Residents spot celebs, McCarthy and Wahlberg family members near Hotel Baker

ST. CHARLES – The area of downtown St. Charles near Hotel Baker was filled with onlookers for most of the weekend as word spread of a celebrity wedding with some celebrity guests.

Many news outlets reported that entertainers Jenny McCarthy and Donnie Wahlberg would be married over the Labor Day weekend in New York. But then the couple was photographed walking into the Hotel Baker in St. Charles on Friday.

The weekend continued with more candid photos and sightings of celebrities, including Wahlberg’s mother, Alma, on Saturday on the First Street Plaza and Sherri Shepherd, McCarthy’s former co-host on “The View,” on Sunday, said Sharon Wells of South Elgin.

Wells said Shepherd was dropped off about 2:30 p.m. Sunday outside of Hotel Baker.

The Kane County Chronicle could not independently verify the account of Wells and other sources, but their sightings were corroborated by other onlookers who also took photos of the same people.

Shepherd had indicated on her official Instagram account that she was catching an early flight to attend McCarthy’s wedding. She later tweeted from the wedding on her Twitter account.

Wells first got word of a local McCarthy-Wahlberg wedding on Thursday from two of her co-workers at St. Charles-based SmartSource. Her co-workers attended a sales meeting at a hotel on St. Charles’ east side and heard from some hotel staff members that their building would serve overflow guests for the celebrities’ wedding.

Wells said she even saw the bride herself on Saturday night from outside of one of the Rox City Grill windows.

“You could see Jenny [McCarthy] through the window,” Wells said. “The security kicked us out ... we were right up against the glass.”

There was a noticeable security presence outside of Hotel Baker all weekend, which continued to intensify on Sunday, when the sidewalk on the north side of Main Street was closed off from the east end of the Main Street bridge outside of the St. Charles Municipal Center to right before the northeast corner of Main and Second streets.

Two St. Charles police officers flanked the east and west sides of the hotel, and St. Charles police squad cars continually moved up and down Main Street in front of the hotel. A black unmarked squad car was parked near the west end of the bridge most of Sunday afternoon.

Cathy Skinner of Elgin said she and other onlookers were on the north sidewalk before it was closed off about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, about 10 minutes before Shepherd’s reported arrival. Jordan Knight, one of Wahlberg’s New Kids on the Block bandmates, was outside of the hotel about 2 p.m., Skinner said.

Skinner heard about the wedding from her friends, who had been outside of the hotel on Saturday. Then, she read about it in the Sunday papers.

Skinner was near the hotel for about five hours Sunday, ready to take pictures of any possible celebrities with her iPhone. She was joined on the south side of Main Street by several other people and cameramen from two different Chicago TV stations.

The activity also was great for surrounding businesses in downtown St. Charles. The outside dining area of Zaza’s Italian Steakhouse, located across Main Street from Hotel Baker, was noticeably full nearly all weekend.

Keaton O’Connor, a server at McNally’s Traditional Irish Pub across from the hotel, couldn’t figure out whether the increased business was from the holiday or the wedding. He said guests from the wedding, some with recognizable and often-photographed faces, patronized the pub all weekend. He declined to give names but said they obliged when other patrons asked to take photos with them.

People like Wells sat inside of McNally’s next to the windows Sunday afternoon in the hopes of seeing someone famous across the street at the hotel.

“It’s fun,” Wells said. “What else are you going to do on a holiday weekend?”