How we met:

As a newly married couple, people often ask us about how we first met. Our story is unlike any other, in that we met on a family vacation in Italy. My family, along with friends of ours, decided to travel there for three weeks in August of 2010 and tour from northern Torino to Pisa. As we made our travel plans, our friends talked about meeting their family in Italy, which included a cousin who was said to be “handsome, single, and an emergency room doctor in Cittadella.” This sounded terrible to me - a family vacation/ blind date situation. I wondered what could be more awkward.  But as fate would have it, we met, and as my husband has said to others:  “I knew I would marry her the night I saw her in Venice.”

For me, things took more time for the same feelings to grow. I returned to my hometown of Chicago and was busy with relationships, work, and friends. I was astonished when flower deliveries arrived weekly at the elementary school where I worked over the following months.  Surely there were nurses back in Italy with whom he could fulfill the American cliché of being the tall, dark, and romantic “Italian stallion.”

Our emails became regular and so did the nine hour flights across the Atlantic Ocean to visit. Time passed and it was evident to others around us and eventually to me that I had met not only Mr. Right, but my best friend. In December, he proposed at Vivo, a restaurant located in Chicago’s west side, whose celebrity table has been frequented by Oprah and Michael Jordan.  That night, the table was reserved for us to enjoy a private dinner. Little did I know that there - perched atop the dining room in a reconstructed old elevator shaft - that he would close the velvet curtains, get down on one knee, and officially begin the rest of our lives.

Why we chose The Allerton Hotel:

After this, the search was on to find the right people to help us make our wedding plans. I hired Michelle Durpetti Events and her team to begin the quest of finding   every known event space in the city. I am sure they have a document that lists the specific numbers, but off hand I can remember visiting at least 20 venue spaces. All were lovely, but when I walked into the Tip Top Tap ballroom at the Allerton Hotel, I knew in my heart it was the perfect place. The ballroom had every element we wanted for our family and friends to experience our Saturday evening wedding: breath taking views of Michigan Avenue, modern and sophisticated rooms, accommodating staff, and the old school charm of the Northern Italian Renaissance architecture. The Allerton Hotel itself is chic, classy, and welcoming to Chicagoans as well as visitors. We were so impressed by their attention to detail, flexibility, and determination.  And they provided information and concierge services in both English and Italian - which made everyone feel welcome.

On June 8, 2013 we ate, drank, and got “merried” surrounded by our loved ones. It is an honor to show pictures and recount the details of our perfect day.