Kim Beiswanger

My fiancé Greg and I met the summer before I started college when a mutual friend introduced us. As we talked we realized we both went to the same high school. Since it was such a big school and Greg was a year ahead of me, we never knew each other. I told Greg how I was going to Illinois State University (ISU) in the fall. Greg also went there and would be returning for his sophomore year.

The second day I was at ISU, I got a phone call from Greg. He looked my dorm number up in the student directory and was calling to see how moving went, how I liked ISU so far and if I wanted to go out with him and some of his friends that weekend since I didn’t know anyone. I was surprised that he even remembered me from the summer!

After hanging out for about a month, we started dating and became exclusive. Most of the memories I have from college include Greg and I cannot imagine my experiences at ISU without him. After we both graduated, I accepted a job in the northwest suburbs. He decided to move here with me and job hunt in this area. We moved in to an apartment together in August of 2006.

Our five-year anniversary was approaching on Sept. 5, 2007 and I was getting suspicious that Greg was going to propose to me then. On Friday, Aug. 31, after work we talked about what to get for dinner and Greg suggested we go to Biaggi’s to celebrate our anniversary a few days early. We ate dinner, paid the bill and sat and talked while we finished our drinks. Greg started talking about our past anniversaries and how he hoped this one would be special. He took the ring box out of his pocket and asked me to marry him. I was so excited and didn’t know what to say besides “yes!” I couldn’t sit still to finish our drinks, so we left the restaurant and immediately drove an hour to the south suburbs where both of our parents live. Our families were just as excited about the news as we were.

We decided to have our wedding on March 21, 2009. I am happy to have some extra time to plan so I don’t have to rush the process. I can just relax and enjoy being engaged. We are having the ceremony and reception at Concorde banquets in Kildeer, and Greg has been a big help with planning and providing his opinion on how our wedding day should go. I am excited to get started on everything else, especially the honeymoon planning! We don’t know where we want to go yet, somewhere out of this country and tropical!

Thank you to ChicagoStyle Weddings and House of Brides for the dress, and thank you to my friends and family for their help in the planning.

« Back to Winners List