Sonya and Chantel met in 2013, in Detroit, MI during their first year of Americorps service with City Year Detroit. They worked at the same school and hit it off immediately. After developing a strong friendship, Chantel professed her love for Sonya but it was unrequited at the time, and Sonya let her down easy. Despite this, they continued to become the best of friends and supported each other through rough times and personal growth. They went on a trip with some friends to the 2014 Kentucky Derby, and it was there that they began to really shed their fears and embrace their romantic feelings for each other. It was this weekend that their relationship started to blossom into a lasting romance that led to 'the' kiss. The rest is history.

Our wedding was originally planned for August 2020 at the Marietta Garden Center in GA. As we all know, that year unfolded in ways none of us could have imagined, and we were forced to cancel our ceremony and reception. Instead, we chose to celebrate with a very small backyard ceremony, with our closest family and friends joining us via Zoom. To our surprise, that day turned out to be nearly perfect. What we missed most, however, was the chance for our families to meet one another and to share an evening of celebration together. We always told ourselves that we would host a reception someday—and that day has finally arrived. So much has changed since then, especially with the addition of our two beautiful children. We are beyond excited to bring our family and friends together to celebrate not only our love, but the family we’ve built.

We have always (mostly) known that starting a family was part of our journey, though the path was not always clear. After much reflection and conversation, we felt drawn to the foster-to-adopt path, specifically for children without a “return home” plan. We knew we had a great deal of love to give and felt confident in this path. In 2021, we became licensed foster parents, and just a few months later, we welcomed Marcus (6 years old at the time) and Charita (3 years old at the time) into our lives. While the beginning of our journey together was not without challenges, it became clear within just a couple of days that they were meant to stay with us as their forever family. Their adoption was officially finalized in September 2022, following our adoption court date on August 16, 2022. We cannot imagine life without them and are so grateful for the love, joy, and completeness they have brought to our family.