Christina and Aaron

To continue our traveling adventures, we headed out to Chicago Friday morning for Christina and Aaron's wedding.  Instead of our typical late Friday night arrival and rush to Tsuki for dinner, we arrived mid-afternoon grabbing some of our favorite Asian food in Chicago, Thai at Cozy's Noodles & Rice!  

Christina and Aaron's wedding was later Friday evening at the National Italian American Sport Hall of Fame located in "Little Italy".  At the top of the building is the Grand Piazza Ballroom where Levy Restaurants caters and manages events.  They have a pretty accurate description of the museum as well as the space that was used for the wedding on their web site.  

From the lush courtyard across the street to the grand ballroom and dramatic rooftop terrace with unparalleled skyline views, the Grand Piazza is an amazing venue. This striking building, designed by renowned architect John Vinci, combines modern architecture with classic lines to create a unique new space offering a sense of history—romantic yet evocative of family and tradition, with a contemporary feel.

The Grand Piazza is home to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, a museum that pays tribute to athletic greats such as Joe DiMaggio, Tommy Lasorda, and Mary Lou Retton, celebrating the passion, drive and sense of endless possibilities that drove their careers.

Aaron and Christina certainly lucked out too with an absolutely beautiful day in Chicago with not a single cloud in the sky.  The backdrop of the Chicago skyline made this place absolutely wonderful, but the actual setting for the wedding was accurately described by their site.  They had a very classy, yet simple setup. Well, as simple as you can get when it comes to weddings!

Anyway, Scottie and I arrived to what seemed like a Chi Omega reunion as we found Sandra, Rachel, Susan, and Tanya.  Later, Sharon and Mel were added to the mix!  Mel even performed the ceremony for Christina and Aaron, who kept it simple and to the point.  Let's eat, drink, and be merry!

Post-ceremony, we found two clever wedding twists on the traditional name tags which were up on a board.  When you tore your name away from board, you revealed another piece of the Chicago skyline.  In addition, we were all to sign their "wedding tree" instead of your traditional guest book blank page.

The evening treated us to a beautiful sunset surrounded by good friends and the best of spirits.  Of course, our night continued on to a bar up the road called Hawkeye's before we headed back up to the North side.

Congratulations to Christina and Aaron!  More pictures from the wedding in my photo album.