Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center

Wedding Day

Wedding

Veterans Memorial Hall and Museum

Reception

Our Wedding

December 3,&nbsp;2016: Having&nbsp;moved&nbsp;from Arlington Heights&nbsp;to Naperville and having decided to date exclusively through Tinder,&nbsp;T.J.&nbsp;logs on to OKCupid to delete his profile. It's there that he notices a 27-year old from Schaumburg with the user name 3cmdavis has "liked" him.&nbsp;

T.J.: Good smile. Cute. Her profile felt genuine and I liked that she described herself as "annoyingly optimistic."&nbsp;Seemed like bad timing that I had just moved out of her area, though. But&nbsp;I&nbsp;ended up&nbsp;messaging&nbsp;her a few days later.&nbsp;













Chelsea:&nbsp; "You had me at annoyingly optimistic" was his opening line.&nbsp; He says that I "liked" his profile, but reading that&nbsp;message is the first memory I have of him and&nbsp;his witty profile.













T.J.: Initial&nbsp;conversation was pleasant; we set a date to play&nbsp;trivia together













Chelsea: He fell off the grid once we set the date.















T.J.: I slow played it, then sent a "Happy First Date&nbsp;Eve" text the night before our date. It was my go-to move.&nbsp;















December 14,&nbsp;2016:&nbsp;Chelsea and T.J. meet for their first date at Riley's in&nbsp;Elmhurst 















Chelsea: I had almost cancelled the date a few times.&nbsp; He didn't seem all that interested. We set a date in Elmhurst of all places and I was afraid of being seen by&nbsp;students (which did happen) and to top it all off, I spilled my lunch all over my shirt at work that day.&nbsp; Lucky for him, I had an extra shirt in my car and was left with no reason to bail on him.















T.J.: I had a funny trivia name I wanted to use.&nbsp;Feel her out a little.















Chelsea:&nbsp;He suggested a trivia name and it was the perfect way to break the ice.&nbsp;&nbsp;















Their trivia name was "This is Our First Date and If We Get Last Place There Won't Be a Second." 















T.J.: After the host read the team names the&nbsp;whole bar was rooting for us.&nbsp;It was awesome.















Chelsea: The host read the team names aloud and all of a sudden everyone in the bar was interested in our first date.&nbsp;It was super weird.



T.J.: We finished in 4th out of about 10 teams. Respectable showing for a first date.



Chelsea: The next few&nbsp;dates were also to&nbsp; play trivia, something that we still do weekly.&nbsp;

T.J.: After a few more dates I deleted my Tinder and OKCupid profiles for good.&nbsp;

The Beginning

We sort of have a thing about paint colors.&nbsp;

The&nbsp;kitchen cabinets are Chelsea Grey.&nbsp; T.J.'s Badlands wall color is actually named&nbsp;Badlands. Our living room wall is painted Smoky Mountain Grey and adorned with pictures of our trip there.&nbsp;

On Monday, September 24, T.J. took the day off of work (Chelsea thought he was golfing) and painted another wall. He decorated it with pictures,&nbsp;inside jokes, and other mementos. When Chelsea came home from work, he told her that he had redecorated. He brought her into the room and showed her&nbsp;the wall. While she was taking it all in, he handed her the paint swatch that&nbsp;showed the color he picked out.&nbsp;

The Proposal

Our Story

Details

Photos

Mr. Meyers has represented transportation and warehouse clients across a wide array of legal matters including property losses, general liability, enforcement of warehousemen liens, and contract review. &nbsp;He is the co-author of Packing on the Pounds: Warehouse Liability for Overweight Loads, which was published in the Fall 2011 issue of 3PL Americas.

He is also my best man.&nbsp;





Eric "Marv" Meyers

Amanda and I have been best friends since we were in diapers.&nbsp; We grew up together and logged many hours in the show&nbsp;barn, basketball and volleyball courts,&nbsp;swimming pool, and in our basements on roller blades.&nbsp; Amanda is family and after nearly three decades of wonderful friendship, I couldn't ask for a better woman to have as my MOH.

Areas of Improvement:&nbsp; Cardinal directions

Areas of Excellence:&nbsp; Boggle skills, Supermom,&nbsp;Kindest person I know

Amanda Shippy

Katherine and I met as Freshman at 4-H House&nbsp;Sorority.&nbsp; We were the only non-agriculture majors in our pledge class,&nbsp;had an alarming amount of&nbsp;lime green and blue dorm&nbsp;decorations, and loved to play catch&nbsp;to de-stress during exam weeks.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Area of&nbsp;Improvement:&nbsp; Sending&nbsp;the tasty treats she bakes to&nbsp; Illinois

Areas of Excellence:&nbsp; Great Netflix game,&nbsp;Funniest person I know

Katherine Kuehl

I sure am glad this pong playin’, dart throwin’, concert-goin’, nickname bestowin’, badlands-roamin’, ski-sloppin’, sally sneakin',&nbsp;meatball-makin’, late-night chattin’, atta baby houshin’, siiiimple duder joined the band.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Stephen "Gniad" Gniadecki

Nikki and I met playing t-ball, but became close friends much later while playing&nbsp;softball.&nbsp; High school brought us even closer as&nbsp;oboes were seated near the clarinets, and closer still when coach played me (a sophomore) as a forward on the freshman team.&nbsp; She always wished she lived on a farm, so it was easy to convince her to do my chores for me and I will forever be grateful for that.

Areas of Improvement:&nbsp; Favorite sports teams

Areas of Excellence: Euchre skills,&nbsp;Most caring person I know

Nicole Richter (Soon to be Mrs. Wiegartz!)

Kevin and I were middle school frenemies. We tossed rocks at each other from our adjacent backyards. He&nbsp;was accused by our 4th grade teacher of cheating off me and I didn't defend him. In 5th grade, I led our intramural indoor soccer team to a championship over his squad. We've grown closer since. He was the first one in our squad to get married, first to buy a house, and first to have kids. I admire him for leading us into adulthood.&nbsp;

Great movie line-quoter and has a stupid memory for things.&nbsp;

Kevin "OD" O'Donovan

Thanks for being my 2002 Turnabout date, Baj.&nbsp;

Shout out to Najewski, Domke, Wujick, the Lindblooms, and all the other teachers who had to endure our&nbsp;classroom high jinks.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Most likely groomsman to eat 50 eggs.



2018&nbsp;Transfusion&nbsp;Cup Record: 3-0-1



Kevin "Baj" Bajer

Jacqueline and&nbsp;I met through 4-H.&nbsp; We were not in the same club, but that's the beauty of our fair family.&nbsp; We traveled all over the state line to spend time with these fair friends and there was never a dull moment or shortage of McDonald's breakfast food.&nbsp; She's now living in Minnesota&nbsp;and whether she was trying to or not, has&nbsp;succeeded in making it one of my favorite weekend getaways.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Areas of Improvement: Maintaining her Illinois accent

Areas of Excellence: Craft Queen,&nbsp;Most supportive person&nbsp;I know

Jacqueline Valek

My first best friend and The MJ to my Pip.&nbsp;

Growing up, Matt was a better athlete than me. He was&nbsp;faster.&nbsp;He was taller. He was stronger. But we were a great team and our competitive nature made us both better. We dominated driveways, front lawns,&nbsp;backyards, parks, and anywhere else you could find a pick-up game.&nbsp;Our athletic prowess continued during our college years and from 2004-2006,&nbsp;Matt and&nbsp;I were the most explosive&nbsp;beer pong tandem at the University of Illinois. Big egos and locker room drama would eventually derail the dynasty, but we’ve remained friends off the table.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Matt is still&nbsp;better than me at&nbsp;baseball, basketball, 12-inch&nbsp;softball, 16-inch softball,&nbsp;flag football, golf, pool, darts, and bowling. I am better at bags.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Matt "Cat" Gorney

Koty is my cousin.&nbsp; We've always lived&nbsp;in different states and there is a little age gap, but we became very close as we grew up.&nbsp; She's living in Tennessee now and we don't see each other as often as we'd like, but&nbsp;we visit and don't skip a beat.&nbsp; When she does make it back to the Midwest, you will probably find her&nbsp;smuggling squeaky curds across state lines.&nbsp;&nbsp;Wisconsin girls need their cheese!

Area&nbsp;of Improvement:&nbsp; Drawing too much&nbsp;attention to her belt buckle

Areas of Excellence: Operating a showstick,&nbsp;Hardest working person&nbsp;I know

Koty Darnell

Katie is T.J.'s sister and my top pick for a Codenames partner.&nbsp; She is always up for an adventure, has the best dance moves,&nbsp;makes delicious cookies (and pie), and has made me feel like part of the family from Day 1!&nbsp; She claims she can't sing, but I think we should have her test it out at the reception.&nbsp; Karaoke with Baj, perhaps??

Area&nbsp;of Improvement: Not liking Harry Potter



Areas of Excellence:&nbsp; Use of&nbsp;Friends references, Strongest person I know



Katie Szafranski

The first time I met Chase he gave me a sock and he said, "T.J., this is so you know that&nbsp;if you ever hurt my sister I will sock you." I appreciated the pun and the care it showed for his younger sister.&nbsp;

Shalom, brother.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Chase "Chase" Davis

I&nbsp;asked Chance what he'd like me to mention on his "The Knot dot com" biography. He relayed the following points:- Single and ready to mingle- In a soon-to-be-famous band

And for my money, he's the funniest Davis sibling.

Chancelor "Chance" Davis

Wedding Party

Q + A

Registry

The Courtyard has reserved a block of rooms for our party at a set rate. Use the "Visit Website" link below to reserve online. If you reserve by phone, please&nbsp;mention the Davis-Szafranski wedding.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Courtyard by Marriott Rockford

We have both king and double rooms available at La Quinta Inn.&nbsp; Call for a reservation and make sure to say you are part of the Davis-Szafranski Wedding.&nbsp; The group rate is not available for reservations made online.

La Quinta Inn & Suites Rockford

Travel

<a href="https://rockfordroastingcompany.com/">Rockford Roasting Company</a><a href="http://www.octane.net/2016/Home.html">Octane</a> 

<a href="https://machineshed.com/rockford/">Machine Shed</a>



<a href="https://pigmindsbrewing.com/">Pig Minds Brewing</a>



<a href="http://www.carlylebrewing.com/">Carlyle Brewing Co.</a>





<a href="https://psbrewingco.com/">Prairie Street Brewing Company</a>

Restaurants and Breweries

<a href="http://klehm.org/">Klehm Arboretum</a><a href="https://www.dnr.illinois.gov/parks/pages/rockcut.aspx">Rock Cut State Park</a><a href="http://www.aldeengolfclub.com/">Aldeen Golf Club</a>

Outdoors

<a href="http://www.burpee.org/">Burpee Museum of Natural History</a> - They have dinosaurs!<a href="https://www.nicholasconservatory.com/">Nicholas Conservatory</a><a href="http://www.hunthiddentreasures.com/">Hidden Treasures Flea Market and Antiques</a>

Chelsea & T.J.

Chelsea & T.J.

Travel

Courtyard by Marriott Rockford

La Quinta Inn & Suites Rockford