The Meeting

Morgan and Oscar first met when they were sophomores in high school during a cooking class. They became friends but didn’t start dating until Morgan’s senior year of college.

When I came home for spring break, Oscar told me that he liked me and when 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!

The First Date

Morgan and Oscar shared a mutual interest in each other, but because they had been friends for so long, Morgan was hesitant to date him.

I was afraid it wouldn’t work out and I’d lose a good friend. Eventually, Oscar made the first move, and now I’m so glad he did.

Our first date was to Casa Margarita for dinner. We love Mexican food. We even had a taco bar at our wedding from our caterer, Cuisine America. I highly recommend them!

The Moment

I actually wasn’t interested in getting married before we really started to date. 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.

The Song

One day, Oscar sent me a song called “Someday” by The Growlers. A line in the chorus goes “someday you’re going to be my wife.” Admittedly, I got a little freaked out at first! We ended up using the song as our introduction song when walking into the reception.

The Proposal

We like to play video games together, so Oscar told me he wanted to go down into the basement and play Mario Kart. When I plugged, in the game, there were string lights on the wall that lit up and said, “Marry Me?” He got down on one knee and proposed. I was so excited and wanted to go to my parent’s house to tell them, but he said he wanted to go to Beer Market to get a skillet cookie. I was confused why he didn’t want to go to my parent’s but went along with him. To my surprise, he had invited both of our families and all of our friends—we even had our favorite waiter, Justin!

The Wedding 

Our favorite part was seeing all of our family and friends who came out to celebrate 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!

The Dress & Tux 

I got my wedding dress and topper from BHLDN. The bridesmaids dresses were from Kennedy Blue, and the tuxes were rented from Men’s Warehouse.

The Venue

 My brother and sister-in-law were married at The Haight and it was so gorgeous. I knew I wanted a loft venue, but all the venues in Chicago either weren’t in our budget, had no parking, or were too small for the number of guests we wanted. The Haight was perfect for us! It was everything I wanted and none of the downtown Chicago headache. They also knew exactly how to help us bring to life our vision for our wedding—it was easy to personalize the day. I also love that the ceremony and reception are in the same building. Plus, every part of The Haight makes for a great photo opportunity!

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The Marriage

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.

The Advice

I would say, start the planning early so you won’t be stressed and cramming to get it all done in time. That way you have time to also enjoy being engaged to your fiancé! Using the preferred list of vendors was a huge help as well. We used all preferred vendors and they were all familiar with The Haight and what they had to do/where everything had to go. Some even gave discounts!

The Shoutouts 

Every vendor we used was perfect—no complaints about any of them! We used Oh So Lovely Photography for our engagement and wedding photos. Esther is so talented! We love our photos and so does everyone who sees them. She really captures the moment by taking candid shots. Cuisine America makes amazing food. We had a taco bar that I still crave to this day. Our guests loved it too! We used Kyle from Sounds Abound for our DJ and the dance floor was packed the entire night. Herb’s Bakery made our cake for a great price. It looked great and tasted so good—we got tons of compliments! My flowers were from Town and Country Gardens. I used King Protea as my focal flower and each bridesmaid carried one king protea with blue thistles.

THE VENDORS

PHOTOGRAPHER: OH SO LOVELY PHOTOGRAPHY

FLORALS: TOWN & COUNTRY GARDENS | CATERING: CUISINE AMERICA

CAKE & SWEETS: HERB’S BAKERY  | DJ: SOUNDS ABOUND