Collin & Christine Urbana, IL, Wedding
Vendor Team:
Day Of Wedding Coordinator- 618 Events, Maggie Farchmin & Jackie Holt
Venue - Prairie Glass House, Urbana, IL
Hair - Style and Grace
Makeup - Makeup by Laura Rose
Caterer - Baldarottas
Bar - Dirt Pour Traveling Bar
Photographer - Zimmerman Photography
Floral & Rentals - Create A Scene
Band - The B Sides
Mobile Golf - Caddies Mobile Golf
Collin and Christine booked day of coordination services with me and had LOTS of questions from the get go regarding the uniqueness of their day. Let me tell you- I ADORE when clients have something different to bring to their day that truly represents them as a couple.
Also fun fact, Christine was in med school and had her rotation on the postpartum floor of Carle Hospital in Urbana, IL, while we were working together. I actually had my second son and Christine was on shift after he was born so she helped to ensure everything was ok with me and him after he was delivered! I knew I was in good hands!
Their ceremony and reception venue was Prairie Glass House in Urbana, IL. This house is privately owned by a UIUC English Professor. He designed and built the home on an amazing piece of property out in the country. You’d never know you’re so close to downtown Champaign. Everything about the house is really unique. For example, the walls are actually all sliding glass doors. The artwork is extremely personal to the owner and was collected on his world travels. The layout itself of the home is almost a maze with wrapping hallways and long narrow passages.
The property runs along a river and there’s a pond. On the pond’s shore is a reflection house which has won many awards for the art of the architecture.
The owner loves his home and property so much that he loves to share with wedding and event clients! You can rent his home for the day for your wedding, just like Collin and Christine did.
If you have more than 75 guests for a sit down meal, you do need to rent a tent to accommodate the larger guest count. Collin and Christine really wanted to utilize the home and not just a tent because the home is so cool inside. That was one of their first main questions. How can we set up the tent in order for guests to enjoy both indoors and outdoors?
We decided on having certain elements inside (the buffet line, guestbook and welcome table, etc) while still having a tent for their reception.
The other challenge about having a tent was the size. The property does slope slightly downward toward the riverbed. You hardly notice it when walking around and enjoying the beauty, however you really notice it if sitting at a table with a meal in front of you. No one wants their food all sliding in the same direction on the plate. We were limited in the size of tent we could get due to the ground not being flat which meant we would have to shift tables around to make room for the dance floor when it came time for that in the evening. More on this to come!
Choosing the ceremony location on the property proved more difficult than they thought because there are just so many stunning options! They opted to have their ceremony overlooking the pond but guests are seated on the patio of the house. I hadn’t seen this done before and really loved this option! They hung Chinese lanterns from the trellis above the ceremony for a nod to Christine’s family and heritage.
Collin had officiate his best friend’s, Devin, wedding several years back and now it was Devin’s turn to officiate for Collin and Christine. It’s becoming increasingly popular for someone so personal to officiate my clients’ weddings and I couldn’t love it more! Devin lives in the beautiful state of Colorado but was in town visiting so was able to come by for our two months out site visit. It was helpful to get his insight for the ceremony.
Collin and Christine’s wedding day weather was constantly threatening rain. Unfortunately with a tent, you have to decide earlier in the week whether or not you want the sidewalls. Pro tip- ALWAYS reserve the side walls for a tent event. You never know what the weather will be doing. You will lose the deposit however it’s way worth a small amount of money in that way versus a ton of stress and potentially more money in damages for items that have to be protected from rain. So anyway, we were looking at all 500 weather apps every hour to see what the skies were going to do. Luckily, Collin and Christine had the sidewalls at the venue due to the weather forecast. We really wanted to avoid hanging them on but we had them ready just in case!
Set up went so smooth and one extremely personal and special moment of the morning was the traditional Chinese tea ceremony. Christine’s family is from China and she had several nods to her family and China at her wedding day. The tea ceremony is where the couple serves their parents and grandparents tea. The shows them respect, gratitude, and signifies a formal joining of the two families. How sweet! Blessing and gifts are then exchanged and then the couple becomes officially part of the family!
Other nods to Christine’s Chinese heritage were the Chinese lanterns hung at the ceremony and inside the tent and red was a main color of the decor.
The couple wanted something fun for their guests to enjoy during cocktail hour and the reception so I suggested mobile mini golf. Caddies Mobile Golf is located here in Champaign, IL, and they offer a wide range of mini golf holes you can rent for your wedding or event. Such a fun and unique touch for you and your guests! The couple along with their guests thoroughly enjoyed this fun activity during the day.
Another thing that stands out from Collin and Christine’s wedding day is their catering. I hadn’t yet worked with Baldarottas Catering. But let me tell you, their full service catering was AMAZING. Hands down going in my top wedding dinners. The pasta was out of this world and I’m not even sure why. Probably lots of love. Definitely recommend Baldarottas Catering for your next wedding or event.
Biggest lesson learned from this event: is it really not ideal to have to move tables for the dance floor. Originally they had the idea of putting the dance floor either a) under the stars or b) inside the house with the band. But we didn’t like the separation of the dance floor and band (also the MC) from the reception tent. And under the stars felt risky with the weather. So therefore we opted to move guests’ tables when it came time to dance. This meant those guests lost their place to sit which wasn’t a huge deal since dinner was over, however it was definitely more inconvenient than we thought it would be. It also took more help and hands to move the tables than I would have thought. Uhg. Not professional, classy, or ideal. The alternative? Rent another tent and put it beside the reception tent on the flatter ground (remember, we had a slope to avoid) and if the weather is OK then we can nix the tent but if not we have a covered dance floor that is still a good distance from the reception area. Yes this requires more money to be spent because you’re adding a second tent, but your guests aren’t forced to move and lose their spot, the flow is much smoother, and the overall classiness of the event isn’t compromised.
Overall, this day was one for the books and that’s mostly because this couple was so kind. I thoroughly enjoyed working with Collin and Christine to help their day run smoothly. Cheers to the happy couple!