London Wedding Planner

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog for the last week or so, but there is a good reason – I’m in America! If any of you follow me on , you’ll probably already know that I’ve been looking forward to this trip for the last couple of weeks, and my excitement hasn’t subsided now that I’m actually here.

I’ve never been to the States before, so when Mr HCW came home one night and said he’d be working in Chicago for a week and did I want to go (erm, hello?!), I literally jumped at the chance. So after an 8-hour flight from Heathrow on Saturday, here I am slap bang in the middle of downtown Chicago, and I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ve been up to over the last few days.

I’ve never been on a long-haul flight before, so I have to admit I was a little apprehensive about how I’d manage to sit still for such a long time. But I managed to bag a great window seat, and as we left the Atlantic behind I had the opportunity of enjoying some incredible views of Canada…

…as well as my first sight of American soil as we came into land…

In case you hadn’t noticed by the snow covered landscape, it’s pretty cold here, but that that hasn’t stopped me exploring! On Sunday we headed to Navy Pier for “Snow Day”, where the the most incredible snow sculptures were out on display. Fancy one as a centrepiece for your wedding?!

After standing around in the freezing cold for far too long, we headed off to warm up in the magnificent John Hancock Observatory . Looking over the city and the vast Lake Michigan I really did feel as if I was on top of the world! (I’m having technical issues with the photos of these views, but I promise to post some as soon as I can!)

Right at the bottom of the building is The Cheesecake Factory , an absolute must if like me you’re a complete dessert freak. With over 40 different flavours it took me over 10 minutes to settle on my choice of tiramisu cheesecake, but I was also seriously tempted by the red velvet cake, cherry and chocolate mousse flavours (I may have to pay a second visit!). It was absolutely scrumdiddly, and I think a great alternative dessert to serve in place of wedding cake!

Come Monday I was on my own as Mr HCW headed off to work, so I decided to walk alongside Lake Michigan to the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum . In hindsight this probably wasn’t the best of ideas, as it turned out to be about 3.5 miles in temperatures well below freezing (I’m talking like -10C here!), but the views walking through Millennium Park were definitely worth it – if I was planning a Chicago city wedding, I would definitely want to schedule in some time for the bride and groom to have some post-ceremony photos here.

I was hoping to explore the shopping district more today and locate myself a stack of US Wedding magazines, but as you may have heard Chicago has been hit by the worst snow storm in decades. I have honestly never seen anything like it. It hasn’t stopped snowing since 2pm yesterday, last night there was thunder and lightening whilst the snow was still falling, and today the blizzard is so bad I can barely see the end of the road!

Reports on the news are saying that snow levels at O’Hare airport this morning (near to where Mr HCW has gone to work) were at 17”, whilst residents in the suburbs are reporting snow drifts of up to 6 foot! And you know what? The trains are running normally, people are still getting to work and it’s taken this amount of snow for local schools to close for their first snow day in 12 years. Ok, so this weather is a bit extreme, but if you want a winter wedding with guaranteed snow then Chicago is definitely the place to be!

Photo Credits:
Chicago sights and snow sculptures: taken by Helen Carter Weddings
Cheesecakes: The Cheesecake Factory

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