The Meeting
Chase and Ray first met on Tinder – Ray saw Chase’s profile first but didn’t think they would match. He got the “It’s a Match!” notification on his birthday right before he went out with friends.
The First Date
We went to dinner at Indie Cafe and drinks at Double Bubble, both in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. After our first date, we started walking home and realized we lived directly across the street from each other.
The Proposal
The Wedding Day
There are too many favorite moments from the day! Ray’s favorite moment was probably the first look in the bridal suite. Mine was probably watching Ray react during the ceremony to the script that my brother and I worked on together.
The Venue
The Haight gave us the option to have all of our family and friends celebrate with us in a truly gorgeous space – a lot of places in Chicago were either too small, too expensive, or didn’t feel special. The Haight helped us create the atmosphere we wanted with everyone we wanted!
The Marriage
Marriage hasn’t changed our relationship much; considering we already lived together and shared some expenses. It does affect how other people view your relationship, but within the relationship it hasn’t changed much.
The Advice
If you can afford it, work with a wedding planner. If you can’t afford a planner, work with the event coordinator with your venue – they’ll be able to give you recommendations for vendors so you aren’t looking through thousands of each vendor in your area. Having vendors already vetted for you makes a world of difference!
The Shoutouts
Oh my goodness, AJ Abelman – she was our photographer and not only captured the day perfectly, but she was such a great person to have around. I could not recommend her enough! Plum and Ivy Events were our planners and they were just awesome. They made the day flow so easily I had nothing to worry about and they were so patient throughout the whole process.