A celebration of love in an unexpected Wilmette venue

A memory care community might not be the first location that comes to mind when you picture a wedding venue. But for Eric and Ann Huy (nee McCormick), it ended up being the perfect place to say “I do.”

The couple celebrated their wedding on Aug. 17 in the courtyard of Artis Senior Living of Wilmette, surrounded by community residents, family, friends and coworkers. For Eric Huy, the setting was especially meaningful: He works at Artis as a certified nursing assistant and dedicated care partner.

Eric and Ann Huy met in school, where Ann also became a CNA. She now works in skilled care, just a stone’s throw away from her husband, at Glenview Terrace. 

To Be or Not to Be, at Artis?

As the two navigated the early stages of wedding planning, Eric Huy often shared his stress about finding the right venue and navigating the process with his coworkers, including Josh Chavez, Artis’ director of sales and marketing.

So with all eight department directors on board, the Artis of Wilmette team offered up their community as the wedding venue.

“[Ann and Eric] have been friends forever and actually stood up at each other’s previous weddings and then developed a long distance relationship and then kept it going until they were able to be together in person,” Chavez said of the couple’s story. “It was beautiful. … Because their love story had so much to do with residents and their careers and things like that, we pitched this idea to him.”

Originally, Eric and Ann Huy thought the offer was a joke. 

“No way!” Ann Huy told The Record of her initial reaction to the prospect of getting married at a memory care community.

Eric Huy added with a laugh, “She said, ‘No way! Absolutely not!’ When Tracey [Reich, Artis’ executive director] first asked me, I said, ‘Ha ha ha, very funny Tracey. You gotta be kidding me. Ann will kill me.’”

But, soon, the prospect of a wedding at a memory care community became a viable, and even intriguing, option. 

Originally, the couple had considered a courthouse wedding with just 10 people in attendance. At Artis, however, they could — and ultimately did — celebrate with 34 family members and friends, along with at least half of Artis’ 64 residents.

The accessibility of the space, the Huys told The Record, was another meaningful draw for the couple, as some of their family members and friends have disabilities.

“The nice thing about it is that we weren’t joking, and [Eric and Ann] realized that,” Chavez said. “And then we had Ann come in with her family and toured the community and showed them our outdoor space. We have a 5,000-square-foot courtyard that is on the second floor of our community, and we pitched the vision to them and told them all about it, and Eric was like, ‘I would love to get residents involved if we do end up doing this.’”

And indeed, around March of 2026, five months before the big day, staff and residents alike rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Like a puzzle, all the pieces began to fit together.

The Wedding 

Each of the eight department heads took planning ownership over part of the ceremony, following the Huys’ preferences, down to their desired color scheme. 

A number of residents made decorations for the wedding and handed out pamphlets on the day. 

“It’s really nice because it brings them back to when they planned a wedding and when they got married,” Eric Huy said of the residents’ involvement. 

One resident, Filomena, with whom Eric Huy shares a particularly special connection, served as the flower girl. In the time the two have spent together, she has even “taught” him Italian. 

“She’s taught me Italian, but in a joke, I said, ‘I now know how to speak fluent Italian. I don’t know what I’m saying, but she understands it, she smiles, we’re all happy.” Eric Huy shared.

As Chavez put it, the residents’ involvement showcases the close-knit, family-like dynamics at Artis.

“Our residents are our family, and we get very involved within our families’ lives,” Chavez said. “When our lives become intertwined like this, it’s a beautiful thing because it shows that Artis isn’t only there to help care for people who need it, obviously, but we’re also developing other connections with them, where these people become an extension of our family.”

Chavez officiated the wedding, having already gotten ordained for his brother’s wedding in early 2026.

“The word that comes to mind is proud,” Chavez said of his involvement in the wedding and Artis’ dedication to bringing the day to fruition. “It makes me proud to work for a company that not only recognizes and does very well with their residents but also with their employees. … It’s out of the box. It’s rare. I’ve been in senior living for almost 10 years, and I can honestly say I’ve never seen a wedding happen at a community before.

“Another word that comes to mind is love. You could really, really feel that. Love amongst everybody, amongst each other, amongst the residents, amongst family members.”

While there currently aren’t any other weddings on the books at Artis, Chavez said he would absolutely say yes if another community wedding opportunity were to arise. 

As for Eric and Ann Huy, their surprise venue ended up being the perfect fit. 

“You get to know these people every day of the week, eight hours a day,” Eric Huy said of his relationship with the residents and his coworkers. “You get to know their families and them and, as Josh said, having it at Artis, you get to celebrate with the people that you work with and care about.”

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