Jason and I have been engaged for a long time- a year and a half already. I'm a graduate student, and he's still working on finding a teaching job, so paying for a wedding wasn't really in the cards. But a few weeks ago, I had an idea- what if we made the whole affair into a super-cheap BBQ wedding? We could do that for under $2500, right? If we make it into a casual, fun affair, where our friends and family can just hang out, eat, drink, and have a good time, that would be just as good- in our minds at least- as a fancy $15,000 Chicago wedding. So we decided to go for it.
Yesterday we went and looked at some places in the Cook County Forest Preserve. The nice part about the forest preserve is that most (though not all) picnic groves allow alcohol, and a picnic permit for under 100 people is only $55. Below is the picnic grove we really like, Pulaski Woods. It's quiet, overlooks a small lake, and has a nice shelter. There are enough picnic tables there and in the vicinity that we shouldn't have to rent chairs or tables. If it rains, there's the shelter which is relatively enclosed, and if not, we have lots of extra space. The little kids in Jason's family will have plenty of space to run around, and we'll have a great places to take photos. The only hitch is that we're a bit late in applying for a picnic permit, so we're at the mercy of availability for dates. And a few of our friends are getting married this summer around the same time frame we're looking at, AND I have comprehensive exams in mid-September, which pretty much blacks out September as a possibility. We'll see what happens.
Yesterday we went and looked at some places in the Cook County Forest Preserve. The nice part about the forest preserve is that most (though not all) picnic groves allow alcohol, and a picnic permit for under 100 people is only $55. Below is the picnic grove we really like, Pulaski Woods. It's quiet, overlooks a small lake, and has a nice shelter. There are enough picnic tables there and in the vicinity that we shouldn't have to rent chairs or tables. If it rains, there's the shelter which is relatively enclosed, and if not, we have lots of extra space. The little kids in Jason's family will have plenty of space to run around, and we'll have a great places to take photos. The only hitch is that we're a bit late in applying for a picnic permit, so we're at the mercy of availability for dates. And a few of our friends are getting married this summer around the same time frame we're looking at, AND I have comprehensive exams in mid-September, which pretty much blacks out September as a possibility. We'll see what happens.
I just wanted to thank you so much for this post! My fiance and I had been looking at lots of picnic coves in the Cook County Forest Preserve, but after seeing your description we decided to check out Pulaski woods. Wow--so beautiful and functional! We would love to see photos of your wedding if you get a chance. Also, congratulations! :-)
ReplyDeleteI'll post some pictures from the wedding in the next few days- we only just got the disk on Friday. The past month I was too busy with exams to do anything earlier anyways!
ReplyDeleteHow did the wedding turn out?
ReplyDelete