The Wedding Story of... Brooke & DJ Fitzpatrick

A Good Catch

Being in the right place doesn’t mean much if the timing isn’t right. After all, DJ and Brooke Fitzpatrick both earned degrees from the University of Notre Dame (where DJ was a kicker on the Fighting Irish football team and Brooke was a member of the track and cross country team) within two years of each other but their paths never crossed. They finally met through mutual friends in 2004 while they were both living in Chicago, but never dated.  “We went out with friends—I noticed her, she noticed me but our careers took us in opposite directions,” DJ recalled.

He eventually moved away to pursue a professional football career. But three years later, DJ gave up football to begin his financial career and he returned to the Midwest. “It was one of those things where I got back to Chicago and friends told me Brooke was still single,” he said. “They encouraged me to call her because she was such a good catch.” Good thing they did. The couple hit it off and began a two year dating relationship that eventually turned into talk of marriage.  
 

Basilica Surprise

DJ is a South Bend native and Brooke grew up in the small Central Illinois town of Mattoon, and they talked about finding a venue in between the two towns so both of their families could celebrate the occasion. Little did Brooke know, DJ had secretly put their name in for Basilica Monday—the annual Monday in March when a waiting list of dozens of brides and grooms anxiously sit by the phone and wait to hear whether they’ll be given an opportunity to marry at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame the following year. 

“Then, months after being put on the waiting list, my phone rang and they said ‘Hey we have a Saturday at 3 p.m., do you want it?’” DJ recalled. “I was so excited about getting the date that I told one of my friends when we went out that night and he let it slip in front of Brooke, so she found out before I proposed.”

But Brooke was too ecstatic to mind, and DJ was still able to pull off a romantic surprise proposal four months later during a family vacation in West Palm Beach, Florida.  

Small Stresses

One of the couple’s favorite memories of the planning process was when they began to put together the guest list during the car ride to the airport from West Palm Beach, two days after they became engaged. During the drive they reminisced over happy memories of times spent with friends and family. After that, Brooke admitted it got a little stressful. She was, after all, doing all the planning herself.

“Initially when you think about planning your wedding, it’s fun. But once you start getting into it all the little decisions drive you crazy because they consume every free thought you have!” she laughed. “I expected it to be a little different than it was. We’re the first of our siblings to get married so I really didn’t have anyone to coach me. I relied on a lot of magazines and internet searching.”

Even though the couple chose to accept the Basilica date offered to them, they still had to find a place for their reception. That proved a bit tricky, considering their guest list was over 600 people long and very few venues in the South Bend area can comfortably accommodate that number and those that can were already booked.

After Brooke and DJ discovered the Palais Royale in downtown South Bend was not available, Dennis Andres—Executive Director at the nearby Morris Performing Arts Center—suggested building a floor over the auditorium seats at the beautiful, historic Morris. The space would be perfect for the elegant, fun reception they wanted.  

Marriage, Family and Perfect Timing

On a beautiful July day, after months of planning every last detail, DJ and Brooke vowed to love and honor each other for the rest of their lives. “The purpose of the ceremony and marriage all became very, very clear when I walked down the aisle in the church and when we were saying our vows,” Brooke remembered. “That was one of my favorite parts of the day and I think that was finally the time when I stopped being an event planner.”

Amid the beautiful setting of The Morris and a breathtaking color palate of blues, purples and fuchsias with gold accents, surrounded by friends and family, the couple literally danced the night away.

“When you have the Basilica at Notre Dame and the Morris Performing Arts Center, it’s just jaw dropping,” Brooke said. “The
only decorating we did was really the flowers. We lucked out that both locations had such beautiful architecture, and that’s what made it stand out and seem over the top.”

The couple is also very conscientious about giving credit where it’s due. “Our photographer (Peter Thurin) was awesome. He kept us on schedule and just had this calm energy that helped keep us relaxed. I would say he, our DJ and the band really set the tone and knew how to work the crowd at our reception. They kept everyone on the dance floor until the doors closed!” said Brooke.

DJ and Brooke also can’t say enough about what their families added to their wedding weekend. “When you have a big wedding and families as large as we do, it’s not like the bride is going to pull it together all by herself. That’s not how it worked with us—everyone came together to make our day the most memorable weekend of our lives—and we are so thankful for all of our family’s support,” DJ explained. His family hosted both the rehearsal dinner and a brunch the morning after their wedding, creating a ‘home away from home’ atmosphere for everyone, Brooke added.

In the months since their wedding, the couple relocated to West Palm Beach for DJ’s job as an analyst at Goldman Sachs. “We had no idea we’d ever end up down here,” said Brooke. But they did, and they’re happy. The couple is now living about a mile from the spot where DJ proposed—another ironic bit of proof that life has its own idea of perfect timing.