Cassie & Colby
CULTURAL CENTER | CHICAGO, IL
Preston Bradley Hall presents a specific kind of challenge. The Tiffany stained glass dome is not a backdrop — it is the room. When Cassie and Colby chose the Chicago Cultural Center as their ceremony and reception venue for their July 2019 wedding, that first decision was also the most consequential one. Everything that followed would need to be in conversation with a building that has been asking for that kind of seriousness since 1897.
Getting ready happened at Trump Chicago, where floor-to-ceiling windows over the river had already established the scale of the day. Cassie's gown — a champagne lace mermaid with lace illusion cap sleeves by Milla Nova — arrived quietly in those rooms, fitting the light without competing with what was below it. Then portraits: outside on stone terraces, in the park beneath summer canopies, near classical architecture that connected directly with where the ceremony would happen. By the time the wedding party arrived at the Cultural Center, the day had its own visual logic.
Flowers for Dreams designed the ceremony installation to work with the room's existing authority. A white circular floral arch anchored the altar. Tall gold topiary trees with cascading blooms lined the blush aisle runner from entry to end. The palette — blush, champagne, ivory, gold — was already a set of colors the building would accept. When Cassie descended the aisle on her father's arm with a cathedral veil trailing behind her and the Tiffany dome overhead, the room did exactly what a room that significant is supposed to do.
The reception stayed inside Preston Bradley Hall, which meant the ornate gilded ceiling and dome were present through every course. Flowers for Dreams built centerpieces that reached toward the ceiling and designed floral installations that treated the architecture as a collaborator. BBJ La Tavola provided blush and champagne linens that carried the ceremony palette directly to the table. Elegant Event Lighting read the warm gold of the gilded hall and extended it rather than overriding it. A long garden table in a Cultural Center corridor — tall greenery arching overhead, candles running its length — was its own moment inside the larger evening.
The details held their discipline. Hanan Paikin Stationery designed the suite and the seating chart — a calligraphy panel in an ornate gold frame, draped in greenery and candles, holding its place on the mosaic tile floor as though it had always been there. Maison Blanche Lettering carried that same clarity to the welcome signage and escort display. The gold keepsake accents, the crystal stemware, the velvet ribbon details — every element spoke the same visual language throughout the day.
Clary Pfeiffer photographed the wedding. Shutter and Sound captured it on video. Blohaute and Val Artistry handled hair and makeup. Pontarelli Companies provided transportation. Blue Plate Catering catered the evening. Tionna Marie of Wedicity designed and coordinated the wedding from the first vision to the last detail placed on the table.
A wedding at the Chicago Cultural Center is a decision that requires follow-through. The palette has to hold. The florals have to know where the room ends and where they begin. The stationery, the seating chart, the welcome board — every piece of paper in the room has to earn its place. When it all works, the result is an evening inside one of Chicago's great buildings that feels genuinely worthy of it. This is what that looks like.
VENDOR CREDITS
Planner & Design: Wedicity | Tionna Marie | Ceremony & Reception: Chicago Cultural Center (Preston Bradley Hall) | Getting Ready: Trump Chicago | Photography: Clary Pfeiffer | Videography: Shutter and Sound | Florals: Flowers for Dreams | Lighting: Elegant Event Lighting | Linens: BBJ La Tavola | Catering: Blue Plate Catering | Favors: Garrett Popcorn | Hair: Blohaute | Makeup: Val Artistry | Stationery: Hanan Paikin Stationery | Calligraphy & Lettering: Maison Blanche Lettering | Gown: Milla Nova | Shoes: Badgley Mischka | Jewelry: Devon Fine Jewelry | Cartier | Transportation: Pontarelli Companies
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