I can thank my Dad for instilling in his boys the constant pursuit for the perfect knot. Thirty plus years of suits and ties and the man never settled for less than perfection. Three tips he gave us:

1. The length
   1. The end of your tie should touch the middle of your belt. Yes you can have a giant knot and still have your tie the right length.
2. The knot
   1. Consider the width of your collar when deciding on the knot size. Wide collars need a larger knot.
3. The dimple
   1. Take your time. Make it look good. This is a little detail most overlook.

Jeff Mix at Tom James shared these graphics on how to tie a tie. He is a great resource if you’re looking for a new suit for your rehearsal dinner, a new shirt and tie for your wedding day, or even a custom tux.

A big thank you to Keli Fayard, Co-Chef and Co-Owner at Vanille Patisserie in Chicago. I photographed one of Kelli’s cakes last year that she used in an ad shortly after the wedding. I asked her for a blog posts and she went above and beyond. I know you will find her tips useful!

5 Wedding Cake Planning Tips:

1.Consider your budget On average, wedding cakes for 80 to 100 guests cost between $800 – $1200 (plus tax & delivery).  Pricing is based upon number of guests and upgrades you may consider, such as sugar flowers, intricate piping, figurines, multiple shapes or carved tiers, multi- flavored tiers, etc.  Does your budget fall below this dollar amount or above it?  This is important to decide before making your cake tasting appointment.   Also, the type of place that sells cakes will fall within different price ranges.  Are they a high-end boutique or a corner bakery?  Are they allowing their clients to customize or choose from a catalogue?

HOW TO SAVE: A trick on cutting costs for wedding cakes is the number of servings.  If you have the cake served to each guest at their seat then you need a slice for each guest.  If you have the cake cut and served on a sweet table then you can cut-down the amount of servings.  Perhaps supplement cake servings with other sweets that are cheaper than the wedding cake price point.  Example:  A wedding cake is generally $7 – $9 per slice.  Sweets are generally priced between $1.00 – $3.00 each.   And, sheet cakes are generally priced at half the cost of the wedding cake price point.

2.Know your designer Each designer has a different style and expertise. I suggest limiting your tasting appointments to 3 designers who best suit your design liking. Some venues have a list of suggested vendors – make sure your cake designer is approved at your location before making tasting appointments.  Narrow your choices down after the tastings by choosing the designer who fits within your budget and whose cake tasting you prefer.

3.Color swatches are very important for a cake designer. There are lots of shades of red or burgundy. Green for example has many different shades. Even descriptions like sage, celadon, sea foam green, are not as good as a swatch.  Sometimes if my brides cannot get a swatch of their accent colors I suggest matching it to the paint swatches they can find at Home Depot.  There’s a rainbow of color variations and tones to choose from and it costs nothing.  Bring a few home, match it to the invites or fabric overlays, just be able to show the cake designer the correct color.

PRO TIP: Another consideration when choosing colors is to know that purple, in any shade/tone, is the most difficult color to match when making purple fondant.  For some unknown reason, purple food color has a chemical reaction to fondant and may turn it baby blue or gray.  Make sure the cake designer you have chosen knows how to mix the color you need.  It takes practice mixing reds and blues to create the perfect shade of eggplant or lavendar.

4.Be prepared for your cake tasting.  Some designers get inspired by the first impression of meeting you, which will in-turn be reflected in your cake design.  For instance, if you come in wearing sweats, pony tail, tennis shoes then you make the impression that you are easy-going, relaxed and simple. Your cake design might be clean lines, softer edges and tone-on-tone colors.  Sounds ridiculous, but these little details can play a part in the design aspect of your cake.Have questions ready. Here are some basic questions you might want to add to your list:

1. How accurate can you match my colors?
2. What size will my cake be for my anticipated guest count?
3. What if my guest count decreases significantly after I’ve signed the contract?  Am I locked into the original numbers of servings or can I decrease it to suit the final guest count?  Am I penalized for this?
4. If you bring in a photo of a cake from a magazine, ask if there is a way to personalize it.
5. Do they offer sheet cakes to supplement servings.
6. Who does the cake delivery and how is it delivered?
7. When is the cake made?
8. If you are having a smaller wedding, around 50 guests, ask if pick-up is available to avoid delivery fees.
9. When does the design and flavor need to be confirmed?  Are you allowed to change your mind about the design & flavor after the contract is signed?

5. Know your cake style.  Clean lines and intricate piping sort of contradict each other. Being able to explain your style in detail will result in an accurate sketch.   Some descriptive words you might consider using:

• sharp edges or soft-rounded edges.
• modern and minimal design with plenty of negative space.
• Elegant.   – this is a broad term used quite a bit.  Make sure you know what you mean when you say elegant.  I often visualize fondant swags or elements pulled from the wedding dress.  Every person has a different definition for the term elegant.
• Ornate and intricate details.  Piping and string-work. Fondant decals.
• State what base color you want your cake.  Be able to provide a swatch.  There are several variations of the color Ivory.
• Shape of cake.  Round. Square. Oval. Custom carved shape.
• Sugar flowers are actually called gumpaste flowers.  (sugar flowers can also mean pulled-sugar flowers.  Completely different thing are much more expensive.)
• Chocolate fondant:  specify chocolate flavor or chocolate color.  Chocolate flavored fondant may be an upgrade.
• Stacked tiers.  Separated tiers.  A mix of stacked and separated tiers.

A special thank you to Keli Fayard from Vanille Patisserie for taking the time to share this fabulous information with us. Please click the following link to see more of her work.More cakes

Vanille Patisserie

2229 N Clybourn Ave

Chicago, IL

email: vanillecakes@gmail.com

phone: 773-868-4574

Allori Photography has photographed wedding ceremonies and wedding receptions at some of the best Chicago wedding venues. Rather than keep these great venues to ourself we thought we would share some of our favorites.

Best Chicago Wedding Venues

• Chicago Cultural Center
• Chicago History Museum
• Galleria Marchetti
• Chicago Illuminating Company
• Ivy Room at Tree Studios
• River East Art Center

Chicago Cultural Center

The Chicago Cultural Center doesn’t need much of a description. As you will se below the room speaks for itself. If your ceremony or reception will be at the Cultural Center you have quite a few options for the perfect Chicago wedding picture locations. Michigan Ave, Wacker Drive, and Millenium Park are all within walking distance. Both the gorgeous room and central location make the Chicago Cultural center one of the best Chicago wedding venues.

Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum is in our list for the best Chicago wedding venue because of its many wedding options. You can have a gorgeous wedding ceremony outside then walk up the large concrete steps through the concrete pillars to a wide open ballroom. The patio out back also makes the perfect spot for your cocktail hour.

Galleria Marchetti

We love the garden behind Galleria Marchetti. Want to step outside for fresh air during the reception. It’s only a few steps from the tent to the romantically lit garden. The garden combined with an open air tent make Galleria Marchetti one of the best wedding venues in Chicago.

 Chicago Illuminating Company

You may be thinking, wait I’ve never heard of this place. That is exactly why it made our best wedding Chicago wedding venue list. The Chicago Illuminating Company is a blank slate. You can go for a minimalist approach and leave the room as is or tailor three different rooms to fit your wedding design ideas.

The Ivy Room at Tree Studios

The Ivy Room at Tree Studios has it all. It has room for your wedding ceremony, cocktail hour, and wedding reception. You can have your wedding inside, cocktail hour outside in the amazing courtyard then come back in for the wedding reception. Or, have your ceremony outside followed by cocktail hours downstairs and reception upstairs in the Ivy Room. We think you will agree They Ivy Room at Tree Studios is one of the best wedding venues in Chicago.

River East Art Center

The River East Art Center is a two story open air art museum that can be transformed into your wedding venue. We love this venue! If you have a chance you have to take pictures out front at night. The wide open two stories inside provide a space for great dancing and reception pictures. We can’t forget to mention the river out the back door. There is not shortage of great options for wedding pictures here. If there is a list of best wedding venues in Chicago, the River East Art Center will be on it.

Celina and Beau’s wedding morning was gorgeous. When we pulled up to Holy Name it was 75 and sunny without a cloud in the sky. 45 minutes later there was a wall of those black green tornado looking clouds. As luck would have it Celina and Beau are probably the most easy going people I have ever met. They knew I had a plan and really showed no signs of concern. I like to create an A list and  B list of locations to shoot. One for ideal locations if it’s sunny and one as a backup in case we need to retreat indoors. The beauty of it is with a little planning you can bounce between A list and B list locations. We set out for our first location but the rain was coming down in sheets, so we took a little detour. The guys were starving so I figured detour number one should involve food. We pulled up to Corner Bakery and dropped the guys off. As luck would have it we found a break in the rain. 5 quick minutes of shooting with the girls and 15 not-so-quick minutes of eating and we were off to our next location.

Of course the rain came back and we retreated to the Westin River North. My favorite rain day location. It has gorgeous light, a great view of Chicago, and it is covered from the rain. There are some big trees down by the river that really work well to keep everyone dry.

It was really important to Celina to get a picture by Buckingham Fountain. Watching the radar and the sky, since the two don’t always reflect the same thing, I guessed and it happened to be a perfect time to shoot there. We only had 10 minutes before the downpour ensued. We missed the rain and headed back to the hotel. The last shot is one of my favorites from the day. I think it will show even if you have to resort to using your hotel room for pictures there’s always something fun that will come out of it.

In case you still don’t believe you can have great pictures when it rains on your wedding day I included a little video at the end to show just how much rain we were working in. Don’t worry, no groomsmen were harmed or soaking wet in the making of this video. They were under a tree. And yes your photographer should do more than shoot pictures on your wedding day. I will do anything to make the day run more smoothly. In this case I am the umbrella man.

I returned to The Elysian on Saturday to photograph the wedding. As I walked up, the doorman said, “You’re back. It’s nice to see you again. How did your shoot go yesterday?” I then strolled through the revolving door and one of the staff also remembered me from the day before and and offered to take my camera bag until I was ready to shoot. I can’t imagine how many people walk in and out of The Elysian a day, especially on a wedding weekend. I was blown away that any of the staff remembered me, let alone two of them. The best part of all this, I didn’t even have a room there. I was simply at the hotel to photograph my clients. A big thank you to The Elysian for setting a new level of excellence and attention to detail.

These are a few of my favorite images of Sharon and Michael from their wedding day at the Elysian. I will of course have another blog post up next week with the details of the ceremony and reception rooms at the hotel.