Our Story
We met in early 2013, and our shared fondness for board games, travel, live performances, and Chicago’s food scene quickly formed a strong friendship. We bonded over sharing our favorite things: Kestelle brought him to the symphony; Scott brought her to Riot Fest. She bought dinner at The Girl & The Goat; he bought dinner at Superdawg. She introduced him to passionfruit; he failed to introduce her to Malört.
As time went on, we found that our connections ran deeper than expected: small town upbringings that segued into love for urban living, strong beliefs in compassion and empathy, and lifelong fondness for Dutch rusks and fresh rhubarb. After an amazing, eventful trip together to New Orleans (complete with nearly missing our return flight after getting lost in the bayou), we found that we had inarguably fallen in love.
We chose to build a life together, and soon began also building a family. Our daughter Evelynna was born in early 2017, and our son Quillan joined the family two years later. Watching them grow into charming and captivating youngsters has been an incredible joy, and parenting together has grown our mutual respect.
While a wedding has been our hope for quite some time now, we’d also made the choice to wait until we could invite our friends and family to an event that would be enjoyable, memorable, and unique. Between significant life events, a career change, two delightful-but-exhausting babies, and a global pandemic, finding the right moment has been a surprising challenge.
After a visit to the Chicago Riverwalk in the spring of 2021, we were reminded that the lights and sounds of the city had been the constant backdrop of our relationship. We knew we’d finally found the right place, and (after a surprise proposal near the lake) we knew we just needed to set the date.
