Ceremony: Marty Leonard Community Chapel
Reception: Firestone and RobertsonDistilling Co.
Photographs courtesy of Peyronet Photography
Five months after a dramatic proposal at Chicago's Buckingham Fountain, Katherine Niederer and Jonathan Morris said "I do" under the soaring wood beams of the Marty Leonard Community Chapel. It was a decade earlier that Jonathan asked Katherine to be his girlfriend during the couple's senior year at Denton High School.
Katherine recalled how she and Jonathan first met. "I basically stalked him," she said. "I still think she stalks me sometimes," said Jonathan with a laugh. For months, Katherine thought about how she could meet her crush. She confessed to stealing his phone number from an application he completed for PALS, a mentorship program that encouraged high school students to befriend children in middle and elementary grade levels. "She called me at my parents" house," Jonathan shouted. What started with a handshake on a Friday afternoon became a promise to love one another forever.
The couple wrote their own vows. "We both did a good job," said Katherine, development and marketing assistant at Lena Pope Home. It was her fondest memory of their wedding day. "It meant the most," she said.
"I feel like we incorporated our individual personalities but also our personalities as a couple," said Jonathan. "It was fun."
The couple's enthusiasm for social media was tastefully infused into their celebration with the Twitter hashtag #morriswedding. "I wanted to make this THE social media wedding," said Jonathan, account director at Agency Entourage. Live tweets were broadcast throughout the reception on a plasma TV.
Another whimsical element that surprised guests was a photo booth that featured a stuffed bucking bull to climb on and strike a pose.
"Our wedding was a production," said Katherine. "We brought in everything."
Much of the inspiration for the wedding festivities was drawn from a photograph of a cake that she fell in love with. "It's what everything was themed around."
"I was surprised at how great it was," said Jonathan. Katherine wasn't.
After all, she said, "I planned it."
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