St Charles, Illinois Wedding Weekend

On a beautiful Saturday at the end of September our friends M and N got married in St Charles, IL. St. Charles has a population of around 33,000 people and sits on the Fox River. It is part of the tri-city area with Geneva and Batavia and the whole area is super cute and a huge local tourist draw.

It’s about a 40 minute drive from our home, so we decided to get a hotel. We didn’t realize that it was homecoming weekend for many local high schools and also several other weddings were going on in the area, so we managed to get one of the last rooms at a Hotel Baker.

Hotel Baker is “The Crown Jewel of the Fox”, an old world, historic hotel in central downtown. It has 53 rooms and those facing south have a river view. We had a second floor river view room, and parking is either street parking or 1 block west in a parking garage that is free for 24 hours.

The lobby is lovely, but there are rules you have to sign for when checking in. No smoking, no parties, no outside alcohol. I thought the outside alcohol thing was odd, but it’s probably because of the weddings and events they hold and the fact that there is a restaurant and bar on site.

For the wedding itself we walked about 4 blocks to Eden events. The event venue has multiple event rooms, and can host weddings, corporate events, baby and bridal showers, and more. We were in the the wedding rooms facing the Fox river. Walking in there was a bar area, and then a larger room that could be portioned off into a ceremony space and a dining space.

After the ceremony the larger room including the ceremony area was closed off and a cocktail hour began. The bar area and cocktail tables were in an L shape. We mingled for about an hour while the ceremony set up was taken down and the larger room turned into the dining area. Meagan and Nick opted for a sweetheart table and did something I thought was really interesting and fun; they didn’t put all of the bridesmaids and groomsmen at one table but instead mingled them at tables with the other guests. This was especially nice for me as I knew several of the other girls from the bachelorette party but not many of the other guests. The dinner consisted of a bread and salad course, and then three options for dinner, a chicken, a steak with chimmichurri, or a vegetarian squash pasta. During the dinner white and red wine were served. During the dinner the couple had their first dance, something they choreographed and was exceedingly cute.

Once their dance was complete a cake table was brought out. They opted for a tiramisu cake for the dessert after the cake cutting served with coffee and tea.

Once the dinner was over the bar opened back up and the cake area cleared away. The dj began playing music and there was an option to request songs. There was also a photo booth in the far corner with props.

The after party was about a 6-8 block walk from the Eden venue. We chose to go back to the hotel and change, and many others did as well. We slipped into cocktail attire and more comfortable shoes and walked south from Hotel Baker to The Office Dining and Spirits. The Office offers an indoor seating area and an outdoor patio. In a private venue section were after wedding snacks like sliders and chicken fingers. We spent most of the night on the outdoor patio in the lovely weather.

The next day we went for an early lunch at Alter Brewing right across the street on a walkable area. I had the slider trio of Nashville chicken with fries and Brett got the burger of the month. I tend to go for lights beers, and Brett did that morning as well as we were eating around 11:30. I love alter brewing, they have multiple locations and often have trivia and music bingo on weeknights.

We got back to my parents in the early afternoon to pick up Cal (after many texts from me and some prayers that he didn’t harass the cat all night. And I came home to this:

Cal and Abby have now bonded a little, Cal still comes up and barks at her and she just holds her ground and ignores him. They won’t be cuddling together anytime soon, but my worries were for nothing.

I can’t wait to get back to St. Charles in the spring for some additional exploration, it’s such a cute town and there is so much more to explore!