The Meeting

Margaret and Zach first met in 8^th grade at a school district-wide event. They didn’t go to the same school but throughout the event would make eye contact. At one point, Zach had his friend come up to Margaret and ask why she was staring at him.

Which we laugh about now, a very 13-year-old way for us to meet.

The First Date

I suppose our actual first date followed us meeting for the first time. It was October and we went to a haunted hike together and he gave me a necklace I still own. We quickly figured out it was kind of hard to see each other not being able to drive so we actually didn’t talk to each other for a couple of years until we reconnected online when we were 15, and we’ve been together ever since then.

The Quirkiest Things

I don’t know if quirky is the right word, but we both have a lot of completely different interests. Zach loves football and funk music. I like to cook and love science. But we also have a lot of similar interests like travel, craft beer, hosting get-togethers with our friends and our cats.

The Moment

We had lived together for a couple of years first. One day we were at an antique store, and started looking at vintage rings. We were chatting with the sales lady and I was trying things on for fun. I think Zach was “ready” first, because he went back and bought my favorite ring I tried on. But he held onto it for a little over a year until he knew I was ready to say yes when he popped the question.

The “I Love You”

Zach said it first. Very quickly, actually, but he’s always more sure about things than I am.

The Songs

There’s been a lot of songs over the years but a couple that stand out to us are Across the Universe by The Beatles and Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

The Proposal

I was caught by total surprise. It was a weekday and I was coming home from work (I get home late, around 11PM), it was storming and the power was out. When I walked in, Zach had candles lit and the table set with lasagna he had made—which was sort of an inside joke for us, he promised me a lasagna dinner when we were in high school and it never happened. I’d been joking with him for years that he owes me it. He also didn’t plan on the power going out while it was in the oven and was hoping it would actually be cooked all the way through (it was and it was delicious). Then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. It was a perfect, private proposal for us. Very much our style.

The Wedding

It’s so hard to choose a favorite but one thing that stands out to both of us was at the end of the reception all of our friends formed a big circle on the dance floor and wrapped our arms around each other as we sang along to our final song, All You Need is Love by the Beatles.

The Dress & Tux

The men’s tuxes were from Men’s Wearhouse. And I got my dress and all the bridesmaid’s dresses from Wolsfelt’s Bridal in Aurora. The designer is Lillian West.

The Venue

Our first apartment was in Elgin, and we’d pay attention to what was going on downtown. I remember reading an article when The Haight was first opening and thinking about how gorgeous it was. I think from there on it was always in the back of my mind and once we got engaged I knew we had to go see it in person. We loved a lot of things about it—the rustic style, we loved that we could do the ceremony and reception all in one place and that we were able to have a lot of freedom in choosing our vendors and being able to do a lot of things ourselves as well.

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The Marriage

We’ve been together for a long time, so I think we both expected not much to change. But I feel in the short time we’ve been married, we feel more like a team. It’s a great feeling knowing someone always has and always will have your back. Even if one of us has a bad day, the other one will be there to do whatever needs to get done and support the other one.

The Advice

Enjoy it! It’s such an exciting milestone in a relationship (even if you have been together for 10 years and everyone’s waiting for it). Do your wedding planning on whatever timeline feels right for you as a couple, let it be fun rather than stressful, and figure out the most important things that you feel really make the wedding day itself special and personal for the two of you. Also, don’t sweat the small stuff—there’s so many details that can go into a wedding but you’ll be so wrapped up in love on the day of you won’t notice minor things not going how you had pictured.

The Shoutouts

Shoutouts to basically everyone! As far as vendors, the team at The Haight did a great job setting up everything and then making sure the whole night ran smoothly. We had amazing food from Uncle Bub’s and our photographer Gabrielle Daylor did an amazing job capturing our night.

We had a lot of friends and family help us our which made the entire planning process and wedding itself go smoothly and made it feel so personal and special to us. We had loved ones involved with our flowers, music, and desserts, and just everyone who showed up to support our relationship and marriage. It really does fill us up with warm-fuzzies to think about.

The Vendors

Photographer: Gabrielle Daylor Phootgraphy| Photobooth: My Events & Celebrations

Florals: Friend| Catering: Uncle Bub’s | Cake & Sweets: Friend

DJ/Ceremony Musician: Friend | Hair/Makeup: Looks by Ema| Alcohol: Drinks on Me Catering