I helped write this big fancy spread called "Four Fabulous Weddings" for Chicago Magazine. It was lots of fun because a.) As a writer, I was hoping to get back into doing some fun, glossy, service-y pieces b.) Weddings are fun c.) I got to take two people from my own wedding (Marek Hartwig, who sold me [by which I mean my parents] my wedding gown, and Belen Aquino, our wedding photographer) out to lunch and pick their brains. I also got to choose what type of wedding I wanted to write about (creative, classic, blowout, second) and I went with "classic" because that was the closest to the wedding I had, and so I thought that would be easiest on me.

Picking and choosing from what everyone reported here, though, here is what my perfect wedding would look like, if I got married today and cost was no issue:

Venue: I think I'd have to go with the Art Institute, which the magazine rates as "extravagant." I've been going there since I was a kid, it'd be great to show off for my out-of-town friends, it would be ideal for photos, and there are a bunch of bars and restaurants nearby for people to go party at afterwards.

Cake: Mariano's, which makes me "creative." Because I wouldn't do cake, I'd just do Mariano's chocolate chip cookies, and nobody would complain. Nobody.

Caterer: I would be beholden to Terzo Piano at the Art Institute, which is fine by me. I hate having to make extra choices in this hypothetical wedding of mine!

Dress: If we're shopping the spreads only, I'd have to go "second" wedding just because maybe I have a hole in my life due to the fact that I never got married while wearing these shoes:

Flowers:  Flowers are nice but they are typically pretty close to the bottom of the list of things I notice or remember from weddings so I'd go with the cheapest one in the story (which means I'm "creative.")

Tunes: I wrote about Incognito for my part of the story because they were the band that played at my own wedding. They really are a classic wedding band and do just about everything, from polkas to "Crazy In Love" to "We Are Family," which was the last song we all danced to before our venue kicked us out.

Honeymoon: Well, if cost were no object, I'll do the "extravagant" Seychelles, naturally. But to be honest a honeymoon anywhere sounds pretty good (and I just got back from vacation.)

So if this were a personality test, all these choices add up to me mostly being an extravagant, creative person, which I think is pretty much right.