The Meeting
Erin and Ryan first met in 2016 while Erin was working. She is an ER nurse and he is a fireman/paramedic.
The First Date
Our first date was a Bulls game. We both love sports, so it was fun and casual and took any “first date awkwardness” away.
We knew pretty early on in our relationship that we were going to get married. I remember asking him only a few months after dating if he thought we would get married, and he said yes.
The Quirkiest things
We have two dogs who we love so much, so I think the quirkiest thing we both do is make up nicknames for them and songs about them.
The Proposal
Our proposal was amazing and perfect! Ryan booked a helicopter tour over Chicago and proposed as we were flying over Comiskey Park. We are both Sox fans, and one of our dog’s name is Comiskey. It was very special.
The Big Day
Our favorite part was getting to spend an entire day with our family and friends who love us so much and have supported us from day one. It was everything we could have dreamed of.
The Song
We never really had “a song” before we got married. We both love Dave Matthews Band and chose “You and Me” as our first dance. So now that is our song!
The Venue
We chose The Haight because of its rustic look. We love the wood floors, exposed brick, and open layout. We also loved that we could have our ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception all in one place! It was great for us and our guests.
The Dress
My wedding dress was purchased from The Crystal Bride in Geneva. The designer is Stella York. The bridesmaid dresses are from David’s Bridal Vera Wang collection. The groom and groomsmen suits are from Men’s Warehouse. The designer is Joseph Abbound.
The Marriage
Marriage hasn’t changed our relationship…only made it stronger. You feel more connected and stronger as husband and wife. It’s nice!
The Advice
Have fun with it! It can get very overwhelming, especially towards the end. Try and include your significant other as much as possible and ask for opinions. Take the help when family and friends offer.
The Shoutouts
First and foremost, our parents. Our wedding day would not have been possible
without them and we are forever grateful for their love and support. Our best man, Steven McKevett, our Maid of Honor, Maggie Frodin, and our entire bridal party. The Haight, Leanne and all of the staff was amazing. They were always there to help with planning and answering any questions we had from day one. Our photographers, Jordan and Meg Imhoff, were amazing and our photos turned out better than we could have ever imagined. Town and Country Gardens did an amazing job with our flowers and décor! Tone Productions did a great job with our ceremony and reception!
This all happened within the last few weeks of our junior year of college so I was not sure if he was interested in seeing each other over the summer or just letting this fade out. Lucky for me, he asked me out on an official date within the first weekend of our summer break and the rest is history.
It was May 22, 2014. Even though it was summer we went ice-skating at the rink in my hometown. We had decided on this activity because I told him that as a child I did figure skating and he told me that he was so bad at ice-skating that he once fell and cut his own hand from his own skate… I told him that if we went together, I would show him the ropes. By the end of our time on the ice together, he was skating on his own—even if he was not very stable. After ice skating we went to lunch and then continued our date with a walk in a park near my house. It lasted several hours!
We knew we were going to get married before we moved in together. We both wanted to make sure that we saw a future together and so that was probably the first time we thought about marriage. That was probably in August of 2016, which was after we were dating for about two years.
Thursday. Dan mentioned that he had read online that two trails in particular were the best to hike. We hiked the first one and after finishing that, we took a quick lunch break before starting the second despite feeling a bit tired. Dan had mentioned his plan to propose to my friends Molly and Ibby, so they were aware of what was about to go down, while I was blissfully ignorant to Dan trying to distance our group from all the other groups of tourists around us. Since I was tired, I fell to the back and silently questioned why we were going so fast and taking seldom breaks.
One of my favorite parts was when Dan and I did our vows. We shared our own written vows privately before the ceremony and then during our ceremony we read the more traditional vows aloud to each other. In our private vow exchange, I went first and ended up crying through mine even though I had just finished writing them only a few hours prior. When it was Dan’s turn, he really surprised me. He took out a book and showed me that he had written a letter every week (sometimes more) for the year before our wedding. It detailed how our wedding planning was going at the time, different things he loved about me, some of our favorite memories together, and much more. It was the most beautiful gift I have ever received and it made me that much more excited to be marrying the man of my dreams.
I got my dress from David’s Bridal and the designer was Oleg Cassini. I had actually walked into that David’s Bridal with just my sister and mom to see what type of wedding dress style I would be interested in pursuing down the line but the second dress I tried on ended up being my wedding dress. I loved it because I felt like an actual princess in it.
did not want to get married in a ballroom. We wanted a venue that would be unique and really standout from the other weddings our guests would have attended. We found The Haight on The Knot and loved all the pictures! We were not sure how the setup would be just from the pictures so we promptly set up a tour. We fell in love with The Haight the moment we walked in, it had so much character on its own and it checked off so many boxes of we were looking for in a venue. The Haight was the first official venue we had toured so even though we left LOVING it, we decided to play it safe and toured other venues anyway. We never saw a venue we loved as much at The Haight so after touring our fifth one, we decided to trust our gut and go with The Haight.
highly intelligent, responsive, and when our wedding transitioned from one to the other it was a seamless. On our wedding day, Lauren set up items without even having to ask me where to put them—she read my mind and did everything perfectly! During the wedding she helped keep the timeline moving and when it was time to clean up, The Haight’s staff had already done it all!
wedding. She gave us so much insight into the wedding planning process, helped us with our meal selections, provided AMAZING food, and even helped with most of our decorations (including set up and take down on the day of). Our wedding would not have been the same without Mary Catherine’s guidance and her family’s amazing business that catered our wedding.
I was home for summer, he would be taking me out on a date. I told him, “We’ll see.” And he still doesn’t let me live it down! Four years later… we got married!
Oscar changed my mind somehow… he’s been a huge part of my life for many years and with him, it felt right to get married. Oscar says he knew he wanted to marry me right when we first started dating.
with us. Oscar had a lot of family come in from Mexico for our big day, which was very special. All of the anticipation and waiting to see Oscar was finally over and it almost felt like a relief to be able to be with him again. Plus, he cried when he saw me and I thought it was so sweet!
Our relationship really hasn’t changed much since getting married. We are still the same people we were before getting married, now we just introduce each other as our “husband” or “wife.” Some days, Oscar will suddenly remember we are married and when it hits him, he says,” Morgan. We’re MARRIED” and he will get excited all over again.
I actually got my dress on a second-hand website called Still White. It cost me less than half the price of a brand new one. I was able to get exactly what I wanted at an awesome price. The designer was Maggie Sottero and it was an Ivory A-line sheath style dress.
We love making natural looking portraits that aren’t overly posed along with capturing moments as the happen and not interfering with them. Our work really strives to capture the real human interactions and not fake ones.
It’s literally our most favorite thing. We do understand not doing it; and we’ll totally photograph couples that don’t do them. But if you look into the tradition of not seeing the bride before the wedding, it stems from way back when most marriages were arranged; people didn’t want either party to run away before getting married!
Don’t put off getting married. Do pre-marriage counseling. Set a budget for your wedding and do your best to stick to it. Compromise; nothing is worth getting into a huge fight with your family or fiancé regarding wedding planning. Prioritize your wants for your wedding and then allocate money accordingly; whatever is your most important item is what you should spend the most on. Pick vendors that you gel with as well as enjoy their work.
