‘Now he’s all mine’
Couple gets married ahead of Valentine’s Day
Lubica Trenoski, of Crown Point, said she knew she loved Ivan Petreski, of Macedonia, when, after a cancer diagnosis, he was there for her.
About three years ago, Trenoski came back from Macedonia, from a trip to visit Petreski, and she had a big lump around her throat — to the point that she couldn’t breathe.
After some tests, Trenoski, who is Macedonian, was diagnosed with lymphoma, she said. When she told Petreski, he was there to support her and talk with her. Given the nearly 5,200-mile distance between them, they communicated via text and “got close,” Trenoski said.
“He stood by my side. He didn’t leave,” Trenoski said.
Wearing a floor-length royal blue gown and curly dark hair, Trenoski, 24, and Petreski, 26, wearing a white collar shirt and beige pants, came to the Lake County Clerk’s Marriage Office to get married ahead of Valentine’s Day. They wanted to get married on Valentine’s Day, Petreski said, but Friday would have to do.
“We don’t have a choice,” Petreski said.
They connected in 2016 on Facebook, and after getting to know each other online they decided to meet for coffee
when Trenoski was in Macedonia. She visited again in 2017, and when she came back from that trip — in early 2018 — she was diagnosed with cancer.
After her treatment, Trenoski said she went back to Macedonia from May to October 2019 to visit Petreski. They had talked about being together forever and getting married, but their engagement was a surprise, she said.
On July 7, 2019, Petreski’s birthday and name day (a Christian celebration of a person’s name on a specific day of the year) he invited her and his friends to go sailing at the lake at his hometown in Ohrid, Macedonia, she said.
During the sailing trip they stopped at a big rocky edge along the water and Petreski got down on one knee and popped the question.
“I had no idea it was happening,” Trenoski said.
The couple said they were thrilled to get married and can’t wait to have their own home and start a family. Petreski said he wants a house filled with kids, or, “each room has a child,” he said with a happy laugh.
Given the pandemic, the couple didn’t plan a large wedding, just a dinner Friday night with Trenoski’s family at home. They are hoping to have a celebration next year, if possible.
After filling out paperwork in the Marriage Clerk’s Office, the couple was given a list of judges’ names and phone numbers to call to see which judge was available to marry them.
The first call was unsuccessful.
They called Judge Natalie Bokota next, and they were told to go upstairs into her chambers.
Inside the chamber, they signed their marriage license and prepared their wedding rings. When Bokota entered the chambers, she greeted the couple and had them stand in front of a large wooden table.
Bokota, standing far from the couple, said they could take off their masks and hold hands as she began the ceremony.
As Bokota read, they nodded their heads at certain parts of the ceremony, such as “two people become one.”
When it came time to put the rings on, they asked the judge which hand to put the ring on because in Europe the wedding ring is worn on the right hand.
Bokota told them it’s their left hand and they exchanged rings — making their marriage official. Bokota pronounced them man and wife.
Then, they kissed. “You’re such a beautiful couple. You’re just wonderful,” Bokota told the couple after the ceremony.
They went up to get their marriage certificate, beaming with excitement.
“Now he’s all mine,” Trenoski said.