We had such an amazing time at Nellcote last night!  They hosted the eleven eleven WEDDING Giveaway’s live reveal party and it could not have been more perfect!

It was great fun to catch up with all four finalists, our fellow sponsors, the press and the winners from last year (Amy and Howard)!

When the big announcement was made we were on pins and needles but could not possibly be more thrilled for Connie and Jessica!  Not only are we excited to work with them, we are proud to be supporting gay marriage!  This is something all of us at Greatest Expectations have always been passionate about.

We know this will be an exceptional journey … Please be sure to visit the eleven eleven WEDDING website to get all the juicy details as we work with our new bride’s on their extra special wedding!

Thanks to Amanda Hein for these beautiful images (more to come soon).

The 2012 eleven eleven WEDDING Giveaway will be held at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum on Sunday, November 11. The contest will open on Monday, February 27, so be sure to get those submissions ready!

It was such an absolute pleasure planning Amanda and Mike’s 2010 wedding and Amy and Howard’s 2011 wedding! We cannot wait to meet this year’s winners!

Special thanks to Ruby the Fox and Sugar Chic Designs for helping to make everything extra beautiful!

 This super fun yellow, pink and brown party featured the most adorable paper products from Party Plan-it Designs.  They do such an amazing job and everything comes packaged together.  I must admit, my personal favorite was the custom birthday banner.  It was not only super cute but came beautifully assembled and ready to hang! The products that Party Plan-it provided were countless but included invitations, tent cards, water bottle labels, cupcake toppers, welcome sign, stickers, favor tags and thank you notes! The yellow and white paper straws with customized pink flags came from Babs Giddy Gappers, the cupcake wrappers were from Olivia’s Paper Shoppe and the chalkboard labels (used on the bottles) came from Bugaboo Gifts. It’s worth mentioning that all of these vendors are on etsy!

The guests were treated to delicious banana cupcakes from Truffle Truffle and I think it’s fair to say the birthday girl really enjoyed them!!  Then everyone played the afternoon away on the bubble filled play floor and left with delightful gift baskets full of party favors.

Thank you to Samantha from Puddle Jumpers Photography for all of the attached images.

All and all it’s fun to be two!

~ Martin Luther King, Jr

Thank you for your leadership and courage Dr. King.

It is always good to welcome a new year by reflecting on the previous one … So here are some of our favorite memories from 2011 including weddings we have coordinated as well as events we have participated in within the wedding industry.  It was hard to narrow them down and they appear in no particular order.  I hope you enjoy taking a walk down memory lane with us  (and you can always look back through the blog for more details about each event!).

A special thanks to the following photographers for the above images: Amanda Hein Photography, Bellissima Photography, Danielle Aquiline Photography, David Wolfe Photography, Fred Fox Photography, Gerber + Scarpelli Wedding Photography, Jennifer Kathryn Photography, Jeremy Lawson Photography, Megan W Photography, Simply Jessie Photography.

Lesley & Matt Trailer from Chicago Cinematic Weddings on Vimeo.

As an industry, wedding professionals bring joy to so many people’s lives all year around. We are asking everyone to continue the joy by participating in our Wedding Industry Food Drive December 15th through December 18th.  You can bring your non perishable food items to one of the following locations (hours and addresses listed below) Bella Bianca, Bleeding Heart Bakery, Fleur, The Left Bank Jewelry & Shoes, Magnificent Milestones and Smitten Boutique. Each store is offering a discount for any one who brings in five or more non perishable food items (amount differs at each location but expect 10% – 15% off). We are so grateful to each of our drop off locations for opening their doors and our hearts to this extremely worthy cause. Beth, Ali and I will be collecting the food on Monday the 19th and taking it directly to the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

I’d also like to give a special thanks to Peggy from Erickson Designs for putting together this beautiful poster in a flash!

We are so proud of the work we have done with the eleven eleven WEDDING Giveaway.  The event is extremely near and dear to our hearts since we created it in 2010.  This year’s exceptional event took place yesterday at The Chicago History Museum and was featured on the ABC 7  News 6:00 pm broadcast and in the Chicago Sun Times.

Working with the winners, Amy and Howard, was a truly exceptional experience.  They are the kind of people you just want to be around all of the time, infectious, generous, gracious, funny, kind (I could go on and on). It was such a pleasure to introduce them to each of the sponsors and work with them throughout the planning process.

It is important to note that none of this would be possible without the constant support from the vendors in our community. We are so blessed to work with these amazing people who give of their time, talents and resources so willingly and with such grace. We are truly humbled by the experience and thank you simply does not seem to be “big enough” but we hope it will do.

Keep an eye out for some sneak peak pictures from Amanda Hein Photography.

The eleven eleven WEDDING Giveaway for 2012 will be announced sometime in February so please check back often and send in those applications, as you can see,  dream weddings really can come true!

You can find all of our sponsors listed below.  We thank them all, from the bottom of our hearts.

All images are from the Chicago Sun Times Article.

The amazing photos of this gorgeous event were captured by Eric and Melissa Snoza of SnoStudios! We simply loved working with Food for Thought, Amy Beck Cake Design, Hello Darling and the Chicago Catz!