Vanessa and Mike met at a mutual friend’s housewarming party. Their friend, Liz, was one of Vanessa’s good friends from undergrad at UW-Madison and one of Mike’s good friends from grad school. Mike asked for Vanessa’s number at the end of the night. She wasn’t interested in dating at the time, so she gave him a fake phone number. (She gave him her boss’ desk line. It was the first number that popped into her head!) When it was time to leave the party Vanessa couldn’t find her purse, so she asked Mike to call her cell phone—but had forgotten she gave him a fake number! He wasn’t amused, but got her real phone number anyway. They went on their first date the following week. Five years later they’re planning their wedding!
To us, living with joy means something beyond just happiness—it means intentionally keeping our hearts open and starting each day with gratitude for one another. It also means finding fun in the little things with each other!
Give us the details! When? Where? How?
Mike had planned a belated birthday trip for me to Lake Geneva (a cute town in southern Wisconsin, just north of Chicago). My family used to own a house and the surrounding land outside of a small town in northwestern Illinois that we called “The Farm” (which is misleading considering we didn’t have animals or grow any crops…). My grandpa bought the land when my dad was a child, and they spent most of their summers there. It was where my parents had their wedding reception, and where our family spent weekends taking walks in the woods, riding horses at the stable next door, and celebrating birthdays when I was growing up. When my dad passed away in 2010, it was also where we spread some of his ashes. “The Farm” was sold years ago, but Mike has heard my family talk about it often and knows it’s a special place.
It’s located close to Lake Geneva, so Mike asked if we could stop there on the drive up so that he could finally see it. We took a walk (technically trespassed…) on the land and he proposed there at sunset. Afterwards, he said he’d known for years that that’s where he would propose. We finished the drive up, and spent the night and next day celebrating together in Lake Geneva before returning to Chicago to celebrate with our friends.
Brandon Werth Photography
What has been your favorite experience planning the wedding?
We’ve been having fun planning our ceremony and reception music. We have a string quartet playing modern music during the ceremony (everything from Florence and the Machine to The Beatles to Metallica) and a DJ to play lots of 90s throwbacks during the reception. Tasting 16 different flavors of cupcakes was pretty awesome, too.
How do you stay sane under the pressures of wedding planning?
We have a giant Google Sheet which seems to grow by the week. Every possible aspect of the wedding, from budgets to timelines to specifics of each vendor is in one place that we can each access from anywhere. It’s been a lifesaver.
Brandon Werth Photography
What is your favorite part of using Joy for your wedding?
I really like the aesthetics and the organization of the site. The pre-built menu is great if you’re not sure what information guests might want and what you should share, like travel info and how we met. I haven’t used the app extensively yet, but
What piece of advice would you give couples to ensure that they use Joy to its fullest potential?
Use the FAQ feature! It helped us answer questions that can be awkward to answer one-on-one, like “can I bring my kid?” and “Do I get a plus one?”
At Joy we believe that even though a wedding lasts a day, joy should last forever. What does that mean to you?
To us, living with joy means something beyond just happiness—it means intentionally keeping our hearts open and starting each day with gratitude for one another. It also means finding fun in the little things with each other!
Brandon Werth Photography
