When Jason Randall’s friend gave him a signed photograph of Blackhawks star Marion Hossa, the gift came with instructions: get it framed at Colbert Custom Framing and ask for Stephanie.
“He gave this picture to me and he said, ‘alright so I’ve got somebody that I want you to meet and I think you’d really hit it off,’ and 45 minutes later we’re on our way out to coffee,” said Jason.
“And it was a thing where I thought, ‘Oh, wow I could spend some time getting to know this person,’ said Stephanie.
Coffee went well and led to dinner. But then the new couple wanted to find an activity for their next date.
A Picture of Love
“So we wanted to get somewhere else that we could go and have something to do in the process of our date and Pinot’s was just a great option for us,” said Jason. “We got a chance to do some painting and we’ve got something to focus on while we’re still talking back and forth.”
At Pinot’s Palette in Naperville they each painted Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’ and that’s when they began to picture their future.
Just over a year later, Stephanie and Jason were on a trip to England, when Jason popped the question.
“I wasn’t expecting to get engaged on the trip,” said Stephanie. “We were there for other reasons but we were walking around the gardens in front of Kensington Palace and I turned around from taking a picture and he put his hands on my shoulders and sits me down and my heart went, ‘Whoa something significant is happening!’”
Money Well Spent
The couple were married on June 10, 2018 – all thanks to that first framed photo.
And though Stephanie did make Jason pay for his frame when they first met, he says it was money well spent.
“It was an expensive cup of coffee but it was fantastic,” he joked.
The Newest Randall
Ten months later, their love has continued to grow and a new Randall has joined them in the house.
Lydia was born in April and she’s starting to develop her own interests.
“We’ll sit down at the piano and she’ll just bang away – we have a great time. She loves to sit with me and to play.”
She’s also got an eye for jewelry, and is constantly grabbing her mom’s necklaces.
The new parents have understandably been busy with baby Lydia and haven’t been able to return to Pinot’s Palette since she was born.
“We have not had a chance to do that, so family, if any of you want to take us up and watch her for an evening…” joked Stephanie.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
Part of this story originally appeared on NCTV17 under the title Picture of Love.
