We're Saying "I do"

We hope you are able to easily navigate our website! Above, there are several tabs pertaining to specific aspects of the website and of the wedding. The single most important tab is the 'FAQ' tab, where hopefully we have provided guidance and answers to many of your questions! Please please take a look for yourselves, and feel free to reach out to us if you need anything further answered or clarified. The 'Schedule' tab should outline the timing and location of events on the day of the wedding, including the separate ceremony and reception venues and things like dress code. The 'RSVP' tab is where you will let us know if you are able to grace our wedding day with your presence! Simply type in your name and you should be able to find your specific invitation. For additional questions please refer to the 'FAQ' tab. The 'Registry' tab is where you have the opportunity to give a gift/contribution if you feel so inclined. Due to our current life stage (and lack of space, we do live in the Northeast after all), we don't have anything specific on there, but please understand your generosity is appreciated more than you can know! You are also more than welcome to give a monetary gift in person when we see you! The 'Travel' tab lists a few hotels that are in close proximity to the ceremony and reception, with most of them being in between the two locations. We have also outlined the distance to the ceremony and reception venues from each hotel, for your reference. The 'Photos' tab has some more cute pictures of us for your viewing pleasure! Lastly, you can read more below about our story of how we met and our journey together! We encourage you to check it out (it's a good one!).

Ah, the magic of Club Fever, the only true nightclub in all of South Bend, Indiana. One chilly Thursday evening in October, he got dragged there by some friends, but they had to get inside via a separate entrance than he did due to their being underage. She went there with her usual group of friends, who quickly busied themselves with guys they met at the party beforehand. And so the two found themselves behind one another in line for the front entrance, each separated from those they arrived with. Bored and alone in the line, she, being the social butterfly she was, decided to turn around and talk to the cute guy she noticed standing behind her. He, suddenly having the attention of a beautiful woman, eagerly chatted with her about the usual subjects (major, dorm, hometown, you get the picture) until they found themselves at the front of the line. "You should buy me a drink" she hinted coyly as she walked in the door just ahead of him. He enthusiastically acquiesced, only to realize that he only had enough money in his wallet for the cab ride home. Abashedly, he informed her of his financial situation. Undeterred, she ended up paying for drinks for the both of them, and they sat down at the nearest high-top. The conversation flowed easily, as the two found themselves increasingly comfortable with the other. Oblivious as he was, he would have entertained the idea of simply chatting over drinks, until she reminded him of the nature of the establishment they were patronizing: "You should ask me to dance". And so the rest of that night would go, with her making all of the first moves, not knowing that one day, far in the future, he would make the last.

Now, one might have expected these two to be together from that fateful night on, but it was not so. She would graduate a year before him, and there was a great deal of uncertainty where their future careers would end up taking them. With him pursuing veterinary school and her in marketing, she felt there was too much still up in the air to pursue anything long term (despite him asking, twice). And so, they agreed to keep things “casual” in order to make their eventual goodbyes at the end of that school year that much easier. That being said, any one of their friends at the time, if asked, would have asserted that the two were an item, and that would eventually hold true next year during his senior year fall break. Despite everything, the two had stayed in contact, and even met up briefly for an evening in Austin, Texas (a “short” drive from her house in Houston). He and his friends had planned a getaway to a large cabin in the Smoky Mountains, and it was then that he went out on a limb and asked her if she would be willing to join them. It was short notice. Travel was inconvenient. Surely, she would turn it down, he thought. Astoundingly, she accepted, and shortly thereafter she flew North to meet him in South Bend once again. The two picked up almost exactly where they had left things at the end of her senior year, spending the week practically attached at the hip hiking up mountains, playing mini golf, and snuggling up on the cabin balcony watching lightning illuminate the forest at night. Upon the week’s end, the two were once again faced with the question of where to take things. He didn’t know where he would be accepted for veterinary school, and she couldn’t be expected to simply follow him wherever that was. And so, the two once again parted ways unsure of their future together. That was, until a mere week later, when she, urged by an acquaintance to seize the moment and follow her heart, forced the issue for both of them. “Hey…we should date”

Just like that, their relationship “officially” began. Shortly thereafter he would visit her and her family to learn what a Russian New Year truly entailed, and a mere few months later she would surprise him to see him graduate. From there, having failed to be accepted into veterinary school during that application cycle, he packed his entire life into four suitcases and a backpack to go live together with her in Houston. Two years later, his dream would finally be realized by being accepted into the veterinary school at the University of Pennsylvania, and she too would leave everything behind to be with him. And so, the two found themselves in Philadelphia, where they would remain for at least the next four years while he worked to attain his degree (He hasn’t flunked out as of yet, so smooth sailing thus far). This would bring us to December 27, 2020, and the end of this particular story chapter, when he would finally be the one to make the first, and final, move. At night, under the twinkling lights of a festively decorated downtown Lemont, IL, they met up with his brother and his brother’s significant other to take pictures together. It was there, in a tunnel of lights, that he got down on one knee, gazed into her eyes, and spoke the following words: “Darling, you have intrigued and encaptivated me from the moment we first met. I knew instantly that you were someone I could be myself with, and whom I could also see spending the rest of my life with. Each and every day, you somehow still manage to surprise me, teach me, or, more frequently, make my brain break at your utterly inexplicable logic. We complement each other in all the right ways, and you have undoubtedly made me a better person throughout our many years together. I love you with all of my heart, and I want these past few years together, which have been the best of my life, to continue until my last days. And so, I ask you, Nikol Nikonchuk, will you marry me?” (She said yes)