When Colleen and Joe contacted me to help assist them in planning their fall Chicago wedding, we talked about a variety of different venues. In fact, when we narrowed it down to visit three, all three were completely different from one another.

Ultimately, they ended up choosing Venue West, a great west loop space owned and operated by J & L Catering.

With a 350 person guest list, Colleen and Joe needed a large space. Not only did the venue have the capacity they needed, but they fell in love with all that Venue West had to offer, including the staff.

Transforming the Space

Venue West is a large space with white walls, one accent brick wall, and an industrial ceiling. It’s great for a big Chicago wedding. Colleen and Joe are warm, caring, loving people who I was getting to know quite well, and I really wanted the space to reflect this in their personalities instead of feeling like a big open space. Venue West was a perfect blank slate for us!

To warm up the space, Luxe Productions added uprights to the perimeter, which accented the pretty brick wall behind the head table. Luxe also added some material we swaged from the ceiling. (You’ve previously seen some of our work with Luxe here.)

We were also anxious to work with Ozzie from Gromeza Designs, who added tons of candles, beautiful material for the head table, and chandeliers.

The transformation was stunning.

I happen to have one little video from my phone of the space shot during dinner…

Benefits of a Chicago Wedding Venue

The other big selling point was the lounge furniture and bars Venue West offered at the time. Oh – and the big chandelier!

We asked to move the chandelier out of storage into the middle of the cocktail hour space so that we could place the escort card table underneath it. After cocktails were over, when guests went to their seats, the chandelier then became a focal point for the center of the dance floor.

In regards to the lounge furniture, we were able to set up a couple different vignettes.

The Details

When it came down to choosing details, we decided that a dark wood would add texture we needed and a bit of warmth. Colleen opted to use wood table numbers, a wooden cake stand, frames for her signage, and mahogany cross back chairs.

In addition to all of these pieces, the flowers were absolutely stunning! Ozzie and his team did an incredible job!

Everything came together so beautifully. More than that, though, I was so happy to see Colleen and Joe’s reaction of their reception space. It always makes me so happy to see my clients watch their vision come to life! For this wedding, it wasn’t just Colleen and Joe who had that reaction, it was also Joe’s mom. I happened to be in the reception area when Joe’s mom walked in, and her reaction was priceless. That’s the best part of working with full planning clients, in my opinion!

Vendor Love

Church: St. Michael’s of Old Town

Venue: Venue West

Caterer: J & L Catering

Planning: JPB Designs

Photography: Peter Wynn Thompson Photography

DJ: Matt Roan

Flowers + Chandeliers: Gromeza Designs

Cake: Cake-Chicago

Rentals: Marquee Rentals

Lighting + Drapery: Luxe Productions

Beauty: Tamara Makeup & Hair

Hotel: Wyndham Grand – now Royal Sonesta Chicago Riverfront

Transportation: Big Bus Trolley

We had a wonderful time planning this wedding with such a sweet couple and one of the best vendor teams. Our walk through of the event space was the most productive I’ve ever had because each vendor contribution was needed. Thank you, vendors, for a job well-done!