One Couple Dreamed of an Elegant, European-Inspired Wedding, So They Booked a Castle Venue and Brought Italy to the Chicago Suburbs on Their Big Day

In March of 2020, Lori Cotton and Brendan Goodwin found themselves in the same position as so many other singles stuck at home in the early days of lockdown. Unable to date and meet new people the old-fashioned way, each decided to try something new and created profiles on the dating app Bumble. "I told myself I’d give it three days and be done with it," Lori says. During that time, she matched with Brendan. As it turns out, she didn't just match with him—when Brendan saw Lori's profile, he paid to "super swipe," ensuring that Lori would at least see his profile because he was so certain she could be someone special.

After six weeks of daily calls, sparks flew when they finally met up for their first in-person date. Just over a year later, Brendan proposed on Lori's 40th birthday, September 3, 2021, at Chicago’s iconic Buckingham Fountain. The couple had written letters to each other in a shared journal throughout their relationship, so Brendan read from the first entry he made after their first date. “He told me he knew that day that I was the woman he was going to marry,” Lori says. “I lost it. I was crying so much I barely noticed him kneel down—until I heard him ask me to marry him.” After their engagement, the couple purchased their first home and welcomed a son, so the wedding planning truly began in late 2022.

Lori and Brendan invited their loved ones to celebrate watch them tie the knot at Meyer’s Castle in the Chicago suburb of Dyer, Indiana, on August 24, 2024. Inspired by Tuscan villas, they envisioned a warm celebration packed with personal details and lit by romantic candlelight. They chose a color palette of champagne, dusty rose, and green to enhance the venue’s garden aesthetic and evoke the elegance of an Italian villa. "I wanted it to feel like we had all been transported to a tucked-away villa in Italy—no passport required," the bride says.

Lori took on the planning, design, and coordination herself with help from a diverse set of vendors who she knew would go above and beyond to bring their dream to life. “Every vendor brought a unique perspective that reflected the kind of inclusive celebration we wanted to create,” she says. Read on to see how the couple leaned into the venue’s European charm in the photos by Meghan Lee Harris.

Lori spent the morning of her wedding getting ready with her bridesmaids. She wore a white satin slip with a white robe featuring ruched tulle detailing along the sleeves. Her bridesmaids wore matching pink pajama sets.

Lori want to take on a pre-nuptial DIY project, so she created custom wedding newspapers for all of their guests. The paper included a personal thank-you note to attendees, a rundown of the wedding schedule, and an introduction to their wedding party. They also included a QR code guests could use to upload their favorite photos to a shared folder. An added benefit? They made for a fun photo opp on the morning of the wedding.

Lori always thought she'd get married in a mermaid-style wedding dress with a voluminous train. "Although we planned to have a long engagement I decided to go to a bridal salon to try on dresses since I was in the early months of my pregnancy, knowing that trying on dresses while pregnant or postpartum might be challenging,” she says. She invited her niece, sister-in-law, and two of her best friends for a fun day of trying on various styles, but nothing stood out to her that day. Then, in early 2023, Lori took her son to a last-minute bridal appointment. "As soon as I walked in, a dress caught my eye," she says. "To my shock, it was the exact style I’d been saving online for years!"

She walked down the aisle in a mermaid gown in a soft blush color with a plunging sweetheart neckline and delicate ivory lace appliqués by Oleg Cassini for David's Bridal. She customized the dress with more tulle and detachable straps she found at AliExpress, then accessorized with dusty rose Badgley Mischka shoes with crystal embellishments and rose gold earrings that she borrowed from her bridesmaid.

Lori finished her look with an ivory cathedral-length veil from Etsy. She envisioned a feminine beauty look, so she went with Hollywood waves and rosy pink tones in her makeup look. “I wanted to wow Brendan when he first saw me and look like a gorgeous version of myself,” she says.

“I wanted something that would blend effortlessly with the softness of my dress while offering just enough contrast to stand out in photos,” Lori says of her wedding bouquet. Her florist created an arrangement of roses, Italian ruscus, hydrangeas, and greenery, which contrasted beautifully against her blush gown. To honor her late mother, Lori also had a bouquet charm with her photo and a message that read “Walking beside me every step of the way.”

Lori used her bachelorette party as a trial run to test different manicure styles. “I ended up creating a color at my local nail salon with a chrome manicure, which gave my nails a beautiful pearl-like iridescent finish,” she explains. “I also had tiny pearls added around the cuticle of my ring finger only for just a touch of extra romance.”

It was important to Lori that her bridesmaids feel confident and comfortable on the wedding day without needing to spend a fortune on their dresses. To that end, she pulled together a selection of different designers and dress styles for her attendants to consider—at a variety of different price point—that would complement the day’s décor. “I encouraged them to select different dress styles so their individual personalities could shine through,” she says. “The end result was stunning—each dress looked like it was part of the same designer collection, even though they were sourced from all different places.”

Her maid of honor, Jill, stood out from the rest in a dusty rose sequin gown. Lori gave each of her bridesmaids a matching jewelry set to wear on the wedding day and they each held a smaller version of her bridal bouquet. “To create contrast between my bouquet and theirs, our florist lightly misted the tips of the hydrangeas with a soft lilac hue,” Lori says. “It was a subtle detail, but it added such a beautiful touch and complemented the overall color palette perfectly.”

Brendan looked timeless in a black tuxedo. “We found an Italian tuxedo store that sold tuxes and suits from Italy for the perfect look that was within budget, excellent quality, and tailored to fit his frame,” Lori says. He paired his attire with a white dress shirt with black buttons from Men's Wearhouse, a black bow tie, and black Calvin Klein dress shoes. Lori gifted him a black watch to wear on the wedding day. A floral boutonnière made from two blush roses completed his look.

His best man and groomsmen wore deep blue suits from Men’s Wearhouse. “We wanted Brendan to stand out while keeping the groomsmen cohesive and just as classic,” Lori explains. The couple’s son was their ring bearer. He looked like a miniature version of Brendan in a black suit by Nautica. “It was incredibly special to have him not just present, but playing such an important role on the day his parents became husband and wife,” notes the bride.

The couple also asked Brendan’s youngest nieces to be their flower girls. They wore shades of blue as a way of incorporating ‘something blue’ into the ceremony. 

As guests arrived at the venue’s garden for the ceremony, they were greeted by a large welcome sign on a vintage mirror displayed on a gold easel. “I wanted to have a large vintage mirror incorporated in the day because I love how elegant they look in weddings, so I was so excited to have scored an authentic one sold on Facebook Marketplace from an old-school beauty salon,” Lori says.

The entrance to the ceremony aisle was marked by standing chandeliers with draping on the base. The couple worked with their florist to create lush arrangements that were placed on either side of the altar; later, they were repurposed for the head table during the reception. The ceremony flowers included white hydrangeas, blush and white roses of different varieties, Italian ruscus, and salal greenery. On each chair, guests found a paper fan and a copy of the couple’s wedding newspaper. Seats along the inner aisle also held custom petal bags including a sweet message from the couple.

"We wanted romance and elegance—but more than anything, we wanted connection," Lori says of her and Brendan's vision for their ceremony and reception. "We wanted the day to feel like a reflection of us: warm, joyful, and deeply rooted in love and faith. We wanted our guests to feel the journey we’d been on, to witness a dream come true after years of waiting, and to be reminded of what’s possible with prayer, patience, and God’s timing."

The couple set up a special chair at the ceremony decorated with flowers to honor Lori’s mom, who passed away just a few months after she met Brendan. “When my sister came down the aisle, she held flowers that she was able to take from our childhood home that were planted by Mom and still bloom each year,” Lori says. The chair held a custom acrylic photo of her inscribed with "Mother of the Bride."

The bride's younger brother, Kevin, walked her down the aisle. “Asking him to walk me down the aisle in [our mother's] place meant so much—it would have meant the world to her, too,” Lori says. “It was a powerful moment, as I passed him the role of not just my little brother, but as the one responsible for handing me over to Brendan.” The two walked down the aisle to a short section of Beyonce’s “II Hands to Heaven” before transitioning to William McDowell’s “I Belong to You."

Lori's eldest brother officiated their ceremony, during which the couple exchanged personal vows they wrote for each other. “From the moment we got engaged, I started jotting down thoughts in a notebook—little things I didn’t want to forget, big emotions I couldn’t put into words just yet, and recurring sentiments that I knew were the most important things I needed to say,” Lori explains. “I wanted to be sure I wasn’t just writing a love letter, but making real, clear promises.”

After being pronounced husband and wife, the couple celebrated back up the aisle to Stevie Wonder’s “As."

Lori and Brendan hosted their cocktail hour on the venue’s patio, where guests enjoyed an open bar and appetizers. The drinks were personalized with custom acrylic drink stirrers with the couple’s new shared last name.

The couple and their guests also spent time visiting the photo booth, which offered unlimited prints for attendees to take home with them. “We were able to get copies of all the images afterward, and it was so much fun to see all of our friends and family captured in those moments,” the bride says. “It became one of the highlights of the day.”

Lori created the reception seating chart in Canva and printed it to frame at the wedding. Next to the seating chart, a welcome table was set up with candles and framed photos of the couple. For a special touch, Lori added artificial florals around the signage and along the table. “These little details added charm and personality to the day while still staying within our budget," she notes.

Creating perfect seating assignments was a passion project for Lori and Brendan. "We were thoughtful about our guest seating—we wanted people to really connect," the bride explains. "Looking around the room that night and seeing strangers laughing together, singing along to the music, and dancing like old friends—it was exactly what we’d hoped for."

At the reception, chandeliers were draped with artificial greenery to bring the Italian villa aesthetic into the space. Round tables were dressed in soft champagne linens and paired with chiavari chairs. Each table had pink and white floral centerpieces, gold candelabras, a gold acrylic table number, and a framed custom menu that the bride designed with the couple’s wedding logo.

“We also had anniversary cards for each table for corresponding anniversary years, for instance our fifth anniversary wedding card was left at table five,” Lori says of one of her favorite personalized touches. “We left a message on each card for guests to leave their well wishes for us to open on each anniversary year, starting with year one.”

The newlyweds sat at a sweetheart table, which was decorated with the altar arrangements from the ceremony and a low centerpiece.

The couple's two-tiered wedding cake featured a textured finish and curled wave designs draping the front. “I came across an image of a cake on Pinterest that had the perfect balance of beautiful details and timeless elegance,” the bride explains. “I shared it with our cake designer, and she absolutely nailed it.”

The top tier was European vanilla cake with strawberry buttercream and custard cream while the bottom tier was a vanilla sponge cake with lemon buttercream and vanilla custard cream.

Lori and Brendan shared their first dance to Lauryn Hill and D’Angelo’s “Nothing Even Matters." "Over the years, we’ve faced so many challenges together,” Lori says. "Through it all, we always came together as a team. That’s why the message of the song—that nothing else matters as long as we have each other—felt like the perfect representation of our love.”

Lori planned to share a special dance with her son, but he napped through that part of the reception! A few weeks before the wedding, Brendan and his mom decided they didn’t want a traditional mother-son dance. Instead, they choreographed a surprise dance that no one (including the bride!) expected. “They did the classic dance from Fresh Prince of Bel Air to the song ‘Jump on It’ by Sugar Hill Game, before showing cool moves to Drake’s song ‘0 to 100’ before closing out with a dance and blowing a kiss to the crowd to Bobby Shmurda's popular song ‘Hot,’” Lori laughs.

If Lori could share a piece of advice to couples planning the wedding it would be not to get discouraged. “It was such a crushing feeling that the wedding we imagined didn’t match our budget,” Lori says. “I would want couples like me to know those feelings are completely valid—and actually, a lot more common than you might think.” Lori and Brendan extended their engagement to save, plan, and book their vendors with intention. In the end, their wedding exceeded all of their expectations.

The couple spent their honeymoon in Italy, of course, spending time in various locations around the Amalfi Coast.