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Constable: Corn and tomatoes raising cabbage for Maple Park couple's wedding

In her 1957 classic, "Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette," the maven of manners listed her rules for weddings. If the bride's family, gasp, had no coat of arms, they must avoid the temptation to emboss the groom's family's coat of arms on the wedding invitation. When it came to who paid for what, the answer almost always was "the bride's family."

In today's modern world, those wedding rules have changed. Nobody seems to be in a dither about coats of arms, and rules about who pays aren't as steadfast. But somebody still has to pay for the thing.

That, as readers in 1957 might have said, can take a lot of cabbage - and, in this case, sweet corn, bell peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, onions, zucchini and cucumbers.

"We're raising money to pay for our wedding," says bride-to-be Stevi Steorts, 24, as she manages the farm stand in St. Charles that she and groom-to-be Rob Pondelick, 28, hope will pay for their Oct. 10 nuptials. Every Monday and Friday, from a little before 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. or so, Steorts and Pondelick sell produce from their truck parked in the Kane County Farm Bureau parking lot on the corner of Oak Street and Randall Road, near Costco. Some wedding-planning couples take an afternoon off work so they can pick out appetizers for the wedding reception. Steorts and Pondelick get up at 5 a.m. to pick the corn that will pay for any appetizers.

"One of us drives the tractor and the other one picks," says Steorts. "It's a lot of work."

The couple's work effort impresses shopper Sara Quinn of St. Charles, who swings by to purchase some sweet corn for a genuine home-cooked meal before daughter Katie, 18, heads off to her freshman year at the University of Minnesota.

"Bless your heart. I wish you well," Quinn tells Steorts. "I commend you for paying for your own wedding. I paid for ours, too."

There are couples who raise wedding funds through social media requests for donations.

"Oh, no. We work for this," says Pondelick, who says he grew up with an appreciation for hard work. "My family has been in the vegetable-farming business going on more than a century."

Pondelick's mom, Barb Pondelick, owns Theis Farm in Maple Park these days, and his dad, Bob Pondelick, owns an excavation company. But Rob Pondelick's grandparents, Henry and Joan Theis, still work on the farm sometimes, he says.

His other grandparents, Ron and Mary Pondelick, who live a couple of roads away, will be hosting the couple's wedding next to a pond at their home.

Steorts and Pondelick, who are parents to their 4-year-old daughter, Libby, say working has been part of their relationship since Day One. Steorts grew up on a cattle farm, raising shorthorn beef, "so I was used to early mornings and the work," Steorts says.

Pondelick says he always liked working on his grandpa's farm. When the couple started dating, work was an issue.

"I don't know if they were really dates, but if I wanted to see him, I had to go to markets with him," Steorts says.

"This is true. I was working seven days a week," says Pondelick, who did chores on the farm, sold produce at farmers markets and also had a job working for a fertilizer company. "She's the girlfriend. You don't want to drive her away."

Steorts says she didn't mind, and that the work helped convince her that she'd found her match. "It's a real test of the relationship when you're up that early together and out picking corn," she says.

The couple figure they've raised about 75 percent of the $8,000 or so that they plan to spend on the wedding. Farm living is the life for them.

"I enjoyed it growing up, and I wanted to give my daughter the same," Pondelick says. "She's probably outside 10 hours a day. Kids these days, you have to make them go outside. I didn't want her to grow up that way. It puts a backbone in her."

Next summer, they'll be back at it again, with a new goal.

"Maybe next year," Pondelick says, "we can save for a honeymoon."

  Those tomatoes, onions, pepper, eggplants, cucumbers and zucchinis add up. Maple Park couple Stevi Steorts and Ron Pondelick sell corn and veggies every Monday and Friday at a stand in the parking lot of the Kane County Farm Bureau so that they can pay for their wedding next month. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  With both having farm roots, Rob Pondelick and Stevi Steorts are comfortable selling veggies and sweet corn in St. Charles as a way to raise money for their wedding. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  Waking up at 5 a.m. to pick sweet corn is a good test for a relationship, says Stevi Steorts, as she makes a sale at her farm stand in St. Charles. The Maple Park woman and her fiancé, Rob Pondelick, are selling corn and vegetables every Monday and Friday to raise money for their wedding. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  The farm life suits Stevi Steorts, Rob Pondelick and their 4-year-old daughter, Libby. So it seems natural that the Maple Park couple would sell vegetables and sweet corn from their farm stand in St. Charles to raise money for their October wedding. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
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