Some love stories are written long before the couple ever realizes it. For Jessica and Ford, their story began well before their first date, or even their first meeting. A childhood photo surfaced from a church fair train ride years ago, showing Jessica and Ford side by side at the very same church where they would one day exchange vows. As if connected by an invisible string, life had been quietly weaving their paths together all along.
Though both from the same hometown, Jessica and Ford had somehow never crossed paths growing up. “It was so funny when we realized we grew up just a few streets apart,” Jessica said. “Lake Forest isn’t big, but somehow it took us until adulthood to meet.” When they finally did, it wasn’t in Lake Forest, but rather at a fundraiser in the northern suburbs of Chicago- a chance encounter that would change everything.
A few years later, Ford proposed during a weekend trip to Buffalo Trace Distillery, a nod to their shared love of whiskey and the memory of their first old-fashioned together. He arranged a private overlook tour, where he got down on one knee surrounded by sweeping views of the distillery grounds. Jessica and Ford then buried a bottle of bourbon on-site following the Southern “bury the bourbon” tradition, honoring both their engagement story and Ford’s love of whiskey.
Their wedding was a celebration of heritage, sentiment, and simple joy. Jessica carried her grandmother’s handkerchief in the pocket of her dress: a family heirloom that turned out to be unexpectedly useful when Ford grew emotional during the ceremony. “He was so nervous, and I ended up pulling my ‘something borrowed’ out of my pocket to hand to him,” she laughed.
From their first meeting to their Lake Forest ceremony, every thread of Jessica and Ford’s story seemed divinely tied together. As guests admired that childhood photo. two kids unknowingly sitting side by side in the same church they’d later marry in, it was impossible not to believe in the invisible string that had been pulling them toward each other all along.
