Natalya Anthony Wedding Entourage Restaurant Chicago

Venue: Entourage Restaurant, Chicago, Illinois

I am Ukrainian and came to the States when I was 15. Anthony is Filipino, and was born here. We come from very different backgrounds, so it's pretty unusual that way we ended up together. We would occasionally run into each other in the same group of friends, but never thought anything of it. After our previous relationships ended, we supported each other, and as we gradually grew closer, I found how thoughtful and caring Anthony was. We both love to dance, and one night we found ourselves alone together on the dance floor.

Originally we thought about a destination wedding, since he has family here and I have a lot of relatives back in Ukraine. We thought this would be a fair compromise, but the travel wasn't a viable option for the older people in our families.
So we had an intimate but elegant wedding here. I'm an interior designer by profession, and after a lot of research, I had a very clear vision in my mind about what our wedding should look like. It were the details that mattered most to us: I walking down the aisle with both my father and grandfather (who raised me when I was a child and flew in from Ukraine for the wedding); our signature cocktails (his and her martinis); the candles as the backdrop of our head table; our initials monogrammed on the cake and flowers and many other things that made it personal and memorable.
And then it rained the entire day! Morning until night, it rained. The guests were supportive; all the married couples were telling us about things that went wrong at their weddings, and pointed out that they were still happily married.
Anthony and I had taken a three-hour dance session to do a Viennese waltz for our first dance. We were both nervous, since it was to be a surprise for our guests. And then to compound everything, my gown had gotten wet at the bottom and was sagging down. As I walked, I found myself stepping on it. I was in tears. No one knew that we were about to do this elaborate dance, and now it was falling apart. My mom rushed over and said, "What can I do to make you happy?" and I said, "I want you to cut three inches off my wedding dress." So she did, and Anthony and I danced, and suddenly it all seemed so silly yet so perfect, just like the two of us. In the end, it was a wet, but perfect day.
I saved the three inches of my wedding dress. If I have a daughter, someday it will come in handy at her wedding.