“When I’m drinking champagne…I’m drinking stars”  – Dom Perignon

Within the Chicago area, I love trying out new places to eat!  A few blocks from my downtown apartment is a fabulous champagne bar: Pops for Champagne.  I imagine this hot spot to be a great place for a bachelorette party to start out with a few drinks, before anything gets too crazy!  The atmosphere is sophisticated- it screams celebration!

Serving Chicago since 1982, Pops for Champagne is the perfect mix between a bubbly champagne bar and an intimate live music club. It offers freshly prepared shared plates, a raw bar, and a dessert menu in the upstairs main bar and lower level jazz club.   With 100 options of “bubbly” and small plates to compliment the drinks, Pops for Champagne is a prime location when visiting the city.  Its River North location on State and Ohio streets places it at an easy walk from most downtown hotels and a quick trip to continue the night’s fun on the town!

Check out menus at their website:     http://www.popsforchampagne.com/

jump for joy v : feel extreme happiness or elation [syn: exult, walk on air, be on cloud nine]

At some point during your engagement, you’ve felt as if you are walking on air…unable to contain your excitement and want to jump for joy! If you like to let loose and have fun with your pictures, I highly suggest the “jumping” picture for your wedding!  It allows everyone’s outgoing personality shine through and lets you look back at your day and see a photo capturing the true energy surrounding your wedding.  This fantastic picture is the combined effort of everyone in the bridal party jumping at exactly the right time that the photographer snaps the picture.  Be patient- it might take a few tries, but you will love the final product!   Rich Miller Photography knows how to evoke emotion out of the bridal party as you can see in these great shots:

Kick off your shoes, let your hair down and celebrate like these girls! 

Wedding by Color

You and your groom have worked endless hours planning your wedding, and the day has come!  You’re officially husband and wife and have so much to look forward to.  Don’t let anything get you down on this special day.  Celebrate. Laugh. JUMP FOR JOY!!

David Bampton Stuido

Warning: The jumping picture will only work under one condition: that everyone in the bridal party is 100% committed to jumping as high as possible with as much energy as they have in them!  If you have one half-hearted groomsman on the end of the jumping line, he will stick out like a sore thumb!

John Prutch Photography

Before I head out into the sunny 20 degree weather of Chicago,  I wanted to leave you with what I thought would be a perfect bridesmaids gift for a winter wedding.  These beautiful pashminas add a level of class and warmth to your wedding day!  I especially love them when your bridesmaids are wearing black dresses and the pashminas are in your wedding colors…the pictures will turn out fabulous! To keep the gifts unique you could match the pashmina color with the bridesmaids’ personality instead of the wedding, adding a colorful display of individuality!

Also, to further personalize them I would suggest adding a simple monogram to each gift like you see below at shoploveme.com.  Your girls will love them I promise

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love ice cream.  I am not picky on flavors or toppings I just love the icy cold treat! While planning a wedding and choosing all of your favorite things, why would you not include this heavenly goodness?  Hosting an ice cream bar at your wedding is a fun way to give your guests a chance to create their own dessert!

If your heart is set on the traditional wedding cake, one suggestion would be to have your caterer begin to serve the ice cream bar towards 10:30 – 11:00 pm, or about an hour before the reception ends.  By this time your guests have hopefully danced away their dinner and are beginning to get hungry again.  Have this as your “late-night snack” for everyone still celebrating, as a farewell to a fabulous wedding. If you decide to wait to serve the ice cream bar until later in the evening, make sure to factor in the family and friends that will leave.  I would suggest ordering the ice cream bar for half as many people as you ordered your dinner for.

I would encourage you to keep it simple!  Stick to your basic vanilla and chocolate ice cream flavors, and go crazy with the toppings.  The more colors and textures, the better!  Talk with your caterer about what they can offer you and have fun matching serving dishes like the ones pictured above.  An ice cream bar isn’t just for kids- you will be surprised how big adult’s eyes get when they see this delicious display!  I encourage you to tempt your family and friends to dip into this ice cream delight!

By now, you may be imagining a sugar overload with both a traditional wedding cake AND an ice cream bar. Take a moment to consider mixing the two together…  I imagine artfully designed, individual ice cream servings displayed in the tiered shape of a cake.  Check out this fabulous cake I found at For the Love of Weddings!!

If you have a larger budget and you really want to take this ice cream bar a step further, you could look into personalizing your own ice cream flavor at ecreamery.  Did I say ice cream flavor? … you’d be able to personalize everything from your own packaging to the mix-ins and finalize the creation by giving it the perfect name for your wedding!

Finally, a fun favor idea to go along with your ice cream bar are these adorable ice cream scoops found at Wrap With Us.

Now that I finished this post…I think I will give in to my craving and grab a scoop of mint oreo ice cream to go!