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Johnny and Mindy were married in the early afternoon on 9/26/15 at Noah’s Venue in Lincolnshire. The wedding hall was very beautifully decorated with some beautiful flowers in tall clear glass vases full of water. I may have been the only Caucasian at the wedding and I took that as a great honor to be invited to be involved. The entire wedding ceremony was translated in Cantonese. I provided the script for the ceremony to the translator. I would speak a sentence in English and he would repeat it in Cantonese. The couple wrote their own vows and it was very touching to hear them speak their promises to each other.

Kim and Will were married in the morning on 9/26/15 in the gazebo at the Kracklauer Park in Mundelein. These two are a very loving couple and very easy and fun to work with. Will is a self described geek and keeps everyone around him laughing. His grandpa had a really great black hat and his father had an equally great looking white hat which he wore to the wedding. The gazebo in the park is large enough to hold a decent crowd and everyone brought bag chairs to sit in during the ceremony. Kim told me she would give me a call in 20 years to oversee a vow renewal for the two of them.

Kim and Mike were married at the Seven Points Golf Course in an outdoor ceremony just before sunset on 9/25/15. The weather was perfect for the wedding and the setting was beautiful. These two are a fun loving couple and they had a wedding ceremony that was both serious and entertaining and fit their personalities perfectly.

Ioana and Zahid were married on 9/25/15 at Promotory Point in Chicago across Lake Shore Drive from the Museum of Science and Industry. The structure is stone walls with an exposed wooden ceiling and glass doorways all along the side that look out on the park on one side and Lake Michigan on the other side. I was given a permit allowing me to pull off of Lake Shore Drive right on to the bike path and drive right up to the building. Most guests had a long hike from the parking area by the Museum. The bridal party arrived in a trolley bus. Zahid is completing training to become a physician. Ioana’s parents are from Romania and her father is a knucklehead like me and we hit it off very well.

Sean and Katherine are now officially husband and wife as of 2:25 p.m. today. They wanted a simple ceremony at the place they met. They are great couple and really have tons of nice friends. The father of the bride did his job flawlessly and the father of the groom was so happy for his son that he kept wiping tears from his eyes. PJ’S has a large covered outside eating area that worked perfectly for the wedding.

Chris and Shelby were just married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony at the Villa Olivia Golf Course. I can almost see my house from where they were married. The weather was absolutely perfect for an outdoor ceremony. We had to chase a few bees away part way through the ceremony and everyone got a few chuckles out of that! For the unity celebration the bride and groom had a wooden box in which they placed love letters to each other as well as a bottle of wine. The box was sealed and will be opened on their first anniversary.

Carrie & Mike we’re married this evening at the Haight in Elgin. The building is very old rustic structure that makes a very nice setting for a wedding. They have an in-house kitchen and the food smelled really good too! These two had a very simple but very meaningful ceremony and had lots of good friends and family present. They gave out magic wands with bells and streamers on them for everybody to wave as they walked down the aisle at the end of the ceremony. The guests signed in on small wooden hearts that were then placed in a framed container.

I married Angelica and Darvin today in North Barrington. These two met when Darvin had cancer. Angelica is a nurse and helped to bring Darvin back to health. When they said the “in sickness or in health” portion of the vows, it was understandably very emotion for both of them. We did several Filipino wedding traditions including the Veil and Cord in which they are covered with a veil signifying being clothed or covered together, they a cord is wrapped around them indicating they are bound together. The coin ceremony involves bride and groom passing coins back and forth and making promises regarding the stewardship of their money and taking care of their family. The bride and her father arrived in a horse draw carriage and then the bride and groom left in the carriage at the end of the ceremony. The wedding was outside and under a giant tree next to a lake. The shade and the breeze helped make the near 90 degree temperature almost comfortable.

Wen and Shuo we’re just united in marriage at The Carlyle. The wedding went very well it was a very beautiful ceremony. The bride and groom wrote their own vows and Wen when said hers in Mandarin. The picture does not do justice to her dress, it is one of the most beautiful flowing wedding gowns I’ve ever seen!

I just completed the wedding ceremony for Morgan and Joshua at the Baker Hotel in St Charles. It has been cloudy and threatening rain all day but the weather cooperated and they had a beautiful wedding ceremony overlooking the Fox River. At the very end I gave an Irish blessing that starts with these words “May you feel no rain for you will be shelter for the other.” Just as I said that, a couple of droplets hit the page and the bride and groom both saw it happen! It was pretty funny. That was the only rain we had and everybody is out in the garden enjoying some refreshments.