The tale of Will Vacca and Chelsea Tolbert began on April 12, 2015 with a simple congratulatory facebook message to the VCU Dental School Class of 2019. The post and subsequent comment officially below began our 7 year (and counting) story together: Will Vacca: "Congrats to everyone on getting in! I'm looking for roommates to live in The Fan next year, so shoot me a message if you're interested! Looking forward to meeting all of you!" Chelsea: "Congrats Will! It'll be nice to have another Hokie around." Fast-forward a couple short months to the first day of Dental School orientation. When they finally met face-to-face, there was obviously instant chemistry. Our first official date was on August 21, 2015 at Boyer's Ice Cream and Coffee in Richmond, VA. Chelsea kicked off the date by spilling an entire cup of water on the table, and from then, we were inseparable. The next few first dates included a VCU Cornhole Tournament (we finished in the top 4), dinner at Carytown Burgers and Fries where we saw a rodent the size of a small cat, and the 2015 VCU Dental Ball (which served as our “big reveal” to the rest of the class). The months and years that followed included late night study sessions in the library, stressful weekends before Monday lab practicals (well…stressful for Will, not so much for Chelsea), intramural football and basketball games, date nights to our favorite Richmond restaurants like Edo’s Squid, Dinamo, Mary Angela’s, Greek on Cary, Jack Brown’s, and Little Mexico, weekend trips to the Outer Banks, and laid back days/night with just the two of us. After we graduated, we took our respective residency positions in Newark, New Jersey and York, Pennsylvania. It was hard spending basically every day together for 4 years to now being 4 hours away from each other and only seeing each other, at most, once a month or on Facetime. When Chelsea came to visit, we’d hit all the bagel and pizza spots in Hoboken, take the train into New York City, go to Yankee games in the Bronx, walk around Little Italy, and experience life in a big city. In York, we would go to many local breweries, eat at the local restaurants, spend summer days by the pool, and take trail walks together when the weather was nice. Both experiences, although extremely different, really strengthened us as a couple and in a way, brought us closer together. After the year was over, we made the decision to make Richmond our home, again! Fast forward 2 years to December 17, 2021 (it’s not very often you get a warm day in Richmond in the month of December) but we did and we decided to take a walk around The Fan, an awesome local neighborhood in Richmond, and around the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts courtyard. About 5 miles from where we first met and our relationship began, we were no longer boyfriend and girlfriend because SHE SAID YES! We decided there that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Who would have thought that one seemingly insignificant Facebook comment would turn into love and a lifetime together. We ABSOLUTELY wouldn’t be where we are right now without the love and support of our friends and family. We really are so appreciative of all the sacrifices people have made for us and from the bottom of our hearts, we want to say thank you. We are so excited to have our closest friends and family out to celebrate our marriage at Dover Hall! It holds a very special place in our hearts since our very memorable Senior Dental School Gala was held here, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience the beauty of it on June 18! Most people would say planning a wedding in 5 months is crazy, but we have learned while wedding planning that we truly make a great team. We love everyone so much and can’t wait to see you all soon <3 -Will and Chelsea