Kelli found The Dress @ The Dress for her July 2011 wedding to her fiancé
Timothy. The couple met after college.
Kelli moved to DC with one of her best friends from high school, her friend’s
college roommate had a friend also moving to the area. “The three of us in a new city became fast
friends,” says Kelli. After a few months
she relocated again to NYC, but Timothy and Kelli kept in contact sporadically. Almost 5 years later they both attended a
high school friend’s engagement party and started dating after. A year of dating long distance Kelli relocated
to Chicago where he was living and almost a year after that they were
engaged. “So as fate would have it we
were married 7 years after our first meeting!”
How Timothy popped the question…“After we were reunited at my friend's
engagement party I flew to Chicago to visit Timothy, he took me to the Ralph
Lauren Restaurant on our first date. On
the night he purposed I had flown in for a bachelorette party and he wanted to
go to dinner. It was a Monday night and
he booked the same table and same waiter we had on our first night. Of course this was totally lost on me even
though this was a pretty fancy dinner for a Monday night!”
Kelli was originally looking for a date in August to get
married but she fell in love with The Art Institute of Chicago, The Modern
Wing. They had a cancellation on July 23rd and was available. “My
vision was to get married in the heart of downtown Chicago. Every other
venue we visited Timothy's response was ‘if you love it, I love it.’
But once we saw The Modern Wing and he had an actual opinion, I knew it was the
one!” The reception was also at The Art Institute but at their Terzo Piano
restaurant and was perfect for their 145 guests.
The
ceremony plan was to take place on the balcony with these amazing views of the
Chicago Skyline but there ended up being an exhibit called “Restless Rainbow”
by Pae White featured that summer that blocked the entire skyline. "We were forced to move the ceremony inside;
it ended up being extremely hot that day and the lobby allowed for me to make a
grand entrance down glass stairs. It was
amazing and I actually was glad we moved the ceremony inside. The exhibit made for great fun pics and the
ceremony fee was waived."
Kelli chose the Viva mermaid style made of gorgeous champagne tulle by Amy Kuschel. The delicate tulle was pleated and ruched on the bodice and through the hips. There was a skinny belt with Swarovski crystals and delicate silver appliques. To create more fullness in the skirt, Kelli had more layers of tulle added by Amy Kuschel. For the reception she changed into a short sassy cocktail dress accented with a fabulous vintage-inspired Enzoani belt. "My wedding venue was extremely modern and I wanted a dress that fit the personality of the wedding. I am also very petite so I wanted something that wasn’t overwhelming on my fame. In addition, the wedding was in the heart of the summer so I wanted something light and airy!"
She had a lot of favorite moments of the wedding day but if she had to
pick one it would be, "after the ceremony and after the pictures when it
was time to
party!!!"
Kelli's advice for soon-to-be brides..."don’t sweat the small stuff! All the little details that you put so much energy and time into will be lost on most guests. Also, it’s ok to be a little selfish you only get to have this day once."
Thank you again Kelli and Timothy for sharing your day with us! If you would like to be featured as a bride that found The Dress @ The Dress contact us!
