A Tale of Two Cuties: Chad and Alexa met the old-fashioned way--performing opposite each other in a stage adaptation of a Charles Dickens classic in the park. Alexa played Lucie Mannette, a beautiful and strong-willed young woman who enchants everyone she meets. Chad played Sydney Carton, an acerbic, cynical lawyer who has given up on joy until he meets Lucie. They were uncannily well-suited for their roles. In the story, Carton sacrifices himself to the guillotine to allow Lucie and her family to escape the perils of the French Revolution. The couple is grateful their real-life story has a happier ending with fewer decapitations. The two first crossed paths (literally) outside the Schiller Park cottage where they were both picking up their scripts for the play. When Chad told the theatre's production coordinator he had just met his co-star outside, he was told "Alexa is a beautiful perfect angel human." Much later, he would come to understand just how accurate that description was.

For the proposal, Chad brought Alexa back to the park where their story began. He knew he wanted to propose in Schiller Park, the beautiful beating heart of German Village that sat just a block from the couple's home. But he wasn't sure which spot in the park would be most fitting. They had spent so much time and marked so many special moments in this park. Should it be the spot on the sidewalk outside the cottage where they first met? The swings they sat on during their first walk in the park (when the two were only friends and Alexa was oblivious to Chad's feelings) and so many walks since? Or on the stage that first brought them together? Rather than pick one spot, Chad lured Alexa to the park (with the help of some co-conspiring friends) and invited her to take an audio-guided tour. He led her to five numbered spots around the park, with a song and description accompanying each stop. When the tour ended on the stage, all that was left to do was ask the tour's only guest to "answer a one-question survey about your experience and accept a special commemorative gift." We're so excited to celebrate with you. See you in June!