It would be difficult to categorize the event that took place last Saturday on the 200 block of Iowa Street. In one sense, it had all the elements of a traditional wedding celebration: the bride and groom arrived in a veiled gown and tux (respectively), driving a very old-fashioned convertible, toasts were made, and relatives struggled to learn the names of their new kin.
Then again it also fit the image of a traditional Oak Park block party: neighbors helping set up decorations, blocking off the street and preparing a host of dishes.
But if you talked to Rebecca Bahlau and Adrian Butler, the bride and groom, no setting could have been more natural for their wedding reception. After all, they spent their youth together on this block and fallen in love here, so that was where they decided to celebrate their union.
The street was decorated in two distinct themes. On one side was a traditional wedding theme with Grecian columns and a gazebo. On the other side were tiki sticks, parrot balloons and beach balls representing the West Indies island of Antigua, where the bride and groom had recently formally exchanged vows.
“People were so sad they couldn’t see us get married,” Bahlau said. “I wanted to bring Antigua back to them and make them feel included.”
Off-and-on relationship
The couples’ relationship started at an early age. Butler moved with his family to Oak Park from Champaign when he was 9 years old. “I immediately saw her in school,” he said of the first time he noticed Bahlau. “A friend of mine had a crush on her too. He was like, ‘Let’s race. Whoever wins the race gets to go out with her.’ And before she knew it, she was dating me.”
The childhood romance was short-lived, (“I broke up with him over [the popular children’s TV show] ‘Duck Tales’,” Bahlau recalled), and she still chides him for the time his friends attempted to chase her down on his behalf, and she skinned her knee escaping from them.
After elementary school, they went their separate ways. Butler went off to school for two years in Puerto Rico and then came back to study at Northwestern University. When he came home, he discovered that one of his best friends, Gabe Jarquin, was dating one of Bahlau’s best friends. That couple, who are now also married, set their friends up.
Ten tumultuous years later, they decided they had eyes only for each other. “We had two times where we both went our own ways,” Bahlau said of the 10-year courtship. “[Seeing other people] was partly what strengthened [our relationship]. We realized that what we had in each other was true happiness.”
“It’s been rocky, but we definitely know what type of person we married,” Butler said. “She’s my best friend, and I’m her best friend.”
The couple chose to travel to the West Indies for their wedding ceremony. “She always wants to do things differently,” Butler said. “She said to me, ‘Let’s do the wedding and honeymoon all in one.'”
Bahlau recalled that Butler was so nervous before the wedding ceremony, he accidentally used a razor instead of a trimmer to cut his hair.
“He had four lines on his forehead,” she said. “It was very cute.”
Homecoming
However, only his parents and her mother attended the ceremony, and so the neighbors got together with Bahlau and her family and decided to bring the celebration home-literally.
“It’s a neighborhood effort,” said John Miller, Bahlau’s brother-in-law. “All the neighbors have played a part. Each of [them] has contributed something, whether it’s tables and chairs, or supplies.”
“We have very cool neighbors,” agreed Betsy Bahlau, Rebecca’s mother, who hurried about, both directing the celebration and greeting the guests. At one point, Butler’s dad came over to her bearing a glass bowl and said, only half joking, “I was told to give this to the boss.”
Other relatives were not so burdened. Butler’s brother and sisters were quick to disclose embarrassing childhood stories about him. Ashley Butler retold his and his brother’s fraternal exploits-from blowing up their dad’s car at a Blockbuster parking lot to trying to scare off attack dogs with a dog whistle that did not work.
But when it came to Adrian Butler and Bahlau’s relationship, he was at a loss.
“There’s no embarrassing stories about them,” he said. “They’re just crazy about each other.”
Family members and neighbors were not the only attendees. People came from across the community, reflecting the over 80 years that Bahlau’s family has lived in the area.
“See that person over there with a white bag?” Betsy Bahlau said. “I met her when I was 18 months old. She babysat for me, and we’ve babysat for each other’s kids.”
“It was over so quickly,” Rebecca Bahlau said following the celebration. “I wish it could have gone on all night. It seemed that everybody from the 2-year-olds to grandparents in their 80s and 90s were having a good time.”
Looking to their future, the couple plans on staying in Oak Park for the next two years, and then moving to a more tropical environment. “Antigua was just the icing on the cake for her,” Butler said. “But we’re going to enjoy these harsh winters for a few more years.”
