Nik & taylor
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How we met
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Nik & taylor • How we met •
WHY IS this party AT A SHUFFLEBOARd CLUB?
Taylor: Royal Palms is a really special place to us both. I've been the Event Director here for five years now. When I first joined, we had just opened the Chicago location, and I had no clue how to play shuffleboard. I still kinda suck at it.
Nik: At the end of 2020 I was putting the finishing touches on my first food truck, Cento Percento. I knew about Royal Palms from some catering gigs at a previous job. It felt like the perfect move to reach out and partner up with them as my business was taking off.
Taylor: In early 2021, Royal Palms started to work with a new food truck partner called Cento Percento. I would confidently incorrectly pronounce the name Sento Persento for about seven months (for the record, it’s pronounced Chento Perchento). All our communications were strictly emails and calls.
Nik: When Taylor and I first started working together there was an effortless communication style. We joked, we laughed and we locked in countless bookings together. From those quick emails, we moved on to texting and then calls. We just clicked and our professional relationship was seamless.
Taylor: Nik always picked up my calls and I always picked up his calls. We had a comfortable banter that created an intimate but professional friendship.
In the fall of 2022, my friend Sarah Lou was sitting next to me when I picked up a call from Nik. Nik and I giggled as we chatted about a demanding client and discussed logistics for an upcoming catering order. When I hung up the phone, Sarah Lou abruptly turned to me and said, “Who was that? He has the hottest voice and you guys were flirting so much!”
I denied it.
Nik: We always got along so well and every call (with good or bad news) was so natural. Even when she told me I had to refund a client thousands of dollars… we still had a nice chat.
Taylor: He was my favorite long distance coworker.
THE FIRST TIME WE MET & OUR FIRST DATE
Nik: On March 7, 2023, I had a pop-up event at Royal Palms in Chicago. Taylor showed up in this velour tracksuit, all blinged out with her shuffleboard team's name on it. I offered her a panini, loaded with mozzarella, not knowing she's lactose intolerant. She replied, “I’m going to sh*t my pants because of this panini.”
Taylor: On March 8, 2023, I spent a lot of time in the bathroom.
Nik: On March 9, 2023, I asked her out for drinks and dinner. She said yes.
Taylor: I was pretty excited.
Nik: On March 12, 2023 it was Royal Palms league playoffs day. I was the DJ for the day and really celebrated the excitement surrounding playoffs. I celebrated by drinking vodka sodas from 12:00PM to 7:00PM with an occasional shot to cleanse my palette.
Taylor: On March 12, 2023 at 7:15PM I hopped in my Uber to pick up Nik from Royal Palms. The first thing I said was “you reek of vodka.” I hesitantly went with him to a dinner, where I realized that he was pretty tipsy.
Nik: On March 12, 2023 at 7:30PM, about 15 minutes into our date, I realized I had drank way too much. I really liked her and I was pretty nervous, so I did my best to act normal.
Taylor: On March 12, 2023 at 7:40PM, it became pretty obvious that he was really drunk and for some reason, he ordered more to drink. He told me about his family, his life in NY and then asked me to go to Italy with him… seven times. I replied and said “I don’t really think we know each other like that…”
Nik: I kept asking Taylor to go to Italy with me.
Chicago to brooklyn and back again
Taylor: On March 16, 2023 I received flowers and an apology call. Nik took responsibility for showing up tipsy, respectfully asked for forgiveness, and sheepishly recalled asking me to go with him to Italy seven times.
Nik: I called Taylor and apologized. I mentioned I would be back in town in a month and would love to make it up to her. I really liked her and I didn’t want to ruin it.
Taylor: For the next four weeks, we talked on the phone every single day. At first I was just excited to see Blink182 in concert (which would be our “second date”), but that quickly turned into pure excitement just to talk to him. We talked about everything - from what I was eating for dinner, to my family, to the mundane details of the products I was browsing at Homegoods.
Nik: We racked up 78 hours of phone calls in a month. We didn’t go one day without talking. She even mailed me Malört for my birthday.
When I arrived in Chicago, it felt like we had been dating for years. We were in sync immediately, we liked the same things, we had the same humor, we both loved being couch potatoes… by the time I left to go back to Brooklyn, she was my girlfriend.
Taylor: Back and forth we went for months. Nik was able to stay in Chicago for weeks at a time, and we would try to go no longer than a couple weeks without seeing each other. I met his amazing friends and family, we ate at the best restaurants and I embraced all things Italian.
Nik: By December, Lucio and Fredo (my cat-sons), were relocated to Chicago and met their new sister Spencer (Taylor’s dog-daughter)… and with the help of some feline Xanax, we were one big midwest family.
OUR FIRST TRIP TO ITALY
Taylor: By the spring of 2024, our little fur children were embracing step-siblinghood and both Nik and his food truck were settled in Chicago.
We started to plan a trip to Florence, Rome and Venice for Nik’s birthday! I was so excited because I hadn’t been since I was a kid.
Nik: I finally got her to go to Italy with me! Little did she know, my parents, her parents and our close friends would be meeting us there.
Taylor: On April 20, 2024 Nik proposed on the rooftop of the Loggia Hotel in Florence. I said yes! Shortly after, I walked into a restaurant to be greeted by our parents (I cried again). He followed it up with a week of wine, panini, gelato and pasta with our closest friends and our parents.
Nik: On our first date I drunkenly asked her to go to Italy with me. A year later, I took her to Italy and asked her to marry me. Sometimes it all works out.
We’ll be saying “I do” during a private ceremony with our immediate family.
