a charm! Our DJ's and photographers will be getting burgers and fries (sorry, guys, can't afford to give you filet).
• Got Mike to call our photographer, so hopefully we won't have any more reneging from them!
• Figured out size of cakestand we will need.
• AND arranged a luncheon for me and the bmaids for the day of the wedding!

I didn't realize how many questions I had for him until I started trying to figure out the wedding day timeline, which I needed to arrange our hair appointments. So many details! I just have to say that he is very PATIENT with us. I feel really great about him helping us with the wedding. It's such a relief and certainly will make it less stressful for me the day of!

While at the CS, I took some pictures of the grounds. Keep in mind that there will be TONS of flowers the day of.

I'll be coming down the aisle between these two basket pots. It'll look really pretty with the fountain in the background. Again, imagine LOTS of flowers.



We are getting married in front of the gazebo. Imagine rows of white chairs (and flowers).



Erik posing in front of the french doors where our guests will enter the hall. There will be tables set up here on the patio for the seating cards and guest books. This patio will also be nice because guests can come outside and get fresh air during the reception.

In the background, you can see the table where our gifts will go if guests bring them to the wedding itself. You can see the chair covers. This is obviously not our color but you get the gist of it. I really hate them... Sigh.



This is what the chairs look like without the covers. It actually matches the window treatments of the hall, and I think they look very nice on their own!! Silly silly groom.



Here's our bar. There are 2 bars in the picture but since we only have half the ballroom imagine a partition in between them.

This is the entry into the hall itself. I love these stairs — we will definitely be taking photos on them! Also, there are 2 rooms at the top of the stairs where I'll be getting ready with the bmaids and Erik and his guys can get ready if they want. My suggestion for them would be to get ready at the hotel since it's right next door and we won't have to worry about bumping into each other before it's time.

Hotel Confirmed!

Attention All Attendees:

The hotel block has been confirmed! We have a block of 50 rooms (we can get more if needed) for Friday and Saturday night. The hotel is 45 minutes outside of Chicago, so it's not prohibitively far if you arrive on Friday and want to do something in the City before the main event at 5:15pm on the 15th. As an added bonus, it's a walk across a courtyard from the hotel to the wedding venue.

There will be more details in the invitations but if you want to get a jump on it, here are the details:

Comfort Suites
1557 East Belvidere Road
Grayslake, Illinois
(847) 223-5050

2 Queen Beds: $79*
King Bed: $89*

MUST be booked by JULY 5 to get the special rate.

*Request Bayer/ Nelson block to get special rate.

Tasting & Wedding Menu

On Friday, January 2, Erik's parents, Erik and I went to The Country Squire to do our tasting for the reception. Yes, it's super early but we were all available to do it and there's no telling when that would be the case again. Mike, our site coordinator, came up and said "hi" even though he was setting up for a wedding that night. I asked if we could see the ballroom all decorated and he said "yes!" It was great to see the hall decorated and set up for a wedding. We decided (after convincing Erik) to nix the chair covers because it's going to be cramped enough for dinner. I'm just hoping the weather is nice so that the guests can mingle outside with the hors d'oeuvres—otherwise, it may be close quarters. We'll have to take a few tables (including the head table) down after dinner. But we'll talk more about that with Mike when we meet with him in March.

Setting up the tasting was pretty easy. I had to call Mike with 4 different options of every part of the meal — appetizer, salad, entrée, vegetable, and potato. I also had to coordinate with our wedding cake baker to taste the wedding cake. Then all we had to do was show up and eat a lot of food! They gave us full portions of everything, which is why we brought 4 people!

The decision was actually really easy to make. All the components had a clear winner. We had a lot of fun tasting and critiquing everything. Erik & I felt like we were judges on Top Chef! Also, in keeping with the previous wedding milestones, I took pictures. See below.

The 4 of us trying the 5 entrées we picked out!

Wedding cake. It's hard to tell but there are actually 2 different coconut toppings. We like the flakier one better - the smaller flakes felt like sandpaper in our mouths. I'm also not sure why the cake lady put flowers on it . . . those will not be on the actual cake.

And, without further ado, our Wedding Menu:

Soup: Wild mushroom
Salad: Caesar
Potato: Twice baked
Vegetable: Stuffed tomato w/ broccoli au gratin
Entrée Options (guests pick on response card):

• Chicken Marsala
• Salmon w/ Cilantro Butter
• Filet
• Pasta Primavera (vegetarian option)
  

Wedding cake: Chocolate covered with buttercream frosting and coconut flakes.

Note that this does not include our hors d'oeuvres—we'll pick those out later.

Ceremony & Reception Site

We are getting married at the Country Squire in Grayslake, Illinois. It fits our needs perfectly! The ceremony will be outside on the back lawn and then the reception will be in the ballroom. You can check out Country Squire's website at www.csquire.com.

I'm very excited about this site because it was very cost effective as well as beautiful! We were able to get an hour of cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres, a sit down meal with 4 options (chicken, fish, beef, and vegetarian), premium open bar, wine & champagne at the tables, chair covers (an added bonus), a cake, and a rain contingency plan for a REALLY reasonable price. Also, the wedding coordinator is very hands on which gives me a nice sense of security in the planning.

Pretty much it's perfect. I loved it instantly - it took a second trip back to convince Erik that the window treatments weren't hideous. I'm still not sure what he was talking about... They looked fine to me!