Mike and Katie's story begins where most fairytales do—in a dark pub on St. Patrick’s Day. It was 9 p.m. at Kirkwood, and romance was in the air… or maybe just the smell of spilled beer.

Mike arrived dressed to impress in his finest Bylt shirt and a shamrock baseball cap, while Katie went all out with a fake shamrock tattoo on her forehead (see above for the photographic evidence).

Maybe it was fate, maybe it was the magic of two lucky shamrocks, or maybe it was just the Guinness, but their paths collided at the bar while waiting for drinks. Mike, clearly either mesmerized by Katie’s beauty or slightly over-served, reached out, booped her on the forehead, and said, “You look absolutely ridiculous.” There was an expletive involved, but this is a wedding website, so we’ll keep it classy.

And somehow, against all odds, Katie did not walk away. Instead, she stuck around, took a shot of Malört with Mike (a true act of courage), and slow danced to Snoop Dogg.

At some point, Mike told Katie he wanted to take her on a date. Katie, skeptical, responded with, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” But if there’s one thing about Mike—it’s that he keeps his word. He texted her first thing the next morning asking where she wanted to go to dinner.

A week later, they met at Circle Sushi (RIP) in Old Town. Katie, in classic fashion, was 30 minutes late. Why? Because she was so nervous that she dragged her friend (and bridesmaid) Megan Felz to Dark Horse in Wrigleyville (also RIP) for some pregame tequila shots… and then got in the wrong Uber.

Meanwhile, Mike sat at the restaurant, contemplating whether he’d been stood up. But eventually, Katie arrived, and the two immediately connected over childhood sports stories, their families, their mutual love of music, and life in general.

Then came the moment of truth: Mike, who at the time had temporary fake teeth (due to a fateful incident involving the Cubs winning the World Series in 2016), had to take them out to eat. Katie, to her credit, did not leave—but she did laugh for a solid 10 minutes and had to take a lap around the restaurant to recover.

Three hours and a closed restaurant later, they both knew something special was happening. And from that day on, not a single day passed without them talking.

The rest, as they say, is history.