And so it begins....

Since we got engaged on July 1st, Jim and I have been busy with telling friends and family our good news! After some discussion, Jim and I decided that our ideal wedding date will be September 19, 2009. 19 is one of Jim's lucky numbers, so that can't hurt.

We already knew we wanted to have the wedding in Chicago. This is where we met and where we live our lives.


Venues. So many choices...

Since we have more than a year to plan the wedding, I decided to take things one step at a time. We decided the first thing to do is schedule a reception venue. In July, we started conducting a search for the wedding venue that best fits our tastes and our budget. After researching different types of venues, we decided to choose a hotel. I emailed more than 25 different hotels in Chicagoland area to request information on their wedding packages. I made spreadsheets comparing all of the different packages (hey, no one ever said that I'm not thorough) we narrowed down our search to about five different locations. We contacted those locations and scheduled tours.

We visited the:
Westin O'Hare
InterContinental O'Hare
The Avenue Hotel Chicago
Marriott Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile
Embassy Suites Chicago Downtown

The first venue we toured was the Westin O'Hare. The Westin was nice and the hotel had an Asian Zen feeling going on, which Jim and I liked. We were shown the ballroom, which was fine. It was pretty typical. But then we were told that, sometime in the next year, they would be completely renovating the ballroom. They couldn't tell us exactly when that would occur, what it would look like, or what they would do to assist us if it wasn't done by September '09. Based on that, we pretty much took them off the list. Too uncertain.The next one we saw was the InterContinental. Its a brand new hotel and was actually still under construction when saw it. The coordinator met us to go over the packages and information and then took us on a "hard hat" tour of the hotel. We could tell it is going to be really nice. It is very modern and has an art gallery theme. But, in the end we decided against it because it was just a little too expensive for being out by O'Hare. We'd really rather have it in the city, if possible.The third venue we looked at was the Avenue Hotel on Huron in Chicago. It was recently renovated and the lobby and room decor had been modernized. Unfortunately, the ballroom had not. It seemed very small and the ceilings seemed really low. Plus, there were 6 big pillars in the room that I think would have been difficult to work with. Also, the wedding coordinator didn't seem all that excited about being the wedding coordinator. The last two locations we viewed were the best, and we are still deciding between them.


The Marriott and the Embassy Suites

Jim and I had attended a New Years Eve "party" at the Marriott on Michigan Ave. almost two years ago, and had not been impressed. However, when we arrived for our tour, we saw there had been a lot of changes. They had done major renovations earlier this year and it looked very good! We met with one of the Maitre d's, Angel, and he showed us around their different ballrooms. He even surprised us by having waiters come and serve us Mimosas! Angel was very nice and very helpful in giving us ideas about ways that the ballrooms can be set up.The last venue we toured was the Embassy Suites on State St. The wedding coordinator, Thelma, asked us to meet her there at 6:30pm, while they were setting the ballroom up for a wedding. She felt this would allow us to get a good feel for what a reception there was like. The ballroom was nice. The cocktail hour occurs outside of the ballroom in the Atrium, which Jim didn't care for too much. But, all in all, the place was nice and the cost is relatively reasonable.Right now, we are waiting for some follow-up information from the Embassy and will be using that to make our final decision. Once we decide which hotel we are going to use and have the contract in place, we'll be relieved!