Take me out to the ball game, take me out with the crowd, buy me some peanuts and a wedding ring?

That may not be exactly how the song goes, but it’s just how Ross Peterson and Katie (O’Connell) Peterson’s wedding went when they exchanged vows at Athletic Park in downtown Chaska earlier this month, on July 5.

The home of the Cubs was a fitting locale for the sporty couple and it was all at the groom’s suggestion.

“She made it my responsibility to pick where we got married,” said groom and Chaska native Ross.

“I thought it was a really cool idea,” said bride Katie, who grew up in Stillwater. “We both play a lot of baseball and softball. I just didn’t know how practical it was.”

Ross, a 2001 Chaska High School grad, made a couple of calls, including one to his old baseball coach Eric Welter, and got the ball rolling on their ceremony. But their plans to have a baseball-themed wedding didn’t end with the location.

“We threw in as much baseball theme as we could,” said Ross.

Instead of the ushers asking guests whether they would like to be seated on the bride’s side or the groom’s side, they asked home (Ross) or away (Katie). Their programs also incorporated the theme – the wedding party was listed under “Roster,” the memorials under “All Stars” and the ceremony outline went “Inning by Inning.”

Ross said it worked out well having their guests in the stands during the ceremony.

“It was cool – we got to see everyone’s faces,” he said.

And the general consensus of the attendees was a rousing roar of the crowd.

“It was unanimous,” said Ross. “Most people said it was the funnest wedding they’d ever been to.”

The bride and groom couldn’t help but agree.

“I was thinking that the whole time,” said Katie. “This is just really cool, really different.”

Themes

It turns out baseball isn’t the first theme to play a significant role in Ross and Katie’s relationship. They met at a Hawaiian-themed fraternity party at North Dakota State University during their freshman year of college.

Katie said it was Ross’s ability to listen that drew her to him.

“I guess I talk a lot,” she said. “But he listened. He really listened.”

They dated for almost seven years before Ross popped the question this past Christmas.

“He wanted me to open my present before we left (for a Christmas dinner),” recalled Katie. “It ended up being a box of basketball shoes that I had bought for him, but when I opened the box it was empty.”

“I must have forgot to put this in there,” Katie remembers Ross saying as he pulled a ring box from his jacket.

“Of course I said yes,” she added.

Just back from their honeymoon, they couple is now settling into married life at their home in Chanhassen.

“It’s going good,” said Ross.

-Mollee Francisco, staff writer

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