An Elegant Notre Dame Wedding: The Real Wedding of Mackenzie and Joe

Sparks flew in school for Mackenzie and Joe when they met on a spring break service trip to Appalachia. During a trip to Chicago, Joe dropped down to one knee out on the waterfront near the Shedd Aquarium. 'Yes' was Mackenzie’s obvious answer!

Mackenzie went into dress shopping looking for a tight white dress. After trying on a few of that style, she wanted to try something different to see if it would work better for her. She notes, “We changed it up for fun and I tried on a more blush-toned, princess-style dress and I loved it!” We love the soft details of Mackenzie's nails by Nicholas J. Salon! 

The couple had a venue picked out prior to getting engaged, but all other vendors were mainly based on VenueND’s recommendations. Mackenzie says, “We knew we wanted two things: to get married at Notre Dame, a place that is so important to us; and to have a fun dance party afterward. Everything else we thought about and planned as we went.” 

Mackenzie can’t recommend Hey Sisters! Photography enough--and can you blame her with these fun-filled photos? 

What we love

Mackenzie and Joe used empty wine bottle labels as their table numbers, along with a small scroll with each place setting, and requested each guest to write them a message and stuff it in the bottle. Mackenzie explains, “We plan on opening each bottle and reading the messages on the anniversary that corresponds with that number (for example, on our third anniversary we will open the Table 3 bottle). We can do this all the way through our 26th anniversary!”

Advice from the couple

Mackenzie urges future brides not to worry about the small little details. “The week before the wedding, our scheduled singer and one of our priests had to cancel. I got calls that the musicians had not received my checks. The programs printed wrong. I had a dental procedure that left me in pain. I had a few breakdowns... But in the end, none of it mattered, no one noticed, and it was the best day of our lives, hands down!”

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