We met on September 23rd, 2017 at Parlor Pizza in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. Mark arrived with the after-party of his sister, Laura’s wedding. Irene was already at the bar with her friend following her first Chicago Blackhawks game. We both have our own versions of exactly how the night played out, but what we do know for sure is that without a little luck, those few hours that night were almost our last together! After accidentally giving the wrong phone number, Mark thought that he would never see Irene again. Fortunately for both of us, he was able to find Irene on Facebook to try and remedy the situation. Funny enough, Irene had already sent a text to that wrong number suggesting a first date. And so with a bit of luck, our relationship began!

One of the first big steps of our relationship was Mark’s first trip to Spain to meet Irene’s family. We ended up making quite a big trip out of it, traveling throughout the south of Spain, which ignited a love of traveling together. Over the six years of our relationship, we have been fortunate enough to travel quite a bit, learning more about each other with every trip we take.

In September of 2020, we decided it was time to take the next step and get an apartment together. We landed on an old building on Lincoln Park, where we would spend our next four years together.

During that time, Irene earned her PhD from the University of Illinois Chicago and landed a job teaching at Northwestern.

In the fall of 2023, Mark decided that it was about time to ask Irene to get married. Given that even after Mark’s five trips to Spain, we had never spent Christmas together, Mark thought it would be the perfect opportunity to surprise Irene in Spain to ask the big question. So, that December, Mark flew to Alicante to surprise Irene for “Christmas” but didn’t wait too long to reveal the real reason he was there. So, on December 20th, 2023 we were finally engaged!

It has been a whirlwind since, as we also decided that it was time to upgrade out of our one-bedroom apartment to a place where we can build a home together. After a long tough search, we were lucky enough to purchase our first casita.

With all our focus on next summer, we hope to see you all there when we get married in Villena, Alicante June 21st, 2025!