Tale as old as 2020 ❤️ Rita + Julian’s pandemic love story started on Hinge during lockdown. First there were FaceTime dates. Then there was an in-person hang over pizza. And since then they’ve been soulmates!
“Because it was 2020, that first year was a lot of cooking together, taking the dog for long walks, and just hanging out in our own little bubble,” remembers the couple. “After almost a year of dating, it made going out to a movie or a restaurant for the first time such a bizarre treat.”
Their COVID-era romance blossomed into a proposal in the Fall of 2023, but Rita + Julian knew they didn’t want to be engaged for long. They set an April 2024 wedding date and jumped into the planning deep end! “With less than 6 months to bring everything together, the couple knew they had to be decisive,” says Kate of Cygnet Events and Design. “A bold, 1970s-inspired color palette full of primary colors served as a starting place for the look of the day.”
With Wildman Boiler + Tank locked in as the venue, the team of vendors that art director + bride Rita assembled got to work creating this vibrant, vintage-meets-modern Chicago wedding.
“Most of all,” the couple says, “we wanted it to be colorful, we wanted the food to be excellent, and we wanted the whole night to feel like us.”
Maybe our fave part of Rita + Julian’s day? All of the fabulous FRINGE!!
Let’s take a look at these gorgeous wedding photos from Indigo Lace.
These pink + peachy invites by Maison Blanche are the definition of retro romance. Major 70’s book cover or movie poster vibes.
“When it came to my dress, I knew pretty quickly that I wasn’t finding quite what I wanted out in the world,” says Rita of her journey to a custom wedding gown experience. “I wanted something with a slinky vibe, with this very specific draping in the skirt and a fitted bodice. Seeing this dress come to life with Mira Couture was a really amazing experience; I can’t say enough about their team.”
We LOVE a bright, patterned wedding suit moment! Colorful, statement groom style like Julian’s bold teal look is one of the wedding trends we’re most excited about.
The First Look
Our hearts! We love to see a groom totally blown away by a first look like Julian was. And can you blame him? He was taking in not only Rita’s custom dress but also her gorgeous glam wedding day hair + makeup look from Emily Rae Bridal Hair and Darcy McGrath Makeup.
“Julian knew he wanted a tuxedo, but he wanted it to be something singular, without being ostentatious,” remembers Rita. “Looking through swatch books at Nicholas Joseph, he found a few things he liked, but this one struck the perfect balance of color, pattern, and a bit of a retro vibe. The finished look was nontraditional yet refined—exactly what we wanted.”
“We both really wanted Julian’s look to have as much of an impact as mine, and I think we accomplished that.”
Browse through our favorite bridal sunglasses + men’s sunglasses to up your wedding day cool factor by 1000% like Rita + Julian did 😎
“The small wedding party wore bold colors and coordinated everything in their palette from monochromatic attire to flowers to ribbons,” says Kate from Cygnet Events and Design of these rich gold + teal looks. The gold dress is from Mac Duggal and that deep teal blue suit is by Cinq à Sept
This vibrant warm tone bridal bouquet is just one piece Atmosphere Events Group’s floral vision for the day.
We’re obsessed with Rita’s impeccable approach to bridal accessories. “The shoes were gold Rothy’s flats (I’m allergic to uncomfortable shoes). My hair pin was a sculptural twisting gold piece from Lelet NY that I’m still so excited to wear. My lipstick was Uncensored by Fenty (a perfect red). And my earrings were hands down the thing I spent the most time looking for out of everything at this wedding, but it was worth it because the moon quartz double drops (Syna) hit the mark perfectly.”
“The flower girl basket! I am especially proud of that and it was the perfect distraction in the weeks leading up to the wedding,” says Rita of this DIY masterpiece. “I wanted something colorful and unique, something unconventional, and I couldn’t find anything quite right. So, I found a pretty simple basket with a modern silhouette, bought a few different colors of chainette fringe, and started glueing and trimming, row-by-row, which took hours and hours. But I absolutely love how it turned out and I love that I’ve never seen a flower girl basket quite like it.”
Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding Bride: For me it was the few minutes right before the ceremony when we were all waiting to enter. Everyone around me was buzzing with anticipation, bouncing nervously, parents and siblings and the flower girl and ringbearer. I had been so nervous about reading my vows, not tripping when I walked down the aisle, all of it, and suddenly I was so uncharacteristically, unbelievably calm. It hit me really hard in that moment that this was what it felt like to be exactly where I was meant to be, about to marry Julian. This was the easiest, least stressful decision I'd ever make.
Groom: Seeing Rita coming down the aisle for the first time, surrounded by all of this color and this crowd of people. Seeing all of these people gathered in a single room, multiple generations who had come in from across the country and across the globe, people who hadn't been together in years if not decades, people meeting for the first time. That and the maid of honor's speech. It was pure standup comedy and the photos of us weeping with laughter during her speech are the proof.
“We asked my brother to officiate, and his remarks were the cherry on top of an absolutely perfect ceremony,” remembers Rita. “Start-to-finish, it just felt so much like us. He got some good laughs out of us and made everyone tear up—except for the maid of honor (little sister of the bride), who didn’t just tear up, she pretty much bawled from the moment we entered the room until the band, Artistrings, played our recessional music. Having both of my siblings up there with us felt really special.”
The Reception
Our Advice To Those Planning Now Get an audio guestbook—listening to that recording a few weeks after our wedding was such a perfect time warp back to that night and we can't wait to re-listen to people's messages for years to come. (We used After the Tone)
Make firm decisions about what you want and don't want as early as you feel comfortable—it makes the later stages of planning that much calmer.
In theory, you're only trying to get married the one time (at least we were), so why not make it a true reflection of you and your partner? We really wanted everything at our wedding to be a representation of us, and we think that shows.
We tried as much as possible to be sustainable, with the vendors we chose and the help of our amazing planner, Kate Reavey. Part of that was also working very collaboratively with our lovely designer, Christen at Maison Blanche, to create things like our welcome sign, which is so much more than just a sign from our wedding, it's a piece of art that we love seeing on our wall in our home.
This colorful pipe + banner wedding reception seating chart is so stylish in its simplicity!
Mix + match chairs, round tables, and a curving banquet head table setup from Bowery & Bash made for a funky + sophisticated vibe.
Boka Catering cooked up a delicious feast for the intimate list of folks on Rita + Julian’s guest list.
It really is all in the decor details. That retro, lounge-y fringe lamp is peach + blue perfection and goes such a long way in establishing the colorful, swanky-yet-sophisticated 70’s aesthetic.
“There were tiny details that I really cherish in retrospect—portraits of our grandparents in the ceremony space (now hanging in our home), a curated playlist of songs we shared with our amazing DJ, DJ Tess, all the way down to the little brass duck card-holders on the sweets table that specified each dessert.”
Vibrant linens from BBJ La Tavola tied the entire room together with a mix of bold patterns and solid colors in the day’s bright-yet-warm color world.
Alliance Bakery created Rita + Julian’s bright, three-tier painted buttercream wedding cake.
Why stop at wedding cake?! “We also asked our favorite local Mexican bakery (La Piñata Bakery) to make us dulce de leche churros for the sweets table, a throwback to our early days of dating,” says Rita of the delicious dessert-y ways the couple personalized their day.
Our Musical Choices Processional: "Paprika" by Japanese Breakfast (performed by Artistrings)
Recessional: "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone (performed by Artistrings)
First Dance: "Hello Love" by Jessie Ware
“I’d been looking for a jacket for the end of the night, something spangly and brightly colored, but I wasn’t finding the right one and had pretty much given up on that idea,” Rita remembers. “And then just as I was leaving Mira Couture after one of my last few fittings, I spotted this bolt of multicolored sequined fabric on their shelf that they’d just gotten in. I asked if there was any chance, in the very limited time we had left before the wedding, they could make me a cropped jacket from that fabric, and they DELIVERED. It is without a doubt the most amazing piece of clothing I own and I love having something from my wedding that I can wear on the regular for the rest of my life.”
Congratulations, Rita + Julian! We can’t help but fall for your fringe-filled Chicago wedding. Wishing you a lifetime full of sparkles + color!
photography: Indigo Lace Collective // venue name: Wildman BT, Chicago, IL – midwest, US // event design: Cygnet Events and Design // planning: Cygnet Events and Design // florals: Atmosphere Events Group // wedding dress: Mira Couture // hairpiece: Lelet NY // bride’s shoes: Rothy’s // hair stylist: Emily Rae Hair // makeup artist: Darcyl McGrath // groom attire: Nicholas Joseph // videography: H Wu Studios // paper goods: Maison Blanche Lettering // catering: Boka Catering // cake: Alliance Bakery // desserts: La Piñata Bakery // tabletop rentals: Arcana Vintage Rentals // furniture rentals: Bowery & Bash // linen rentals: BBJ La Tavola // music: Artistrings // officiant: Bride’s brother // lighting: Atmosphere Events Group // photo booth: Fotio // late night bites: Barnaby’s Pizza Northbrook // dj: DJ Tess // hotel: 21c Museum Hotel // transportation: Windy City Limousine