Come away with us

One fateful summer night, not long after Luke and Lena had both sworn off dating, the stars aligned to bring them to the same place at the same time on the west side of Chicago. Alena was picking up her friend Jesse from her waitressing job; Luke and his friend Dan were there to visit the bartender whom Dan had recently begun seeing. As Alena waited by the bar (incidentally dressed in 1920's flapper attire from a previous event), the guys burst into the room, and Dan immediately insisted that Alena talk to Luke because "he's a scientist." Alena was skeptical at first, but it quickly became clear that they had lots in common. Even Jesse abandoned her attempts at pulling Alena away once she noticed the undeniable chemistry between them. After a well-timed follow up text, some light internet stalking, and a first date that went unbelievably well, you could say the rest is history. Now, it's time to take the next step and make their love affair as official as it's unofficially been since pretty much day one.

Upon finding some notably affordable airfare from Boston to Chicago, Alena had returned to where it all began for an innocent trip to see friends who were visiting from out of the country – conspicuously named Luke & Helena – and her friend Whitney who had recently moved to Chicago from Boulder. Luke claimed he couldn't join her as someone had to watch the dog and he had been "traveling too much" too recently for work (which Alena bought, hook, line, and sinker). In reality, Luke had coordinated with Whitney to make sure Alena was in the middle of Logan Square at exactly 3 o'clock that Friday. Thinking nothing of it when Whitney suggested they stop to take a photo at the monument in the square, Alena naively acquiesced. Although she became perplexed by how shaky Whitney was when it came time to take the selfie – perhaps she'd had too much coffee? Whitney said they should ask someone to take their photo, so Alena looked around only to find Luke smiling at her from under a nearby tree, completely blowing her mind since she thought he was still back in Boston (because if not, who was watching the dog?!). Luke then put it all on the table, and Alena agreed that they "Absolutely!" should spend the rest of their lives together. They then returned to where they had had their first date – Longman & Eagle – for some champagne and very happy phone calls, after which Luke whisked her away for yet another surprise – a stay in the corner suite of the recently restored Robey Hotel in Wicker Park that overlooked the city skyline. They spent the rest of the evening surrounded by friends at a reunion-turned-engagement party full of cheers and revelry. Luke, as they say, absolutely crushed it.

Having an intimate wedding where we'll get to spend lots of time with our people (that's you) was very important to us. We decided to marry on neutral ground so that all of our family & friends would feel equally prioritized, which meant that Colorado & California were out. After extensively researching outdoor wedding options near Boston (our home at the time), Chicago (where we met), not knowing where our future home would be (it's Seattle, BTW!), we then canvased the entire US and were left feeling discouraged. Since basically all of our guests will be flying no matter where we had it, we knew it had to be somewhere awesome, and upon considering destination wedding locations and venues, Chateau de Varennes was the answer we were looking for...

Named by CNN among the top ten best wedding venues in the world, Chateau de Varennes has belonged to the Truchis de Varennes family for 400 years. It is managed by Aymeric and his wife Sonia (who was born in Korea but adopted by a French family at a young age), who welcomed their son Maxence in 2011 and more recently a daughter, marking the 15th generation of the Truchis de Varennes family. After a recent renovation of the property, they very happily opened their doors to other families like ours to create fantastic memories and become part of the chateau's rich history. Once we investigated flight prices (they're less than you'd think), we were sold. We would be honored to have you join us to see for yourself why.

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