Steppenwolf Theatre

There are a few things I enjoy in my free time and the Theatre is one of them. This evening I had the pleasure of attending an exclusive CS Modern Luxury preview of the play "Fake". I absolutely love when a play can capture my undivided attention and "Fake" was able to achieve that! I can go on and on but I will let you attend and see for yourself how intriguing it is.

FAKE

In 1914, renowned mystery writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
invites four guests to his English country home.
Each visitor has a connection to the infamous
"Piltdown Man", purported to be the missing link between
ape and man - or is it all a big hoax? Swinging back and
forth through time, Fake confronts the mysteries of the human
condition: the tensions between science and religion, logic
and mystery...and no doubt faith.

Steppenwolf Theatre
1650 N Halsted Street
Chicago, Il 60614
(312) 335-1650
www.steppenwolf.org

Weddings @ ZED451 in Chicago....

Located in Downtowns River North area Zed 451 is a posh and chic restaurant that hosts events. A rich landscape of natural elements with amazingly stylized, contemporary edge makes up the look of ZED451. Wood floors, stone accents and artistic lighting provide sense of comfort, which are contrasted by clean lines and white leather seating. The food is to die for modern grilling....They have everything from Steaks, ribs, seafood, poultry and game. My favorite experience at ZD451 are the enormous "Harvest tables" where you can try everything from soup, salad and cheeses. Lets not forget their amazing cocktails!! Not only do they have amazing cocktails but you can enjoy them on the massive rooftop deck. The roof has many choices of seating from cozy little corners with fireplaces to huge banquets. The perfect place on a summer evening at sunset.
Now lets talk about what makes me ecstatic about this restaurant! "EVENTS".....Yes thats right ZED451 can accommodate up to 70 in their Fireside room, 50 in the Crescent, 45 in the Mezzanine and 35 in the Clark Street room. This venue is a perfect option for a smaller intimate wedding. The color scheme at ZED451 is perfect, all neutral to compliment any color brought in.
Wedding ceremonies are held in the FireSide room in from of the floor to ceiling fireplace...To die for! Once the ceremony is over with the guests weather permitting of course move onto the roof top....What an amazing cocktail hour!
I recently visited ZED451 for dinner and snuck upstairs to snap a few pictures for "Blogging" of course!


Enjoy!
Barbara Medina
Just Say Yes Events

Studio This Is Photography

As I mentioned in a prior post I will be getting married as-well in June of 2010. One would think that being a planner this would be much easier, unfortunately it has not. Being in the industry and having many connections with vendors has helped of course but I am striving to make it "Different". We scoured my preferred vendor list for "Just Say Yes Events", magazines, online and recommendations from my vendor friends. Finally late one night after hours of searching I came across Studio This Is Photography. My fiancee was sitting beside me and all I was saying was "Oh my god.....oh my god.....oh my god"....."Yahtzee". We immediately booked a consultation with them and had a wonderful connection. They met with us for almost 2 hours to discuss what we wanted regarding look, style & feel. They took time out to find out who we were and what our story was and that meant alot to us. We did not feel like just another client to them and that was extremely important. On your wedding day you spend the most time with your photographers & Bridal party. If you do not have a great connection this may cause unneeded stress. Studio This is won our hearts and we are very excited to begin the planning process with them. The next step will be My fiancee & I as-well as a few people from Studio This Is having a nice dinner in the city. They would like to find out more about Daniel & I....Which is amazing!

I think they are phenomenal and wanted to share them with all my followers & clients!

-Barbara Medina


All photos by: Studio This Is Photography.
http://www.studiothisis.com

Event planning for any event!!

Many people freak out when it comes to Thanksgiving or the holiday season..... Now a days with event planning firms were pretty much able to plan and execute any event. I had the privilege of designing and executing a gorgeous Thanksgiving table for a client here in Chicago. They wanted a traditional table with a modern touch since their home is on the modern side.
Here is what we came up with........The client had a wonderful dining room table which we used. Silver chivari chairs with white dupioni silk cushions were rented. As I mentioned before the client wanted a fairly traditional set up but with a modern touch. We achieved this by keeping it simple. The china was a plain white high gloss china set... flatware basic aswell with a simple scroll detail at the bottom.... and stemware very modern not design. The tea light holders were actually cocktail glasses that were part of the collection that the tall glasses were from. The client like the size of them versus tiny tea light holders. The centerpiece was very important for the client as she was going to be utilizing her buffet for the food instead of placing it on the table.I highly recommend this, after the food has been out for a few minutes its not very attractive and appealing! It much better to do a course dinner instead... soup..salad..etc The centerpiece was composed of gourds, tapers, mosaic iridescent spheres, and roses. The gourds were actually an almost cream color. We needed them to fit in so we painted them white then silver leafed them. It is a messy process but well worth it! The rose arrangements were low being that this would be a dinner and people should be able to see one another! This is where we added our pop of color. Red, orange, yellow, and pink were al in these roses...they resembled what fall leaves look like. White taper candles in tall candle holders and this completed the look. It was absolutely stunning! I was actually walking out as her guest arrived and it was wonderful to see the reactions on their faces..... the OOOOHHHH AND AAAAAAAAHHHHHH...... Is what I work so hard to achieve.... I want them to remember it for many years to come. So instead of freaking out during the holidays...... hire a professional.... Its what we are here for!

-Barbara Medina
Just Say Yes events!

Year of the peacock!

Ever since I was a little girl I remember loving "Unique" things. My favorite animals as a small child were zebras & Peacocks. The zebra because it was so different and stood out among all other animals and the peacock for its amazing beauty and color!
On one of my usual trips to the floral wholesaler I found a huge bunch of peacock feathers....I thought to myself "Yes" I can work with these. The design wheels began turning immediately in my mind, I thought what colors would compliment yet contrast as-well. That day I starred at one giant peacock feather for some time....possibly way too long. I thought well......?...... They have been used before and have been complimented with bronze, teal, purple etc. I wanted to go a different route and came up with a deep blue "Cobalt" and to contrast a bright green "Chartreuse" this color combination was perfect! I did not want to use the bronze either....Modern was the way I wanted to go silver was the obvious choice. The silver made if different than other peacock table designs and took it to another level adding a sense of glitz. I used the feathers in the centerpieces as an accent, on the favor boxes and chair detail.

Enjoy!!!

-Barbara Medina
Just Say Yes Events




Photo C/O Just Say Yes Events
Corseting treatment on the chair could be used for head table....Its gave the chair that "WOW" factor I was looking for!


Photo C/O Just Say Yes Events


Photo C/O Just Say Yes Events
Favor boxes were the perfect place to use the feather without going overboard

First Wedding Gift!!!

As the owner of the event planning firm "Just Say Yes Events" based in Chicago, not being married myself was a tad weird being that Its what I do for a living. That day has come and will take place in Downtown Chicago in June 2010. Of course our family and guests are very excited being that I am an event planner. They are expecting this gorgeous wedding..... I will not let them down. Together as a couple we are planning every last detail of the wedding. My fiancee is a Creative Director for an ad firm based in Downtown Chicago, therefore he is very hands on with the design of the wedding. Its actually been very nice having his assistance and eye for design when planning the wedding. Our wedding is just about 8 months away and this week we received our first wedding gift!! We were very excited because this meant it was actually happening and the excitement was insane! The gorgeous gift was from my fiancees parents Lindsey & Lorrain Bell. They sent us a pair of Waterford crystal champagne flutes and engraved crystal cake knife....Now I am not just saying this but they are the most beautiful flutes & cake knife I have ever seen!!! I just had to share with my blogger family!

"Thank You Lindsey & Lorri...We love you xoxoxoxoxox"

-Barbara
Just Say Yes Events.

Sweetest Day Wedding......

Just Say Yes Events planned a very romantic wedding for Catalina Vila & Jr Pereira. It was a wonderful experience being their wedding planning team. Catalina & Jr are very fun, loving and down to earth people. The love that they share is clearly visible and shinned during the ceremony. Their wedding date fell on Sweetest day which is October 17th 2009.....How much more romantic can you get than that!!?!?!? The color scheme chosen was black and red, which worked with the whole sweetest day theme. Just Say Yes Events created all the floral as-well for this particular wedding. The guest table centerpieces consisted of tall pilsner vases, two red roses submerged in water, floating candles & glass beads at the bottom of each vase. The head table consisted of lots of glass cylinders with floating candles and TONS of rose petals!!! The brides bouquet was a huge bouquet with a little over two dozen deep red roses, tied with satin red ribbon. The wedding favor for the wedding was a massive 16 jar candy buffet. Every type of confectionary you craved we had!!! from marshmallows to twizzlers! The centerpice for teh candy buffet was a huge manzanita tree with hanging votives.

"May they live happily ever after"
Congratulations Jr & Catalina from the entire "Just Say Yes Events team"

Wedding Day Make Up.

One word "Flawless".....Krista Gobeli is a true artist. Just Say Yes Events highly recommends her for your wedding day or any special occasion. 

Her long list of clients includes:

Many many lovely brides!

Palmer House Hilton

Volkswagen

Harry Potter

Gatorade

Office Max

Time Out Chicago Magazine

The list goes on.....

Krista Gobeli

Kristagobeli@yahoo.com

P: 630-915-5819
Click here to view her amazing work.

Photo C/O R. Hanel www.rhanelphotography.com/

D-Lish Tea!

Just Say Yes Events was in Galena for the destination wedding of Rachel lukawski & Todd Kuna this October. The day after the wedding the team had a chance to visit the lovely boutiques in town and buy a few things! I personally love "Tea" all flavors and types! Especially during the fall and winter seasons here in the Midwest! We stopped into "The great Galena Peddlery" If you are looking for wonderful spices or tea.....This is the place for you! I was in heaven and could not chose which tea to purchase. I finally picked a large bag of loose strawberry tea for just $1.98!!  I just brewed a fresh batch of the strawberry tea I picked up and I must say Im impressed. The entire office smells of fresh strawberries and someone even asked if we had a strawberry candle lit!

Try them out you wont be disappointed!

Just Say yes Events!

Celebrity Wedding.

"From the matching Tom Ford bowties to the unity sand ceremony to the 10-ft. ice sculpture bar, the wedding of American Idol's Jim Verraros to entrepreneur Bill Brennan on Sunday was planned down to the last detail."

 
Click to read full article

From Our Founder
Just Say Yes Events had the privilege of being the “Day Of” planner for Jim Verraros from American Idol and Bill Brennan President of Bridal Expo. 
Every detail of this wedding was hand picked and reflected both Bill and Jim’s personal style and taste. The location chosen was the luxurious Oak Book Hills Resort which was a reflection of Bill’s green thumb as he is an avid gardener. The ceremony took place within the lush gardens with a view of the water and elements of greens, floral and my favorite part, a sand ceremony. The reception was held in the Marquis tent of the resort that was perfect for their Old Hollywood theme. Every last detail was thought of from the favor silver frames with a secret photo of the couple hidden inside to the huge ice sculpture bar inspired by the lions that have been in front of Chicago’s Art Institute, since 1893. Just Say Yes Events strives to make every event, in any budget, spectacular and most importantly run smoothly. Bill and Jim are very dear to us and we feel extremely privileged to have been part of their special day. 

Congratulations from the entire Just Say Yes Events team!

Destination wedding in Galena Il.

Just Say Yes Events had the privilege of planning a destination wedding this fall in Galena Illinois. Galena is a quaint town just 20 minutes from Dubuque Iowa and 3 hours from Chicago. 

Just Say Yes was brought on fairly early into the planning for this particular wedding therefore making  it very special to us. Our clients Todd Kuna (Groom) and Rachel Lukawski (Bride) were they epitome of perfect clients. They were amazing to work with and were completely involved in the planning. I remember my first meeting with Rachel vividly! She handed me a clipping from a magazine that she absolutely loved but hesitantly said "I am not sure about the colors". I personally had been wanting to design a wedding with the main color being plum so when I saw the clipping I was overjoyed. The clipping was of a wedding with plum and burnt orange color scheme!! The wheels began to turn in my head....thinking of ways to make plum and burnt orange come to life!

Enjoy

Just Say Yes Events!

St. Matthews Church

Photo c/o Just Say Yes Events

Mr. & Mrs. Todd Kuna

Photo c/o Just Say Yes Events

Head Table: We used plum chair ties to make their table "Different" and add something special. We also used the brides bouquet & bridesmaids bouquets as the centerpiece.

Photo c/o Just Say Yes Events

Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa

Galena Il

The wedding reception was held in the tent overlooking Galena Lake.

We used plum lamour linens on the tables with matching napkin.

To bring in the burnt orange color.... Just Say Yes created a custom napkin detail with orange satin ribbon and decorative rhinestones.

The floral also brought in different shades of orange with alstromeria, premium rose and spray roses.

The accent color for this wedding was gold.... We used gold chiavari chairs, charger plates and vases.

Photo c/o Just Say Yes Events