Fall Chicago Wedding Trends
by Ali Phillips
Fall in Chicago is one of my favorite times of the year. The smell of burning wood, crisp leaves crunching under my feet and red sunsets glowing over Lake Michigan. The short season between late-September and December provides couples with a myriad of ways to personalize their wedding. They’re incorporating the texture and the feel of Autumn in their choices of design, food, as well as their wedding activities. Fall in Chicago gives couples the freedom to fully express themselves in all aspects of their wedding weekend.
Design
Rich browns and classic golds are making a comeback! Fruits, vegetables, leaves, and branches are also making an appearance throughout many fall weddings. For example, a number of brides are choosing invitations with more texture than the traditional, engraved wedding invitations. Invites with bows, tulle, vellum, branches, and even berries are matching the overall décor of many weddings.
You will find shades of green, orange and red in the fall flowers this year. Brides are choosing to accent their flowers with the rich colors in their table linens and napkins. And, yes, we see the return of linens with texture!
Couples are also placing branch wreaths accented with berries and leaves on the doors of their ceremony location. They’ll also incorporate grass, fruit, and gourds into their reception centerpieces. Pumpkins and squash are sometimes used to decorate placecard tables instead of traditional floral arrangements.
One of my weddings this month has a leaf motif throughout the entire day. The leaves from their wedding invitations appear on the programs, menu cards, and the wedding “well wisher” cards that guests will fill out instead of a guest book. We even have plans to adorn three canisters of branches with paper leaves as hanging placecards.
Food
Clients are being more creative in their food choices for their fall wedding celebrations. Instead of the traditional salad course before the entrée, we’re now seeing flavorful pumpkin and squash soups alongside a small salad topped with dried cherries and nuts. Terrines carrying mesclun greens and poached pears are also making their way to the dining tables. And, a few couples are serving hot apple cider, with rum for those over 21, during the cocktail hour or after dinner.
Gone is the day of the bland, white wedding cake. Couples are using different flavors like carrot cake and cheesecake for their weddings. I’ve also seen more requests for chocolate wedding cakes served with crème anglaise or a berry coulis. One of my fall couples is serving hot apple pie a la mode instead of the traditional wedding cake. Yummmmm.
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