Sometimes love takes years to bloom, but sometimes, it happens overnight. That’s how it was for Julianne Evoy, a native of Chicago, and MICDS graduate Peter Schankman. They met as freshmen at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and by the next day knew they wanted to be exclusive.

Five years later, just after the couple had moved to St. Louis, Peter proposed and on a balmy day in July, the couple was married. The fresh palette of Julianne and Peter’s wedding popped in the cool, elegant setting of the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown St. Louis. “We wanted everything to be visual and clean with bright colors,” Julianne says.

Julianne walked down a candlelit aisle toward her husband-to-be. They stood together under a chuppah, draped with the Jewish tallit used by Peter and his grandfather. Two rabbis from Temple Israel, husband and wife Amy Feder and Michael Alper, performed the ceremony together. “We met them going to a destination wedding early in our relationship,” Peter says. “It was an intimate, beautiful ceremony. Our parents stood up there with our bridal party, and everything Amy said was personal because we have a history with the rabbis.”

The couple’s ketubah—the marriage contract signed by Jewish couples—was special, too. It was designed by artist James M. Smith, who is represented by Peter’s mother. “He’s an unbelievable local artist, and our ketubah is both functional and a piece of art,” Peter says.

The couple currently live in St. Louis. Peter is a booking agent with Contemporary Productions, and Julianne is a music teacher at Ladue Early Childhood Center.

[resources]
Gown | Le Spose di Gio from L’Atelier Couture Bridal
Honeymoon | Las Ventanas al Paraiso, Cabo San Lucas
Ceremony Music | Contemporary Productions–The Charles Glenn Group
Wedding Planner | Andi Schankman and Contemporary Productions
Caterer | Four Seasons Hotel
Baker | Four Seasons Hotel
Florist | Alex Waldbart Florist

[wedding party]
Maid of Honor | Samantha Krauss
Bridesmaid | Kimberly Denley
Best Man | Joel Carraci
Groomsmen | Brad Dunajcik, Kenan Petrash
Bride’s Parents | Thomas & Laura Evoy of Hoffman Estates, Ill.
Groom’s Parents | Steve Schankman and Andi Schankman of St. Louis
Ushers | Daniel and Jerry Evoy
Photos by I Photographie