Meeting Their Match
By Lisa Arnett
April 2024 View more Better Together
This La Grange couple celebrated their union with a night on the dance floor
Mary Kenney can recall exactly what she was thinking when she first laid eyes on Lauren Sirus, moments before their first date began in 2013. “I remember seeing her outside through the window before she came in and I thought, ‘She’s so cool and so pretty,’ ” says Kenney, 35, a Hallmark Media account executive who connected with Sirus on Match.com. “This was the first date I had where I wanted to keep talking and I didn’t want the night to end.”
Sirus, on the other hand, was drawn to Kenney’s earnestness. “I had said something—I don’t even remember what it was—but she put her hand up to give me a high-five. Later on, she did it again,” says Sirus, 43, a mental performance coach for athletes at St. Lawrence High School in Burbank and adjunct professor at St. Xavier University. “I was just giggling to myself, thinking, Are we really doing this? Finding someone that was very positive and enthusiastic about life and just wanting to share that with someone else, that wasn’t something I felt like I really came across [before].”
They also bonded over their shared love of music. “Because I’m truly a child of the ’90s, on every one of our anniversaries [of our first date], I would make Mary a mix CD of songs,” Sirus says. On their anniversary in 2019 not long after they had decided to buy a house in La Grange, Sirus gave Kenney her traditional mix CD—only this time the first letter of each song title spelled out a proposal, acrostic style. She brought out a box with her great-grandmother’s antique engagement ring and a new diamond band she had custom-made to complement it. “I said, ‘It doesn’t mean we have to say we are getting married now, but we are making a big commitment and I’d like to start wearing these together—you pick which one you’d like to wear,’ ” Sirus says.
Planning for the big day was a whirlwind—especially with the arrival of their daughter, Lucy, just months before their November wedding. One thing they knew for sure was that they would book Sirus’s favorite band—the Lakeshore Encores—and spend the whole night on the dance floor (they did, and their wedding-white Nikes understood the assignment). The biggest reveal was actually the ceremony itself, performed by Kenney’s family friend, a retired judge. “He had us both fill out these questionnaires beforehand—and unbeknownst to us, our parents—with questions like, ‘How did you meet?’ ‘If Lauren was an animal, what should she be?’ and ‘If she was on a desert island, what would you send with her?’ ” Kenney says. He eloquently wove their answers together into an emotional, entertaining speech that delighted the room. “And then when the ceremony ended, we walked down to the end of the aisle,” Kenney says. “Before we turned to leave, we high-fived each other like we did on our first date.”
Wedding Details
Venue & catering
The Drake Oak Brook
Bride’s wedding attire
Gown from Atlas Bridal Shop, Toledo; tuxedo by SuitShop, Chicago; Nike Air Force One sneakers from Dick’s, hand-embellished with pearls and crystals; oxfords from the Office of Angela Scott; Nike Kwondo 1 G-Dragon sneakers from StockX; Little Word Company bracelets; Bulova watch from Macy’s; feathered pocket square from Brackish
Cake
Creative Cakes, Orland Park
Florals
Phillip’s Flowers, Westmont
Entertainment
Lakeshore Encores from Gold Coast Events, Chicago
Rings
Heirloom wedding band from her grandfather (Mary); Blando’s Marry Me Jewelers, Countryside (Lauren)
Transportation
CelebLux Limos, Villa Park
Photography
TWA Photographic Artists, Lombard
Photos: TWA Photographic Artists
