a bakelo wedding

Don’t Panic!

All the info you need to know to have a FANTASTIC time on May 15th.

Attire: Wear whatever you want. Dancing shoes recommended.

Parking: Parking on Clark is metered. There is often parking on the neighborhood side streets west of Ashland. The venue is also close to the 22 Clark, 50 Damen, and 92 Foster buses. (Red Line Berwyn and Brown Line Damen stops are bus accessible too.)

Stuff: If you need to change your outfit at the last minute, leave bulky items somewhere, or access to a quiet bathroom/couch during the event, let us know. Our home is a block away from the museum and we’re happy to share.

Timing: The bar opens at 5:30 pm. Musician Matt Ryd starts playing then too. Actual marriage occurs a bit after 6:30 pm. Dinner after marriage. Pie after dinner. Dancing after pie. Optional after-party mayhem? Think about it. We’re leaving the museum at 11:30 pm to give the staff time to clean up.

Ceremony: The “show” will be very informal. Feel free to take your seat at your table to watch. Remember to say “Mazel Tov!” after Yesenia steps on the glass.

Food: Come hungry! There will be plenty of food for meat-eaters and vegetarians alike. Even those of us who are lactose-intolerant will be sure to have a good time. Try some of everything. When else will you get to try FOUR kinds of meat from Smoque or NINE different kinds of pie from Hoosier Mama? Take little bites and go back for seconds.

Feedback: Based on feedback, we made sure there was ice cream and coffee available for the pie course. Never say we didn’t get you anything nice.

Bar: Really good beer and wine and a bottle of whisky. Flasks optional. Lots of coke, diet coke, sprite, and water for those of us who like to hydrate.

Seating: Everyone is assigned to a table. And if you don’t like it there, you can always make friends with someone at another table.

Gifts: Not expected, at all. Seriously. Your presence is WAY better than a set of steak knives.

Photos: We’ll be taking photos. And so will you, I bet. If you have some great ones you want to share, send them to us! We’re also going to set up a camera with an instant printer and ask you to take pictures and leave a message for our photobook.

THANK YOU

We will never have another chance to see all of you in the same room for one evening. It is a true blessing to share this with you.

Budget

I recently read that the average American wedding costs over $20,000. This wedding will not cost anywhere near that amount. But this wedding will be full of love and meaning and fun. And those things are pretty affordable.

When we started planning the Bakelo wedding we had a few priorities:

• Say meaningful vows to one another
• Share the vows with friends and family, and build a network of support for our new family
• Have a fun party for our closest friends and loved ones to enjoy
• Good food, good wine and beer, good music, dancing, merriment
• Memories captured in beautiful photographs

This list of priorities made it easy for us to say “Yes, we will have a big buffet of Smoque food and an open bar” as well as “No, we will not be buying expensive wedding gowns”.

I really like the way Sara and Matt approached planning their wedding, with goals in mind first.

I hope everyone can have a meaningful, enjoyable, and budget-friendly wedding!

Photography Details

Yasmine, Yesenia’s sister, will be the photographer.

She takes pictures like this one:

Ceremony Details

Neither Rachel nor Yesenia are very religious. Rachel’s family are Reformed Jews, and Yesenia is an atheist. The ceremony will incorporate a few Jewish elements like:

• Jewish candle blessing
• A chuppah (Jewish wedding canopy)
• A ketubah (Jewish wedding contract)
• Stepping on the glass (Yesenia’s favorite part, remember to say “Mazel Tov” after she does it!)

To balance out the Judaism:

And:

P.S. I’m kidding about the cowboy boots. Really.

Inspiration Boards

Wedding Porn! Inspiration boards over at StyleMePretty.