Real Wedding: Lauren Creel and Luke Sauer ~ Wedding Blog

Luke and I met on match.com in November 2011! At first we were hesitant to tell people that, but we quickly realized there was no way we would have met each other if not for the site! The 18 months we dated were filled with travel, concerts, dinners, friends, and family. The courtship was steady and in many ways old-fashioned.

Over fourth of July weekend 2013, we visited my dad in Missouri, where Luke asked for my hand in marriage. Three weeks later (and a lot of impatience on my part), Luke took me to Shanghai Terrace at the Peninsula Hotel for a “peking duck craving.” Upon receiving my rather large fortune cookie, I opened it to find a fortune asking me to marry him! When I looked over he was on bended knee with a ring and tears in his eyes. To make the moment even more special, Luke told me the center diamond was from Israel where I used to live. Then the tears really started!

On the wedding day, we woke up in separate suites. In the Jewish tradition, Luke and I decided to see each other before the ceremony. The look on his face when he turned around was pure joy, as was mine!

I wanted our wedding to be classic and timeless. My goal was to look back in 20 years and (hopefully) be pleased with every decision, every stylistic choice. I chose to add sheer tulle and lace straps to my gown to keep away from the strapless trend. My hair was inspired by a look worn to the Academy Awards a few years back, but with added volume.

We went with a very classic peach, pink, and cream color scheme. The chuppah was draped cream, the cake was delicate, off-white buttercream. Our filling was banana, banana creme, and chocolate. We LOVE anything BANANA, so we HAD to incorporate that. My mother and aunt made almost everything on the dessert table, including both of my grandmother’s special shortbread and comish recipes. We signed our laser-cut ketubah amongst family and friends, each having two witnesses sign rather than one.

The only nerve-wracking moment for me was as I waited to walk down the aisle. As an actress, my only way of equivocating this feeling was to making my first entrance in a show! The doors opened and I walked down the aisle, meeting my parents half-way (another Jewish custom) and finally meeting my husband!

We were introduced into our reception with “Chelsea Dagger” for our love of the Blackhawks. Luke’s brother, his best man, presented us with a signed Patrick Kane game jersey at the conclusion of his speech.

We danced our first dance to “Wonderful Tonight,” one of my all-time favorite songs. My dad and I danced to “I Left my Heart in San Francisco”, a song he used to sing to me when I was a little girl and couldn’t sleep. I danced with my 103 year old grandfather, a feat I never saw possible the older we both got. It was a very, very special moment. One of our very close friends is the female vocalist for Orchestra 33, so using them as our wedding entertainment was a no-brainer. They kept the floor packed the entire evening! We even had a rousing hora that included Luke almost falling off the chair and a friends’ pants splitting!

Vendors:

CEREMONY & RECEPTION SITE
Hilton Chicago/Oak Brook Hills Resort

PHOTOGRAPHY
Kristin La Voie Photography

VIDEOGRAPHY
Vanilla Video

OFFICIANT
Rabbi Harold Kudan

WEDDING CONSULTANT
Nancy Kucera, Oak Brook Hills Resort; Linda Gersick, Bride’s Aunt

BRIDE’S GOWN
Volle’s Bridal

HAIR & MAKEUP