Ian and Andrea! Yeah!

Back in August my brother set up a little table with a bottle of Dom Perignon for his then-girlfriend Andrea's "birthday celebration" on a rooftop in New York City. First of all, can we quickly just give a nod to my brother for "most romantic swoon-worthy proposal of the year"? Ok, so I was in line in the post office when he called me (I knew the proposal was happening that weekend but in my mind I would have received this phone call in a less public area where I could be LOUDLY and expressively happy for my brother) and he told me about the proposal, during which he got down on his knee and pulled out the ring and said a bunch of nobody-will-ever-know-what because Andrea was crying too much to hear any of the proposal. Luckily for Ian, and most guys out there, women know exactly what the kneeling down and fishing for a ring means so sometimes it just doesn't really matter what smooth words you've planned out because she'll never hear it anyway. 

So let me say, I'm THRILLED to have Andrea as a future sister-in-law. Ian met Andrea on St. Patrick's day in 2008 at Moe's Cantina in Wrigleyville, Chicago, IL. Andrea was the bartender taking care of Ian's rapidly increasing tab, and the story goes that at the end of the night my alcohol-emboldened brother slipped her a napkin that said "Ian - ###-###-#### - brunch tomorrow" (the number signs were his cell number). Smoooooth!  So Andrea took a chance and called him up and met him for brunch the next day. By the way, this was during the time when Ian was in law school in California. CALIFORNIA. ILLINOIS. Well, the very next weekend Ian decided that student loan cash is better spent pursuing a beautiful, charming city-girl from Chicago (who could blame him!?) than anything else, and he flew back out to Chicago to take her to dinner! The story, which is long and lovely, ends with the original "brunch tomorrow" napkin in a pretty frame on their windowsill in their Chicago condo and a small emerald on the bottom-side of her ring to represent the day they met - St. Patrick's Day. I love this story, and I love this couple! 

Here are a few of the photos from our shoot last weekend in Chicago!