2022 IS THE YEAR OF THE WEDDINGS

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DJS SERVE AS THE BIG DAY’S MAESTRO

Abigail Smith married Gregory Goodman on June 12, 2021, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in LaSalle. They both grew up in the Illinois Valley area and now live in Champaign. “My favorite part (of the wedding) was being able to bring our friends and family together after the pandemic had kept us all apart for so long,” Abigail Goodman said. “Everyone kept saying how it was the first event since Covid had started that they attended. It almost felt like a celebration of not only our marriage, but also a glimmer of hope that we were finally getting back to some ‘normalcy’ since March of 2020.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ LEX POULAKOS PHOTOGRAPHY

2022 is the Year of the Weddings2022 is the Year of the Weddings

The pandemic can’t stop love, but it does make planning a trip down the aisle harder

RBy Shannon Serpette

WWhen Lexie Leach of Spring Valley began planning her Oct. 9, 2021, wedding to fiancé Tony Sickley, she was surprised to learn that finding vendors wasn’t going to be easy. Couples had put off their weddings for so long in 2020 and early 2021 that there was a backlog of people wanting to get married.

“When we first started wedding planning, we didn’t take into consideration the amount of people who had to reschedule their wedding due to the pandemic,” she said. “A lot of vendors were already booked so it was challenging trying to find some of them.”

They were able to secure Cedar Creek Ranch in Cedar Point for their wedding venue.

“We’ve known the family for years, and I have seen the different wedding styles they have had out there, and there wasn’t one that I didn’t think looked beautiful. It was a very laid-back wedding and it was perfect for us,” Lexie Sickley said.

Despite the difficulty in finding vendors, the wedding went off without a hitch, with approximately 150 people in attendance, despite a few not making it because of the pandemic.

Racheal Robertson of Spring Valley also ran into a few scheduling issues because of the pandemic when planning her April 2021 wedding at Grand Bear Lodge to

“I actually liked planning the wedding, I had been dreaming of my wedding for so long and was so excited to plan it and see my dream become a reality.”

Racheal Cook

Christopher Cook.

“The most challenging thing about planning the wedding was making sure that my bridesmaids would get their dresses on time – due to the pandemic, dates were pushed back – and also getting a time for the groomsmen to get their attire for the wedding, and finding the right place for them to get their attire that was affordable for all their budgets,” she said.

Since her wedding venue was all-inclusive, it took a lot of the planning off of her shoulders.

“The only thing I had to worry about was finding a DJ and my photographer. My flowers were silk, so no florist,” Racheal Cook said. “I actually liked planning the wedding, I had been dreaming of my wedding for so long and was so excited to plan it and see my dream become a reality.”

The effects of the pandemic could still be felt, even with their small group of 50 guests.

“We had some guests choose not to come since they would have to wear a mask, otherwise we just had to keep the guest list small due to the pandemic,” she said.

Bridgette (Baysingar) Vowels of Cherry encourages brides-to-be to work ahead as much as possible. Her wedding to Dan Vowels on Oct. 9, 2021, at Ironwood on the Vermilion went relatively smoothly because of all the

See WEDDINGS page 10

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SETH MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY Elizabeth Blanchard married Andrew Goy on Aug. 13, 2021, at Starved Rock. The Saint Charles couple said planning during a pandemic was difficult, but it was made much easier by finding such great vendors in the Illinois Valley. “We had such amazing vendors, all of whom were so flexible with planning during COVID and did an amazing job,” she said.

FROM PAGE 9 planning they put in.

“We started our wedding planning more than a year before our big day, which helped alleviate stress,” she said. “We had a few bumps in the road much closer to the day of, but nothing we couldn’t correct in a timely manner. It all worked out. Plan ahead if you can.”

Elizabeth Blanchard married Andrew Goy on Aug. 13, 2021, at Starved Rock, where the groom had visited many times as a child. The Saint Charles couple said planning during a pandemic was difficult, but it was made easier by using local vendors.

“As I’m sure every couple would say during Covid, the uncertainty of Covid was hard. We were so incredibly lucky that when we got engaged in August 2019, we decided to plan the wedding two years out for August 2021,” Elizabeth said. “I

See WEDDINGS page 12

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SHANNON LYNN PHOTOGRAPHY Racheal Robertson of Spring Valley ran into a few scheduling issues because of the pandemic, when planning her April 2021 wedding at Grand Bear Lodge to Christopher Cook.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/SHANNON LYNN PHOTOGRAPHY Erica Warren, who was formerly of Spring Valley and now lives in Newark, and Jeremey Storey were married on Oct. 2, 2021, at The Queen of the Holy Rosary Shrine Catholic Church in LaSalle.

When Kristin (Foster) Stewart of Peru married William “Bill” Stewart on Sept. 11, 2021, at Kendall County Fairgrounds, tradition was out the window. “We were very nontraditional – no cake or dinner, only Bud Light and other drinks,” she said.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO/ A2Z MEMORIES PHOTOGRAPHY

z zCONTRIBUTED PHOTO/BREANNA HUFF OF KB PHOTOGRAPHY Bridgette (Baysingar) Vowels of Cherry married Dan Vowels on Oct. 9, 2021, at Ironwood on the Vermilion. “We’ve built a good life for ourselves already and only hope to make it even better throughout our years together,” she said.

Weddings

FROM PAGE 10 have so much admiration for couples who have managed to plan new dates, sometimes two or three times. While we were so lucky to end up with the perfect date, there was still a lot of uncertainty in February/March 2021 as to how many guests we’d be able to have, which just adds an extra element of stress to the planning process.”

Fortunately, the pandemic didn’t affect how many of the guests were able to attend their wedding.

“We fell in the sweet spot in August before Delta really took off, so we didn’t have anyone specifically decline because of Covid,” Elizabeth said.

Abigail Smith married Gregory Goodman on June 12, 2021, at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in LaSalle. They both grew up in the Illinois Valley area and now live in Champaign. Abigail agreed with many other recent brides by saying the biggest wedding planning challenge was Covid.

“It was the biggest challenge for thousands of weddings in 2020, 2021, and even into 2022. Every decision was either met with limitations or unknown challenges that were never an issue before the pandemic,” Abigail Goodman said. “There was a point in our planning period where we could only have 50 people at our reception. It was March 2021, three months before our wedding, and we had no idea how many invitations to send out. We had sent our Save the Dates to everyone on our guest list in October of 2020 because we assumed things would be better by June 2021, but they were not by spring of 2021.”

In the end, more than 100 people attended their wedding, and approximately 170 went to their reception at the Mendota Civic Center.

In 2021, some couples preferred to ditch a traditional wedding in favor of something more relaxed and easier to plan. Kristin (Foster) Stewart and William “Bill” Stewart of Peru decided to skip having a dinner and cake at

Kristin Stewart

their wedding, but kept the drinks flowing.

“I’m 39 and wanted simple and easy,” Kristin said. “I’m most looking forward to so many more adventures in life with my husband.”

Even the couple’s venue was non-traditional. They were married on Sept. 11, 2021, at Kendall County Fairgrounds.

“We felt it was the best place for us. We collect vintage cars, and we were married during Jalopy Fest, which they have every year,” Kristin said. “My favorite part of the day was saying ‘I do’ in front of all our closest friends and family in our favorite environment.”

Despite the busy vendors and an ever-changing pandemic, some brides, like Erica Storey, formerly of Spring Valley, who married Jeremey Storey on Oct. 2, 2021, still enjoyed all the wedding planning.

“I actually enjoyed planning my wedding. Maybe it’s because I’ve known for a long time a lot of the details or maybe it was because Jeremey and I both said from the beginning that planning this wedding was preparing us for the sacrament of marriage in our faith,” Erica said. “We chose not to let ‘party details’ stress us because we knew in the long run that wouldn’t matter. What matters is that he and I put in the effort to learn all that we can about what marriage really is.”

They decided not to sweat the small details, remaining grateful to be able to enter into marriage with their friends and family watching.

“I think my favorite was when my brothers opened the church doors, my dad squeezed my hand and said, “Let’s do this,” and as I looked up, all I saw was my husband at the end of that aisle, and I was instantly calmed,” she said. “Jeremey is the calm to my chaos, and he is my absolute best friend.”