Drew and I first met in physics my senior year of college, and ended up being lab partners. I was very impatient waiting for him to make a move, so after a month and a half, I got up the courage to ask him out. He said he needed to see when his family was coming into town (he was a football player and it was game day on Saturday), but after our first date we were inseparable.
4 years later, Drew proposed with our fur baby in our Chicago apartment.
We had 10 months to plan our wedding, and I was working on finishing my Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Mizzou, so we began the wedding process with him in Illinois and me in Missouri.
I was born and raised in Rockford, and dreamed of getting married in St. Peter’s Cathedral. I wanted a fun venue for my reception, so I called Kim to check availability for Franchesco's. I had spent many a Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Years Eve with the Salamone family at one of their events.
Kim called me back immediately and held my spot so that she and my mom could meet in person. They were my boots on the ground while I was studying! Planning my wedding with my mom meant everything to me. We lost her in January 2019 to a 27 year battle with breast cancer. Throughout the planning process she was my champion! She had an emergency tumor removal from her brain only 28 days before I walked down the aisle in 2017. My wedding was her vision with my flair. She had incredible taste and could envision a room before it was even put together. It would not have looked or turned out the way it did without her guidance and advice! Looking back on it, there isn't one thing I would do differently.
Franchesco's kept us on a timeline, which I desperately needed, to make sure we were able to get everything done. Our tasting was perfect and we fell in love with the Kim Cake and strawberry cheesecake ice cream. It was by far the best part of the entire meal.
From then, it was little details, but whenever I had a question, I called Kim. Working with Franchesco's made wedding planning so fun and stress free. They had a solution to any problem and handled every challenge or change with grace. Kim also had suggestions of different vendors to work with and who worked well with Franchesco's, which was incredibly helpful.
Throughout our planning process, Benny and Kim have become family. We share a first dance song, Al Green's "Let's Stay Together”. When I come home to Rockford, I always make sure to stop in to Franchesco's and get a squeeze and my favorite glass of red with some of my favorite people.