Bright Chicago Botanic Garden Wedding

This Chicago Botanic Garden Wedding is the perfect picture of a floral inspired fete. And if you read IBT regularly, you know we love anything and everything floral – from cakes to fashion to hanging installations. Needless to say, we also love this wedding! The photographer, Kristin La Voie, says describes it saying, “The bride used the lush garden venue as the all encompassing theme for the wedding; from the flowery leaf pattern in her dress, to the plantable escort cards, and the bright color scheme with lots of different flowers.”

From the bride…

We wanted our wedding to feel heartfelt and warm – like a big party with our closest friends and family! As such, picking a venue that was close to our hearts was a given. Christopher and I both love the outdoors, so it was important that our day reflected that. The venue played a big part in the overall style and mood of the day. The Chicago Botanic Garden is near where I grew up, just north of Chicago, and let everyone have a nice escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Once we decided on the location, we let the garden’s natural beauty be the main inspiration for our big day. My grandmother has always said “nature has no color palette,” so we embraced every color under the rainbow. There is so much existing, natural décor so we wanted bright bursts of color with an undone, effortless style.

Without trying, the nature theme found it’s way into most details of the day – my dress was even embroidered with a leaf pattern! I definitely wasn’t looking for it, but it was one of the first dresses I tried on and from first sight I could see the entire moment unfolding in my mind.

For us the pinnacle of our wedding was the unity tree ritual during our ceremony. We added dirt from both our childhood homes to a Myrtle plant, which is said to be sacred to Aphrodite and a symbol of love, to signify the joining of our families and continued growth of our love. It was a very unique moment that signified the roots and future growth of our love together, and the joining of our families with whom we are both extremely close.

We also loved incorporating subtle little moments throughout the evening – from the bluegrass band during cocktail hour (for Christopher’s Kentucky roots) to the plantable escort cards and pashminas, both with homemade signs – those small touches made the evening more memorable and meaningful.