WRIGLEYVILLE — People getting married this weekend are experiencing a once-in-a-lifetime event: a Cubs World Series run.
For Chicago couples, that's a bit of a problem: The only World Series games at Wrigley Field fall on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when most couples get hitched. And in a city that's waited more than 70 years for the Cubs to appear in the World Series, it might be hard to ask Cubs fans to focus on you.
Here's how three Chicago couples — and their Cubs fans guests — are making it work:
Lauren Kloock and Matt Witter will marry Saturday during Game 4. [Courtesy Matt Witter]
Matt Witter and Lauren Kloock
Matt Witter and Lauren Kloock, of the South Loop, were rooting against a Cubs win Wednesday night — but they had a good reason.
The couple, who do like the Cubs, planned to have a Halloween costume party at a Chicago bar after their reception on Saturday. The bash was a big part of the wedding weekend because Halloween is their favorite holiday, but the bar they'd rented space in told the couple it'll have to cancel their party if the Cubs won on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Tuesday? Phew — the Cubs got shut out.
But Wednesday's victory was bittersweet for the couple, who will now be scrambling to find a Plan B.
Thanks a lot, Joe Maddon.
The two say they hadn't even thought about the Cubs interfering with their wedding plans when they set a date, Witter and Kloock said: They'd only worried about the White Sox making it this far because they're getting married at the Bridgeport Arts Center near the Sox's stadium.
The other whammythey now face: Their wedding party includes diehard Cubs fans and huge Indians fans, including a bridesmaid who joked that the wedding could be celebrated any time — but the Indians don't make it to the World Series that often.
Those fans will have to miss Game 4 for the wedding and reception on Saturday, but Kloock and Witter said they won't mind if guests check their phones to keep up with the scores. They draw the line there, Witter said, and hope people won't be streaming the game.
"At least until the dancing starts," Kloock said.
A.J. Etsch and Jaime Grebitus will wear "Go Cubs Go" wristbands during their wedding and plan to stream the game. [Courtesy A.J. Etsch]
A.J. Etsch and Jaime Grebitus
A.J. Etsch might have grown up on the South Side, but as his wedding reception Saturday he'll proudly don a Cubs "W" lapel pin and will watch Game Four with his guests.
Etsch and his fiancee, Jaime Grebitus, of Bucktown, had hoped the Cubs would sweep the series and win the championship on their wedding day (it would have been the "icing on the wedding cake," he said), but they'll settle for just seeing the team win after they get married at Cafe Brauer at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Being able to watch the game will make the wedding even better, he said.
"It's just one of those situations where we don't see [the Cubs playing] as a detriment to the wedding," Etsch said. "We saw it as a nice complement."
The couple is bringing in 65-inch TV screens so they and their guests can stream the game, and they've made wristbands that say "go Cubs go" on one side and the couple's names and wedding dates on the other.
The wristbands — which come in Cubby blue — will be handed out to guests, and Etsch will wear a "W" lapel win and a "W" flag will hang at the reception to complete the night.
Another bonus: Some of their guests are Cubs ticketholders, but they plan to skip Game Four and come to the wedding ... though they'll be missing the rehearsal dinner for Game Three on Friday.
"This is such a big moment in the history of not only the ball club but the city in general, and it's such a great opportunity to celebrate with 2 million other people," Etsch said.
Brian Horwitz and Deena Robeson will marry on Sunday during a World Series game. [Courtesy Mitch Horwitz]
Brian Horwitz and Deena Robeson
Brian Horwitz, of Lakeview, and fiancee Deena Robeson weren't worried about the Cubs when they set their wedding date.
It wasn't until two weeks ago that the schedule conflict dawned on Horwitz as a cousin told the family he'd gotten tickets for a World Series game if the Cubs made it.
"We definitely didn't even think about it at all," Horwitz said. "The Cubs haven't been to the World Series in 70-something years, so it's definitely not something that had popped in our heads."
The good news: The cousin can make it to the wedding — his tickets are for Game 3 on Friday. The bad news: The wedding rehearsal takes place on Saturday, and Horwitz and Robeson will be celebrating their wedding day during Game 5 on Sunday.
A self-described "diehard Chicago Cubs fan since Oct. 1, 2016," Horwitz suggested to his fiancee they use a projector to show the game during the reception, but that idea got shot down.
Instead, Horwitz and Robeson will turn a blind eye when they see their guests checking the game's score on their phones, he said. He expects friends will be giving him updates every now and then, since he won't be on his phone much while he's doing the whole getting married thing.
And after the Friday rehearsal dinner — which a groomsman's girlfriend will miss because she scored tickets to the game — Horwitz said he and his friends will go up to Wrigley to celebrate.
After all, that's how he managed to make do when he and Robeson had to go to another wedding that fell on the same day as the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup.
Pedro Macedo and Alison Cates will marry on Sunday, otherwise known as Game 5 of the World Series. [Courtesy Alison Cates]
Alison Cates and Pedro Macedo
Alison Cates, of Logan Square, said she and her fiance, Pedro Macedo, aren't huge Cubs fans — but some of their wedding guests are.
Cates and Macedo, who will celebrate their wedding Sunday at Concord Fifty Five, hadn't even considered the Cubs interfering with their big day when planning their wedding. A pastry chef at newly opened restaurant Honey's, Cates just wanted to make sure she could get married on a day she didn't have to work.
But the wedding and reception won't be very formal, and Cates said she won't mind if people are keeping up with the Cubs game, though there are no TVs at her venue.
"We've having a super casual wedding, anyway, so I don't think I'd even notice," Cates said. "I'm sure if they do [win] it'll be shots for everybody."
Cates said guests checking the game's score on their phones won't be an issue as long as it doesn't interrupt the celebration. Anything more disruptive — like people listening to the game on a radio or streaming it — could be a problem, though.
But if the bride and groom get annoyed "depends on how far into drinking we are for the reception," Cates joked.
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