Kayley + Adam
July 9, 2022 / Normal, Illinois
First thing's first! Tell us a little more about the two of you!: Adam and I met on Bumble in 2017. I lived in Chicago at the time and he was living in Milwaukee. When he came down to visit some friends for the weekend, he ended up in my "radius" and we matched. We feel so lucky that we did! Our first date was a Brewers game (yes, I drove up to Milwaukee by myself, without telling anyone! Yikes!). From that point we were pretty inseparable. For Valentine's Day weekend each year we enjoy going to Lake Geneva for some romantic fun. Our most romantic weekend was in 2021 as Adam proposed on our trip. This was the coldest weekend of the year, but due to our tradition of discussing big life changing decisions near water (I said I love you in Hilton Head on the beach, we decided to move in together while walking a beach in Washington), Adam was determined to propose on the frozen Geneva Lake. Despite the danger of frostbite on exposed skin in under 15 minutes, Adam pulled it off. He also planned for our friends and family to surprise me at our AirBnb later that night with a little engagement party. It was the best Lake Geneva vacay ever! Wedding planning was a lot of fun together, and I owe that all to Adam. Most grooms aren't involved much in the planning process, but Adam was there every step of the way. As we planned a wedding in Normal, IL, 3.5 hours away from our home in Milwaukee, we scheduled a lot of video chats with vendors and sent lots of emails from afar. We are so grateful for our vendors accommodating our busy schedules through this process, which allowed Adam to be there for each decision.
Next, what was your vision for your wedding?: Since before we got engaged I knew I wanted our wedding reception to be a Destihl Brewery in Normal, IL, my hometown. The entire brewery, especially the Barrel Room (event space) is what we called "industrial chic" which is our overall vibe anyways. When picking vendors, such as our florist and our DJ, we had to make sure they could fit this vibe. We didn't need much decor as the brewery is already gorgeous so we wanted our florist to add little, light touches, but not overpower, and our DJ to keep it classy by including white or amber uplighting and no disco balls. Our color scheme included a light blue and blush pink color pallet, which we knew our photographer would capture perfectly. Another major part of our planning included making sure that our day was as personalized as we could make it. We wanted our guests to feel our love and know that they were at our wedding, not just any other wedding. From the venue, to our newspaper we published, to their table numbers including pictures of us through the years, and our caricature artist, every detail was thought out to match our personalities, highlight a hobby of ours, or accentuate our love for each other.
Now, tell us all about your wedding dress!: I absolutely loved my dress! I missed it when I was not around it and kept taking tiny peeks at it when I was. Going into the dress shopping experience I was pretty nervous. My mom and sister came into town to attend my appointments with me, and my future mother-in-law, future sister-in-law and best friend joined for a few too. I wanted to make sure to not disappoint my entourage, but also find the dress of my dreams and not settle. Prior to my appointment at Strike, I had three other appointments at bridal shops in the area. At the third bridal shop I was very, very close to saying "yes to the dress." I had tried it on, came back, drank the champagne and eventually decided that I needed to see Strike before I made my final decision. As Strike is on a frequent walk/run route of mine, I had been eyeing up the dresses in the window, and didn't want to miss out on the experience. With this other dress in mind, we went to my appointment at Strike the next day. I told my wonderful stylist that she "would not sell me a dress unless it had a long train" but also showed her a dress I had seen on Instagram. This dress sample did not have a long train, but it was customizable, so adding my own custom train was possible. I went ahead and tried on English Ivy by Alena Leena. As soon as she opened the curtains as I was standing in the dress on the podium, I looked at my sister and saw her mouth drop wide open. She then said "Oh, sh**." I felt the same way! This dress was everything I wanted, beyond perfect, and blew the other dress out of the water. I immediately fell in love with my dress and did not want to take it off. When my dress finally came in a few months later, the long train was beautiful. I had mirrored another train length that I loved with a different dress, which was measured and communicated in centimeters. However, when my sister converted this measurement to feet and inches we realized that it matched my wedding date. My train was 9ft 7in long and my wedding was 7/9/22. How perfect!? I found a seamstress that was willing to make this train exactly what I had envisioned. We added a piece of fabric under the tulle train to give it the ability to flow across the ground and also gave it dimension. It was perfect!
You planned and you planned, but how did the day ACTUALLY go?!: When our wedding week rolled around we actually both tested positive for Covid-19. This was the most terrible news, which left us isolated from each other at first, and in tears constantly. What was supposed to be an exciting final week of planning turned out to be a week of decision making and calculations of isolation periods. Due to our onset of symptoms and through CDC recommendations (we actually even personally called the CDC) we were still able to have our wedding as our isolation periods would be up before our big day. Phew! Due to our scare prior to our big day, our wedding day was immensely bittersweet and beyond memorable. Knowing that this day was close to being cancelled made it even more special. Every single detail and plan went according to schedule and we got to love every minute of our day. It was an absolute dream come true!
Lastly, what is your best advice for future brides-to-be?: I know everyone says this but SOAK. IT. ALL. IN. Leading up to the day, during the big day, after the big day, each bit! You'll feel like you're doing this, but in the back of your mind you may be worrying about timelines, schedules, money, etc. Don't. It'll all work out! Just sit in each moment. You'll never have them again!
Vendors:
Dress: English Ivy by Alena Leena via Strike Bridal Bar Coordinators: Amanda Elston & Karen Wheeler of Destihl Brewery
Photographer/Videographer: Elle & Ashton | @elletaylorphotography
Florist: Julie Blunier - J. Blu Design | @j.blu_design
DJ: Epic Entertainment Services | epicentertainment-llc.com
Caricature Artist: Joe McGuire | joetheartguy.com
Transportation: Peoria Charter Coach
Hair: Sara Toepper Steele | @sshair
Makeup: Jayden Steward | @jstewardbeauty
Cake: Dunya Khoury | @dunyas.cakepops
