Industrial Meets Elegance in This Illinois Celebration: The Real Wedding of Kim and Jake Phillips

Kim and Jake met each other when they were twenty-four through family friends. Even though Jake is a quiet person, he later chose to propose to Kim in an extremely public manner. Jake put a float in the Bailey's Harbor parade in Door County, Wisconsin with one of his friends driving it. Before it reached the place where Kim and her family were watching, Jake excused himself and hopped on the float. When it got to Kim's spot, she noticed a sign saying "Marry this Guy" with Jake's face on it. Then Jake came out from inside the float with a lift and asked Kim to marry him!
 

When Kim went dress shopping, she initially had some bad luck. "First of all, I had thought I wanted long sleeves until I tried on a bunch of long sleeved dresses and wasn’t feeling it," Kim shares. She eventually visited the boutique where she found 'the one' and narrowed it down to two dresses. One of them fit into her budget better, and Kim was sold! Even though they ended up having to postpone their wedding a year due to COVID, Kim's love of her wedding dress never wavered. She says she would still buy it today!
 

Though there was originally some disagreement on the color palette for the wedding, Kim and Jake ended up finding the perfect combination. Kim explains, "I originally wanted winter green bridesmaids' dresses. However, Jake was really set on a plaid suit–somewhat inspired from Peaky Blinders, but he wanted the full-plaid look. We ended up finding the perfect suits on Amazon! The suits were gray and navy plaid so I ended up going with navy bridesmaids' dresses." The whole bridal party looks so great with the color palette they chose, especially with Danielle Schury Photography's excellent eye!
 

The main thing that helped Kim and Jake decide on their venue was that they wanted to cater in wood oven pizzas, so a number of venues were knocked out since they required in-house catering. One simple Google search led them to the venue they chose. "We didn’t even bother seeing any other venue in person. We knew this was the place. At the time, they were expanding their venue, so the room we would end up getting married in wasn’t even built yet," Kim raves. "However, the space itself when we went to see it, was a demoed warehouse and full of rubble. But we used our imagination and knew it would be beautiful."
 

 

What We Love

Wanting to go above and beyond, Kim and Jake worked with a dance studio to help them fully choreograph their first dance. After sending someone at the studio all their favorite moves from Dancing with the Stars, the choreographer was able to mash everything together into the beautiful dance they preformed. The best part: no one knew this was going to be happening! Kim gushes, "We didn’t tell a single soul we were doing it; not even my sisters who I tell everything to." Plus, they were able to relax during the dance and smile at their reception, which they hadn't done in practice because they were so focused on the moves.
 

 

Advice from the Couple

Kim and Jake advise, "Planning and having a wedding should be fun. You only get to do it once, so embrace every second and enjoy the engagement bliss. I would advise to keep a strict budget; it’s extremely easy to get carried away. New expenses pop up throughout the way, and everything adds up. In the end though, it’s your wedding. Don’t plan it for anyone else; don’t settle for other people’s requests. It’s your day and let yourself be completely selfish and entitled. Also, one of the best wedding recommendations I got too late was to set up a wedding email address. It keeps everything in one place, and you’ll avoid getting constant blasts to your personal email from things you sign up for."
 

 

 

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