A Festive, Winter Wedding at Glen View Club in Golf, Illinois

With a romantic woodland aesthetic in mind, Claire Burke (29 and a fundraiser for Northwestern University) and Max Quinlin (29 and an MBA student) planned a sophisticated, cold-weather fete filled with playful plaid accents and winter-worthy arrangements of birch, cedar and pinecones.

Claire’s love of winter ultimately inspired the couple’s cozy December affair at a venue that reminded the Harry Potter–obsessed duo of a familiar fictional ballroom. “Glen View Club looks like it’s straight out of Hogwarts,” Claire says of the rustic reception space. “Some might even say it’s magical.”

Claire clutched a verdant bouquet of lisianthus, dusty miller, viburnum berries and pine.

Claire wore a demure lace capelet over her two-piece dress, which featured a fitted skirt paired with a beaded bodice. In need of “something borrowed and blue,” Claire accessorized with a pair of her sister’s sapphire earrings. Her “something old” came in the form of a vintage veil. “It was my mom’s veil, and it was edged in lace from her own wedding gown,” Claire says.

Bridesmaids looked effortless in black gowns of various lengths and fabric. Because both the bride and groom come from a Scottish background, a traditional bagpiper escorted the newlyweds up the aisle, and tartan accents appeared on everything from bow ties to the groom’s red cummerbund. 

Guests warmed up with spiked butterbeer cocktails. “It was a lovably dorky detail,” Claire says of the signature sips.