A photo booth, a disco ball lit dance floor, and a whole lot of love—these are the ingredients to a truly unique celebration. Liam and Arnel wanted a day filled with their favorite people in their favorite city and that’s exactly what they got. With a historic venue, cozy color palette, and DIY decor, this Chicago warehouse wedding is serving up inspo you’ll want to share with your wedding vendor team. 

Salvage One—complete with exposed brick walls and vintage furniture pieces—proved to be the perfect wedding location for this nontraditional couple. To infuse the space with personality they put their graphic design skills to work, custom making all the wedding signage. Pop-of-color florals by Flowers for Dreams were also incorporated to add extra character to the venue. 

Laetitia Donaghy Photography captured every detail that made this warehouse wedding one for the books. Get your Pinterest boards ready and keep scrolling for an unlike-any-other nuptial.

Photographer’s Thoughts On This Warehouse Wedding 

Liam and Arnel are the absolute loveliest couple. The entire day was filled with tears and laughter. This stylish couple oversaw every single design detail of their day. The fun Jenga advice game, the throwback photo booth, the hotdog station, the rainbow cake—all of it taking place in the historic Salvage One. Arnel made their own signage and invitations. Liam, a flight attendant, had some of his flight attendant friends include plane props in their speeches—it was an absolute hit! We still keep in touch because they are amazing souls. These two have become friends for life and I am so thankful I got to be their wedding photographer.

The Couple:

Liam and Arnel

The Wedding:

Chicago, Illinois

A Wedding Turned Party 

We’re so proud  of having thrown the best and last party our entire guest list attended before going into lockdown the rest of 2020. Also, being able to show our younger nieces and nephews that love between any two people is beautiful and worth throwing a party for.

Memorable Guest Entrances 

The most memorable part of the day was watching guests trickle out of the trolley and into the venue from our little hideaway upstairs. I’ll never forget seeing the smiling, familiar faces all glowing in the sun on a particularly warm February day.

Incorporating Loved Ones In Your Wedding

We asked a dear friend to officiate our wedding and she helped make the ceremony so incredibly personal. After sharing our hand-written vows, we also partook in a planting unity ceremony in which we took soil from the places we have grown up in and mixed them together in a pot for a small plant. 

Top Wedding Planning Advice

Every couple should create a new email address solely for the wedding. Please don’t forget the guest experience when planning your day, either. It’s also important to not sweat the small stuff. 

DIY Wedding Day Favors

We laser cut custom place cards with everyone’s names on them. These doubled as meal identifiers for the catering team as each attached tassel color corresponded to a meal choice.  At the end of the night we also gave out Morning Recovery bottles. We had a Sunday wedding and wanted our guests to enjoy themselves without fear of feeling it too much the day after.

Venue Was Love At First Sight 

The venue was one of the first things we signed on and really set the tone for the wedding. Salvage One is a converted warehouse with multiple floors full of antique goods and furniture by day and event space by night. We loved the idea of our guests being able to walk around among the trinkets and decor. The reception floor was also fully customizable depending on the size of the wedding and we were able to pull from the store’s unique collection of chairs, tables, couches, lounges, etc. Oh! And of course there’s the disco ball and massive dance floor. It was truly the perfect place.

Congratulations to Liam and Arnel on their fun-filled warehouse wedding. And big thanks to photographer Laetitia Donaghy Photography for preserving these precious wedding day moments packed with inspiration.  

From the venue to the decor, Liam and Arnel infused their wedding with details that authentically represented their love story. If you’re dreaming of a celebration unlike-any-other, kickstart your wedding planning process by checking out these unique ways to personalize your wedding.