John was born on November 16, 1982 to James and Doreen Bernard. He has two older sisters, Jennifer and Lisa. Jennifer was recently married to Todd and they are expecting their first child in mid October (yeah!). Lisa has been married to Jeff for several years and they have two of the most AMAZING little girls, Emma and Kendall. John grew up in Tinley Park, Illinois where he currently lives today with his parents. He grew up showing his love for sports by playing football, baseball, and basketball. After graduating from high school in 2001, he went on to attend Knox College (where he'd later meet his future wife...me!). He spent several years playing baseball and football and in June 2006, he graduated from Knox, with a degree in Economics. That fall he began a job as a Credit Manager for Wells Fargo Financial in Lansing, Illinois, where worked for a couple years. Recently he took a new job at Citi Financial in Orland Park, where he is currently an assistant manager.

John and I originally met in the Spring of 2003 at a party at his fraternity (Beta Theta Pi). Although I had been over there many times before, this was the first time our paths crossed. We spent most of our time talking about Dave Matthews Band and John's love of the White Sox (which is something we disagree on since I'm a Cubs fan). We re-met that Fall at another party and basically had what seems like the same conversation (Dave Matthews Band and White Sox). After that we began to hang out together more often. We spent several months getting to know each other before we had our first official date to his fraternity's formal on May 15, 2004. This was the day we finally began dating. Two years later, at that same formal, John gave me his fraternity pin; a symbol of his promise to some day marry me. About 18 months later he popped the big question and here we are! :)

John and I had decided to go up to Lake Geneva for the night to spend some time together and get me away from the stress of school. So, I reserved a room at the Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin. When we arrived at the resort, John went and checked us in (clue #1). We went to our room and I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were "accidentally" placed in a lake view suite (clue #2)!

That evening we had planned on going into town to have dinner at a fancy restaurant in another resort. However, John forgot his dress clothes so we just decided to go to a nice dinner at our resort's restaurant. I thought no big deal...John however was very upset he forgot his clothes (clue #3). After a good meal, we decided to try and take a walk along the lake under the full moon. However, it was freezing outside so we quickly moved our walk inside. After walking around the resort for a while talking, we returned to our room.

When John opened the door to our suite, I noticed the room illuminated by the fire place and a trail of rose petals. The rose petals led to our room where there was a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting. Despite all the clues I had completely missed, I was convinced that this was just something romantic that John decided to do for me; so, I thanked him and gave him a hug and kiss...crying of course. He then told me that he had one more thing for me; I immediately started crying (again) as he got down on his knee and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes with no hesitation! We spent the remainder of the night calling family and friends, drinking champagne, and celebrating together! It was a perfect night...just like I've always dreamed of!