WWhen Addison couple Richard Arsenault Jr, 48, and his wife Kristine, 47, wed July 9 on Ravinia's lawn before the Duran Duran show, the affair was casual. The only formal thing about it was the couple's attire.

The unexpected frills came after the ceremony when a representative of the band — bearing one of the couple's wedding invites — surprised the newlyweds with a bottle of champagne and a personalized wedding card.

Arsenault initially thought someone from Ravinia had told the band, but no one sent them an invitation. After sharing the photos with guests who couldn't make it, Arsenault's cousin — Christopher Dixon — revealed that he reached out to a friend that had a connection to the band, Arsenault said.

"When I told my cousin that he said 'Yeah, I took the liberty of forwarding all the (information) ... I didn't want to tell you ahead of time in case for some reason it didn't happen. But I'm glad it all worked out,'" Arsenault said.

Dixon said he thought the band was just going to give the couple a shoutout, but from what he knows, the gifts were the band and manager's idea.

"I just thought it'd be really cool," Dixon said explaining why he reached out.

It was a nice gesture to the couple whose partnership was influenced by music.

When he met Kristine in 1992, Arsenault said he was stationed at Naval Air Station Glenview when he walked in a Northbrook music shop where she worked.

"We caught each other's eye," he said. "It sounds like a bad movie cliche, but that's exactly what happened. I completely forgot what I went in there for."

When she left to go to school in Italy, Arsenault said, they lost touch. The couple eventually reconnected through Facebook about eight years ago after he sent Kristine a message.

"She responded in the positive and our conversations just grew until we met up face-to-face which was a bit nervous. We pulled it off," Arsenault said.

They weren't sure what kind of ceremony they wanted, but they didn't want something traditional. The couple went to shows at Ravinia all the time, and they were planning to see Duran Duran because they were fans, he said.

One of the couple's friends had the idea to hold the ceremony on the lawn. Ravinia representatives gave them the okay and Arsenault claimed their spot. He lined up around 11 a.m. to beat the crowds.

The ceremony was musically themed, and nearly 80 people attended, Arsenault said. The invitations were based on Duran Duran's "Rio" album cover. Kristine wrote her vows using song titles from English electronic band Depeche Mode, and Arsenault wrote his using Judas Priest. The couple had their hands bound with speaker wire, he said.

The band representative approached Arsenault and told him the band loved the invitations and what they were doing before handing over the gifts. The band congratulated the couple in a Tweet.

"I kept walking around to everyone that came … holding it up and pointing to it and I kept saying these three words over and over again: 'From the band,'" he said.

Courtesy Chicago Tribune