Real Wedding: Tina Berto and Erik Brekke ~ Wedding Blog

"The very first time either of us experienced love was 11 years ago and it was with one another. We went to the same high school, met in the Fall of 2004 (when we were both 16 years old) and dated until I left for college two years later. After we had both gone our separate ways, our paths crossed by chance in December 2010. When we met for lunch one day, we somehow ended up at Flattop Grill in Evanston – the very same place where Erik had taken me on our first date. Three years later, on January 31, 2014, Erik surprised me at center court of the Berto Center – the building named in memory of my mother – where he got down on one knee and asked me to be his wife.

"During the early stages of our planning process, Erik and I agreed on a few key visions we had for our wedding day – nothing super 'traditional,' details that incorporated my mother who passed when I was three years old, and all details of the day and leading up to needed to feel like 'us.'

"Our wedding ceremony had a refreshing feel that was both comfortable and intimate thanks in large part to Candice, whom I have known since I was just four years old. She came into my life as my nanny and who helped raise me after my mom passed away. From start to finish, our ceremony stayed light and fresh, while completely embodying us as a couple. We wrote our own vows, which ended up beautifully mirroring one another and were rich with emotion, love and, of course, humor!

"Each dinner table, bathroom and cocktail hour highboy was adorned beautiful floral arrangements that included variations with white (deconstructed) hydrangeas, desert sand and soft grey roses, café au lait and white dahlias, and white and pale pink ranunculus. Cocktail hour hors d’oeuvres were served with personalized napkins, each one with a different “fun relationship fact” about Erik and I – details about our first date back in high school, our engagement, who does the cleaning and who does the cooking around the house, and who is in charge of the remote. The uplighting and (matching) wedding monogram gobo on the dance floor enhanced the atmosphere as they simultaneously evolved in color throughout the night – moving from soft amber during dinner, to a deep purple by the end of the night.

"Along with our 'late night bites,' we catered to guests who shared our sweet tooth with a colorful assortment of Erik’s favorite candy and my favorite chocolates from Candyality. We also made sure that guests who came from out of town, or booked their hotel room(s) through our wedding room blocks got a taste of some of our favorite things from Chicago. Our personalized Welcome bags included Terry’s Toffee, Garrett’s Popcorn and specialty bottled 'I Do Brew' from our favorite neighborhood spot and local brewery, Vice District Brewing Company. We also had a good friend of ours, who is a recording artist and song writer in Nashville, perform our three personal songs - Erik and I chose a song by Owen, an artist we discovered and began listening to together when we were in high school.

"Our wedding was the most magical day of both our lives. The best memory I have is actually of the incredible way I felt that day. Never have I ever been in such a state of bliss – it was honestly and truly the happiest I have ever felt while remaining completely and fully at ease and calm the entire day." -- Tina Berto