Endless Love
By BETSY DEMITROPOULOS
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| Gary and Vicki Summers have enjoyed many romantic dinners and dates throughout their 37-year marriage. (Photo provided) |
You know the clichés: long-stemmed red roses, soft lighting, strolling violinists.
These common elements of a romantic date all sound, well, romantic, but many would agree that shared love and the enjoyment of simply being with a special someone provides the most important characteristic of a date.
Perhaps your idea of a romantic date involves wandering through a flower garden or park hand-in-hand.
Or maybe it entails soaring through the air in a hot air balloon, sipping champagne and holding your date close as the sun sets in the distance.
Two McHenry County couples share the most romantic dates they’ve experienced, some of which are a far cry from a typical dinner and a movie.
John and Nichole Wilhelm
John and Nichole Wilhelm met in college, and their first date was at a pizza place. Then they rented a movie.
“Our dates have gotten a lot better since then,” says Nichole Wilhelm, 29. “And more romantic, too.”
In the 10 years the Lake in the Hills couple has been together, including six years as a married couple, they have always enjoyed going on dates that are fun. They usually take place outdoors.
“Going sledding and then spending a quiet evening by the fire, sipping hot chocolate, is more romantic to us than a candlelit dinner,” Nichole Wilhelm says.
Last fall, the couple went apple picking at Royal Oak Farm Orchard in Harvard and then made an apple pie together at home. That’s the couple’s idea of a romantic and fun date.
“When we are together, we want to make it special and fun and make it count,” says John Wilhelm, 30.
The Wilhelms agree that their most romantic date was a few years ago, when they took a dinner cruise on Lake Michigan, departing from Navy Pier. Nichole Wilhelm says she enjoyed the cruise because she and her husband got to dress up, and it gave them an opportunity to relax and enjoy a nice, romantic dinner together while taking in the sights of the Chicago skyline after dark.
The dinner cruise was an elegant escape on the water for the couple. And the fact that they were surrounded by other couples made for a very romantic evening. The Wilhelm’s Chicago date weekend was capped off by a night in a fancy, downtown hotel.
Now that the couple has a son, James, who’s almost 2, it makes them appreciate spending quality time together that much more.
“Our dinner cruise date night is even more special to us because now that we have our son, we don’t get to go on dates like that very often,” Nichole Wilhelm says.
Gary and Vicki Summers
Gary Summers first met his wife, Vicki, when they both worked part time at the Marshall Field’s store in Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg.
Summers was too shy to ask her out on a date, so he asked a security guard for help. But Vicki Summers wouldn’t accept a date unless Summers asked her out himself.
After countless dates and 37 years of marriage, it’s clear that Summers, 64, finally worked up the courage to ask Vicki Summers, 58, on a date.
And the couple still goes on dates all of the time. Almost every Friday night features a standard dinner and a movie. When their three children were younger, the Summers went out every other Saturday night. Sometimes it was just for a quick bite to eat, but they always made it a priority to go on dates and keep the romance alive.
Throughout their marriage, the Summers have enjoyed many romantic dinners and nights out in Chicago. Most of their dates involved dinner and then some form of entertainment, like seeing “The Lion King” on Broadway or a performance by the Joffrey Ballet.
Other dates included a special weekend trip to Las Vegas to see Celine Dion in concert and a trip to the Virgin Islands to watch fireworks over St. John’s Bay in a sailboat while sipping champagne.
The Summers are always doing something special to celebrate their relationship. They love to try new and interesting things together. Recently, the couple went to Linn Ranch in Caledonia, Ill., for its New Year’s Eve Bull Ride.
But of all the trips and nights out, the Summers consider the date during which they saw the “Phantom of the Opera” in Chicago in the mid-1980s their most romantic date ever
“It was our first real ‘big’ date after getting married,” says Vicki Summers, who owns the Summers Academy of Dance in Crystal Lake.
The couple had great seats at the show and made a weekend of it, spending the evening at the legendary Palmer House Hotel.
