Ceremony: Naper Settlement

Reception:  Elements of Naperville

Floral Design:  Kio Kreations 

Music:  Impulse Entertainment

Sweets:  Citygate

Photography: Elite Photo

Looking back on this amazing Elements, Naperville wedding from last fall today.  Everything took place in Naperville, Illinois.  The colors were burgundy and navy.  The theme was fall.  JaneAnn was not one that has had her wedding planned since she was a little girl, but she did know she wanted a Fall wedding.  Cooler weather, the leaves on and off the trees, and the change in seasons is the feel this couple wanted for their day.  Chicagoland in October gives you just that.

Pierce and JaneAnn had your average love story.  Boy meets girl, boy woos girl, boy and girl live happily ever after.  But let me share their stories with you from their point of view.  I love how they each had a similar, yet different, idea of when they fell in love.

HIS

JaneAnn and I went to two different high schools but her friend got invited to my homecoming.  Her mother didn’t want her to go along so JaneAnn (fresh from a breakup and in a particular man-hating mindset) agreed to go with.  By some miracle they ended up in the same group as my best friend.

Fast forward a week or so, my friend held a bonfire at his house.  Wehn JaneAnn and her friend arrived, my friend, Kevin, pulled them aside and said “be careful, when Chachi gets here he’s going to hit on both of you.”

I arrived shortly after, greeted friends, saw an open seat next to a pretty girl and proceeded to hit on her.

JaneAnn, surprisingly, wasn’t falling for my general charming self.  She asked me how I typically got girls phone numbers so I made up a stupid line to get a laugh that went (hand girl my phone open to the contacts) “hey girl, gimmie them digits!”  Admittedly, that is terrible and I have only used that line once…. on my now future wife.  And for some reason she put her number into my phone.

I later found out she only gave me her number to insult me for using bad pick-up lines.  In the following weeks, I proceeded to text her charming messages like, “hey babe, how’s your day?”.   With responses I won’t put on here because most of which were filled with curse words.  Needless to say, the chase was on.  With a few missteps on my part, I was able to talk her into a date.

WE went to the incredibly romantic movie, Role Models.  After that romance, we decided to to Kevin’s for a triple date of sorts to watch an even more romantic movie, American Psycho.  While watching the movie, all the couples were cuddled up when Christian Bale came on screen with less than zero percent body fat, making all the girls swoon.  I turn to JaneAnn saying, “why are you swooning?  You’re my girl.”  She response with, “nuh uh, I’m no one’s girl until they officially ask me out.”  “Do I really need to formally ask?”.  She looks at me with a look that I have loved ever since that moment.  That look saying “psh, you better believe it, baby!”.  “JaneAnn, will you be my girlfriend?”.  She kissed me and said yes.

Nearly 11 years later from that day, she if finally my girl for good.  True romance, boy meets girl, boy woos girl, boy and girl live happily ever after.

HERS

I would not say Pierce and I had a typical fairytale beginning to our relationship.  It was not love at first sight….. it was hardly like at first sight.

Junior year of high school I agreed to to to Waubonsie Valley’s homecoming so a friend’s Mom would feel more comfortable about her going.  In that group was Kevin.  Kev became friends with the girl I was with and in a following weekend he had a get-together at his house.  The friend and I were the first ones to arrive and Kev made sure to warn us about his friend, Chachi (thud thud, as the bus goes over Chach).  We laughed and shrugged it away.  Around the bonfire, an open seat happened to be next to me.

Chachi arrives fresh from work and he sits next to me, having no idea what he was getting himself into.  I was in a slightly less-than-tolerant mood of someone who was full of themselves (or of the male variety).  The night comes to a conclusion and he throws out such a horrid line, I decide I will indeed give him y number with no intention of ever saying a nice word.

After weeks of insults (from yours truly, because they were deserved), I started to come around.  Eventually I let him talk me into taking me on a date.  In true form, we go to a movie, Role Models.  I have no idea what made him think that was a good choice for a first date.  He insisted on a car sing-off (so he could show-off, did I mention the insults were deserved?), of which our friend had to judge.  Afterwords, we go to Kev’s house and watch American Psycho.  It really is a miracle I didn’t take these bizarre first date movie choices as some kind of omen.  However, I pleasantly insisted he formally ask me out.  Here we are, roughly 10/11 years later, and I still tell him he is lucky as heck.

1. Describe 2-3 details of this event that were extra special to you.

(1) The ceremony was very special to us.  Pierce wrote the entire thing and I think that made it personal and different from other ceremonies.  We also did a unity knot, which was the only “unity activity” I would do =) (I always told him, we are getting married… isn’t that unity enough?)

(2) We were not big on decor, but we did have some of our (beautiful!) engagement photos blown up to poster size with text added on them by Steve at Invitations, etc  in Batavia to make the decoration personal.

2. What 2-3 pieces of advice you can share with couples that are still in the planning process?

(1) Take 5 minutes just for the two of you on the day of the wedding.  We did ours immediately after our ceremony and it was so special for us to soak in the fact that we just got married.

(2) Book as many of the things that are important to you as early as possible; time flies!  We had a lot of our critical vendors booked two years ahead.

(3) Decide if you are a DIY person or not and book vendors accordingly.  We knew we were not in any way DIY (I was in school and working and he was working two jobs when we were planning) and hired professional vendors that we knew would take care of what needed to be done.  That was a huge relief.

3. Do you have a story you would like to share about your wedding day?

Pierce – During the reception I was in the middle of a conversation when simultaneously I was called to the dance floor, called over the bar to get a drink, and called over to the photo booth.  It was the only time I felt overwhelmed that day.  The guest I was talking to asked if I was okay and my response was “no, where is my wife?”  I saw her at the photo booth, turned to the guest I was speaking with and said, “I need to go.”  I went straight to my wife and all was right in the world.

Thank you so much to this beautiful couple for choosing me to photograph this amazing moment in their lives.

Contact Missy at Elite Photo to inquire about wedding and engagement photography.