Lunchbox quote: "Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love." We met over lunchboxes - on Mikey's last day of school we bonded over lunchboxes. Okay okay, almost his last day of College and not those kind of lunchboxes. If you don't know what these are, you will see. Tom Laskowske (Groomsman) was ambitious and goofy, as always, on a lovely night in March of 2015. He approached Lauren Jones-Wagner (Matron of Honor) and I (the Bride) at Drifter's Pub (after party location) and began a LONG "conversation" over lunchboxes. It went something along the lines of "Do you like lunchboxes?" "Do you want a lunchbox?" "I thought you liked lunchboxes?". I will save you the continual questions. After what seemed like a very long interruption by Tom and almost a hostage situation, Tom asked us ladies if we would like to meet his friends. We said "Yes" thinking it was the perfect time to escape but found ourselves laughing instead as the friends - Mikey, David (Best Man) and Adam (Groomsman) - were watching us the whole time laughing at the situation Tom had put us in. As everyone knows, Mikey is extremely easy to talk to, so the guys joined us and we all talked/danced/laughed for the rest of the night. I met my best friend that night and turned into the love of my life. And guess what? We ended up getting lunchboxes!

Mikey drove us to my favorite winery (August Hill in Utica, IL) amongst my favorite place in Illinois (Starved Rock). I thought this was a long-awaited day just the two of us, but it ended up being much more! We did a wine tasting and chose our favorite glass of wine to sit down and chat over. Next thing I knew he was down on one knee and I was hugging him so tight, I forgot to say "Yes" until he told me I needed to give him an answer. The only other people in the winery, that I thought were sitting a little too close for comfort in our private moment, ended up being "hidden" photographers. We celebrated with a free bottle of wine from the winery! But the day wasn't over -- we had lunch plans. Lunch plans = surprise party by our immediate family and a few of our bestest friends. It was an unforgettable day! We are so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you!