We're getting married!

Our story begins back in 2009, when we met in high school at Downers Grove South. We knew of each other as fellow speech team members, but with a two year age gap at a large school, that was the extent of our relationship. It's safe to say that after John graduated from DGS in 2011, we didn't think of the other person once. If you had told either of us in high school that our future husband/wife would be another DGS Mustang, we surely would not have thought of each other! Fast forward to 2019 when Steph came across John on the dating app, Hinge. After texting her close friends from high school ("so what do we think about John Junk??") and getting the okay, Steph made the first move with a "Hi, John!". And honestly, the rest is history. We quickly bonded over shared interests like fitness, reality TV, and our parallel journeys to find the best hot dogs and Italian beefs in Chicago, integrated into each other's friend group as we enjoyed running around the city as 20-somethings do, and fell in love with each other and life together. After dating for 4.5 years, moving in together, and co-parenting the best kitty (now joined by best kitty #2!), John got down on one knee on the rooftop of our first home together on a magical Saturday in May 2024 and popped the question! From the early days of our relationship, we knew what we had was special. We have a mutual desire to live active lives, challenge ourselves, be adventurous, and appreciate every day. Now we've found the person we can do that with forever! We can't think of a better way to celebrate our big day than in a room full of all of our favorite people that have supported us throughout our lives and our relationship. We hope you will join us!