Molly & Jackson's Love Story

“JACKSON’S VERSION OF “OUR STORY”

I remember my first thought when I met Molly Jackson. The first thing that crossed my mind was, “I absolutely hate her last name.” The second thought was, “Maybe one day I will get to change it for her.” Now, that may not exactly be the case, but what I do remember about meeting her for the first time was having the thought, “This girl has her [expletive] together.” She was only slightly older than me, but she was socially and systematically intelligent, had already started her career, and was stunningly gorgeous as well. Within my social environment, there was absolutely no one that came anywhere near as close to resembling success in the same way she did. From everything I could see, she was a perfect example of everything that a human being in this particular stretch of history should be trying to achieve. Even though she had a full time career, she was picking up a second job for the summer in order to make more money, because that’s something impressive people do to be even more responsible. Frankly, she was completely out of my league. I lacked confidence and drive, opting for someone to make my choices for me and just trying to find the fun in whatever that choice may be, which I can now say from experience is nothing compared to making decisions for yourself. Back then, however, I was the definition of a Scrub. And a Scrub is a guy who can’t get no love from someone of Molly’s stature.

We started talking more. And more. And then a lot. Then definitely too much. Then we were very honest with each other. From the moment we were on the same page, we never skipped a page without each other. Every decision from there on out was made with each other in mind, and it couldn’t have been any easier. Four years ago, we were at that point in your life where you really start to transition into the person you are going to be for the rest of that life. Every major or minor decision will impact the rest of your decisions. Whether you are buying a car or a house or something that could potentially be a small Valentine’s Day gift that ends up being the symbol of your entire partnership… you are in a place in that time of life where decisions have a lasting effect. By some beautiful twist of decisions, I found Molly at a time when I needed her most and she has been with me to enhance my life through all those decisions.”

“I knew that Molly was the one instantly. I know I’ve already gushed about her so much, but she was truly the model representation of a partner for me. I wanted the perfect proposal for her to be able to always remember what she meant to me. I started planning the proposal before we even moved in together. I planned out the music, a movie presentation, a high profile fanfare. I planned that slick “I hated her last name” line at the beginning of this as something to say at our rehearsal dinner (and I promised her back then that I would tell her eventually that I had come up with that, but I’m pretty sure she has forgotten I said that). I spent a lot of free time trying to craft a perfect production of ideas for her to see how much she inspired me. Now, in what felt like a blink, four years went by, and I still hadn’t crafted a perfect proposal for her. In a moment of feeling beat down and sick about not being able to give her what I felt she deserved, I looked back on those four years and realized that there is nothing I can do on my own for her that would even remotely compare to the life that we have created together. As a team. As a partnership. There will never be anything that I can do alone that will come close to the perfection that we can create together. I recognized that I didn’t want to wait any longer to stop doing things alone, so I planned the last thing I would ever plan without Molly… an official proposal.”

“When I grew up, I wanted what my parents had. They never “acted their age,” Dad was always eager to make you laugh and Mom was always there to play along. They constantly displayed their love in romantic ways. They backed each other up and threaten physical violence on anyone that crossed the other. They fought for each other, even when it was with each other, it was never an argument that wasn’t rooted in trying to find a better solution. They showed me and my sister how to love others as if they were family, and welcomed anyone, even complete strangers, into their home. They had so much love for each other and so much fun with each other. When I grew up, I wanted what my parents had.

Now, I want what I have. It’s like what my parents had… but it’s with Molly.”

“MOLLY’S VERSION OF “OUR STORY”
Our meet cute was in the blue theatre well during my first solo shift as a server at Hollywood Palms. Well, I guess it depends on who you ask... Jackson says he remembered the day I first came in at the employee meeting, but my first major memory of Jackson was that day in blue. I’m pretty sure the memory stands out because I spent the better part of the day listening to this girl I was working with drone on and on about a guy she liked, but she didn’t think he liked her back. When Jackson showed up to work in the theatre with us, I took one look at her looking at him and realized this was the guy. Over the course of the summer, Jackson and I became friends, bonding over similar tastes in movies and TV. However, I left Palms after the summer to focus on teaching, and I almost didn’t come back. In a twist of fate, I’m lucky my mom and I chose to see a movie at Palms that spring, because my manager asked me to come back, and that’s the summer Jackson and I became close friends. That summer Ineeded help getting out to Ikea to pick up a couple bookshelves for my classroom, and a coworker suggested Jackson because he had a pickup truck. Jackson was kind enough to offer to take me all the way out to Bolingbrook then Earlville then back as well as loading and unloading everything. Our friendship blossomed from there as we talked about indie movies, laughed over Sharknado, and generally became great friends. At some point in Fall, it just transitioned into something more, but we never had an official start date. We just kind of... were... From there we’ve become a great team, moving into an apartment in Batavia, transitioning to new jobs, and purchasing our home and dogs in 2016!!”

Curator:
Hair and Makeup: The Bridal Artistry Team

Wedding Pro’s:
Photographer : Quen Anderson
Venue: Society 57
Styling & Design: Quen Anderson
Dress: Muse by Berta from Love Theory Bridal
Calligraphy: The Letter J Creates
Model: @josephine.t0
Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes
Jewelry: Common Mission Women
Cake: Chicago Custom Cakes
Florist: Wild Rose Flowers Decor