The Meeting

Melissa & Kevin first met in May of 2016 through Match.com. Kevin made the first move with a wink and Melissa reciprocated, but after a little back and forth, she wasn’t impressed. She found him extremely good-looking, but a little boring. His messages were short and she mistook them to mean he wasn’t that interested. One day, Kevin asked for Melissa’s phone number and she, begrudgingly, gave it to him.

It was hard for me to imagine talking on the phone with a man of such few email words. He called almost immediately, and since that day, we’ve never missed a daily phone call. Turns out, my guy is “old school.” He loves a good old fashion phone call and was not uninterested in the least. Written communication is just not his preferred method of communicating.

The First Date

Our first date was early morning coffee at Starbucks on Memorial Day in downtown St. Charles. I was sort of over dinner dates because if you do not connect with the person, dinner can be long and painful. So I threw out 9AM coffee and he said that would be fine. I was cautiously optimistic. I even bought my own coffee. We had our coffee, watched the parade, walked along the Fox River, and then decided to walk some more and before we knew it, six hours had passed. Kevin and I had spent the entire day walking, talking, and getting to know each other truly the old fashioned way. It was my most perfect first date.

Kevin works nights and I work days so Starbucks became “our spot.” We would meet there at 5:30 AM a morning or two a week. We’d meet before I went to work as he was coming home from work. It was our way of stealing quality time together during the week, so we did not have to wait until the weekend to see each other. Those morning coffee dates were everything to us early on.

The Moment

 I pretty much knew that Kevin was the one for me almost immediately. He was different than anyone I’d ever been with. He is by far one of the kindest people I know. I was not a girl who fell easily in like, let alone love, so I fought the feelings for quite some time. But in my heart, I just felt like this was the person I had been waiting for. He had finally found me!

About a year after we started dating, Melissa and I attended my brother’s famous Memorial Day BBQ. This is an event that all of the family attends—and I have a ton of family. She just dove right in to help prepare, and the effortless way she mingled with everyone, I knew.

The Proposal

The proposal was sweet and simple. It was a Tuesday night, which is atypical for us since he works nights. We ran out to get him new work boots and then decided to go to Cooper’s Hawk for dinner. It was impromptu in my mind—I did not look cute nor did I have a fresh manicure. It was a random Tuesday after all. While getting his work boots, he was a bit moody. This is not Kevin. He’s about as even-keeled as it gets. So it was frustrating me that he was being moody. Who was this guy? We buy boots and head to the restaurant. He’s still acting bizarre, but maybe this is how he acts on random Tuesdays when he’s not working, I thought in my mind. When we sat down at the table, I finally asked him what the heck was wrong with him. He pulled out the ring and simply asked if I thought I might like to marry him. It was totally Kevin—short and sweet. And, in turn, I started to cry. So cliché. But the proposal was so unexpected. I said YES, of course!

The Wedding

Our favorite part of the day was that so many of our most cherished family and friends were in one room sharing in our best day ever. Being able to share our love and celebrate it with everyone was so incredibly special.

The Venue  

I found The Haight months before I was even engaged on a wedding site. I fell in love with the pictures almost as quickly as I had fallen in love with Kevin. I knew it had to be our spot. Once we got engaged, we did our due diligence and looked at a few other venues, but I knew The Haight would be the place. Pictures just do not do The Haight justice. Seeing it in person solidified, immediately, that we had to look no more. It’s just the most unexpected gem in the middle of downtown Elgin. The space is urban, rustic, chic, and just perfect. I cannot rave enough about The Haight!

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The Song

We do not technically have one song. For our first dance, we each picked a song that we felt embodied our truest feelings about the other person. Mine was “I Choose You” by Sara Bareilles and his was “Never Too Much” by Luther Vandross.

The Dress & Tux

The Dress designer was Watters and I got it at Simply Luxe Bridal in Algonquin and Highland Park. Kevin bought his suit from Brookes Brothers and tie/pocket squares for Kevin, our son, and my dads are from Tie Bar.

The Marriage

 Almost immediately after getting married, Kevin’s 14-year-old son joined our family full-time. It’s a fairly non-traditional start to a marriage, but we both would not change it for the world. Our family of three is exactly how it was always meant to be.

The Advice

 Remember the day is about YOU two. Make YOUR day the way you dreamed it to look and feel. Thoughts and opinions will be flying full speed at you but stay true to who you are as a couple. And the other piece of wisdom I can offer is to pick vendor partners that really get you and the vision you’re trying to pull off. You’ll know in your gut if you’ve found the right partners to work with.

The Shoutouts

Lauren at The Haight was the best! Leanne at You Name It Events is hands down fantastic at what she does. While we had a lot of the vision created, Leanne and my mom worked tirelessly to make sure it all came to fruition. I cannot say thank you enough to Leanne and her team. Dana from MyChef was awesome to work with. She worked with them to create a bit of a unique menu for us and executed on it effortlessly (well it seemed that way to me anyway). Lukasz from Avantgarde Photography created the most beautiful photos for us to remember our best day ever. He was like a ninja—captured every moment without us even knowing he was there to do it. We love Lukasz! Town & Country Gardens did an amazing job creating the look I wanted well within my budget. Backthird Entertainment was exceptional in playing music that aligned with our guests. Jack did an awesome job. And finally our sweets table might have been our guests’ favorite part of the wedding, which was created by Sugar Path in Geneva and the Fresh Market. We hand selected each item based on my husband’s sweet tooth and our gift to our guests were hand crafted to-go boxes. Everyone LOVED that table.

Wedding Vendors

Planner: You Name It Events | Photographer: Avantgarde Photography | Videographer: Wedding Mix

Florals: Town & Country Gardens| Catering: MyChef Catering | Cake & Sweets: The Sugar Path & Fresh Market

Late Night Snack: MyChef Catering | DJ/Ceremony Musician: Backthird Entertainment |Alcohol: Drinks on Me Catering