Natalie & Ace’s Queer Chicago Wedding at The Intimate Garden Industrial Lytle House
Venue: Lytle House DJ : Gold Noise DJ Natalie’s Dress : Grace Loves Lace Ace’s Suit: Arthur & Lucca Cake: Nirali Chuahan Video: Dual Frames Productions Leather Jacket: Alter Aura Designs Hair & Makeup: Rare Bird Beauties
From the couple about their wedding day.
Our 80-person union/wedding was curated to be an intimate and intentional day, centered around connection. Our day began in two adjoining Chicago lofts allowing us to get ready adjacently and separately. The space was a beautiful setting to get ready as natural light flooded in huge windows, and the organic elements of the loft, exposed bricks and dark green walls, complemented our wedding aesthetic perfectly. Our wedding parties danced between spaces as we watched videos we made for one another for the morning of – a visual reading of a letter we wrote for one another – we each expressed shared themes such as ‘take a deep breath,’ ‘soak in all the love around you’, ‘we deserve this kind of love’. Besides the videos, we pulled tarot cards, played music, and were immersed in the love of our people.
Our first look was at North Ave Pier in Chicago – Ace’s favorite view of the city. Ace waited in solitude overlooking the skyline while Natalie and the wedding party arrived and walked to the pier. Yes, it was a stunning crisp fall day, and YES it was windy! Although no tragedy, there were laughs as Natalie’s long veil caught a pole on the edge of the water; though she did not fall into the water; instead, the veil wrapped us up tightly as we embraced for our first kiss following our first look. Ace felt gratitude for having a second chance at marriage and was destined to live their authentic truth. They wore a beautiful custom ivory tux, embellished with a gem center button and gold satin label and pant stripe.
The setting of our ceremony and reception was an indoor/outdoor space owned by a queer couple that Ace has known for years, The Lytle House. The couple bought an old auto repair shop and renovated it into a sophisticated, intimate, blank slate to curate a space for love and connection unique to each event being held. One of our best friends, titled ‘spiritual guide’ officiated the ceremony, and another best friend, titled ‘grounding force’ presented rings. Natalie’s wedding party stood behind Ace and vise versa, to both exemplify that our people are each other’s people, as well as ensuring that, in such an emotionally salient time, we could catch eyes of our VIPS during the ceremony. Each member of the wedding party had a personal title, such as “Soul Sister” “Best Budd” “Hype Woman”, to ensure each person felt celebrated for their unique role in our lives and for that day.
Our wedding hashtag/phrase was “her twin flame.” We refer to each other as our twin flames and define it as: our souls mirror connection, a balance of masculine and feminine energy, helping us understand ourselves deeply from strengths to insecurities. This is key to our love as we have navigated intense emotion together including finding one’s gender expression, stability in a queer relationship, and self-worth above all.
Our cake was 2-tiers, 6 layers each, with elegant white frosting and eucalyptus, filled with a rainbow layered inside. Natalie asked her dear friend from middle school to graciously bake our cake after connecting via social media. We ate, danced to ‘Rain on Me’ with a rainbow flag above our heads, were swept up during The Hora, and exited the night amongst long rainbow streamers. The night could not have been more perfect as we spent it amongst our favorite humans, eating, singing and laughing under the stars.
I had the pleasure of photographing Natalie and Ace’s Engagement Session, in which they brought all the style. Check out the session here. It was pride month when we shot the session and we wanted to capture the rainbow flag in the spectacular ways that Chicago presents it. From the rainbow cross walks in boystown to the light show on the Merchandise Mart there are celebrations everywhere.
To see more of City Savvy Imaging’s favorite intimate Chicago wedding venues check out this blog featuring the best small spaces.
