Wedding, Chicago style

This weekend Seth and I flew over to Chicago for his cousin, Elida's, much anticipated wedding. Unlike his father's large family, Seth's mother only has one sister and his one cousin, so it was great to go out west to meet and visit with the other side of his family.

We stayed in a nice hotel about 20miles outside Chicago. This hotel is actually a part of McDonald's Hamburger University, where they of course perfect the art of burger-building, which gave the place a certain quirky flare.

Funky black squirrel on campus

Friday night was a great big rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's, followed by the wedding on Saturday. The reception (drinks, dinner and dancing) was held at the hotel, which was fantastic because it let us take full advantage of the open bar :o)

Rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's

Pre-wedding brunch at Denny's

Wedding

And reception

Chocolate fountain :o)

At 11pm the DJ played Jimmy Buffett's Cheeseburger in Paradise and the waitstaff came out in hamberger hats and served McDonald's cheeseburgers on platters. I ate my first McDonald'd hamberger in many years, and oh my god, it tasted so good (I still think about it).

Lots of people left on Sunday, but we stayed another day and went downtown with Seth's parents, Tory, and Melissa. Seth and I spent all afternoon at the Art Institute, which was absolutely impressive. For the past few months we have been flipping through the pages of my gigantic Oxford History of Western Art book, which we leave on the dining table to read during dinner, and had made up a mental list of works listed in the book that are located in the Art Institute. It was nice to see these pieces in person!

Hotel hangout

Chicago

On Monday morning the rest of Seth's family drove back to NY, and we spent a few hours relaxing around the hotel before taking the taxi back to O'Hare Airport. One of the things we did was check out the little McDonalds museum at Hamburger University. I was surprised at how long I spent there, sifting through that hamburger memorabilia. Though it was interesting and nostalgic, ironically, just before we left, I had started reading Fat Land (by Greg Critser). Hmmm...

McMuseum at Hamburger University

McArt hanging all throughout the hotel (see the golden arches behind that cow paddock?).

Anyways, the wedding weekend was very classy and seemed to go extremely well. It was apparent Elida had put a lot of time and effort into it, and every detail and decoration was perfect. Very nicely done.