We met in a bar. At least, that's how we like to start the story. The real version is a little bit more complicated. It involves a guy who knew after the second date that he was going to marry the girl, and a girl who just wanted to be friends (her words). But his persistence in getting her to come around says just as much about her as it does about him. Because he knew that she was a girl worth waiting for, worth fighting for, worth working for. So let's back up to the night they met. May 10th, 2017: Ashley and Chris meet at Tashmoo Bar and Grill in Morristown, NJ. It was a St. Paul Inside the Walls fundraiser event for a mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Although neither of them attended that trip, their love for missions was one of the things that brought Chris and Ashley together. July 25th, 2017: Chris picks up Ashley at her house for their first official date, absolutely mortifying her by bringing flowers and walking up to her door. September 7th, 2017: Ashley says yes to being Chris's girlfriend (kind of without knowing it, because he asked in a song), but then confirms it with full knowledge. November 5th, 2017: After spending the evening at the wedding of Mike and Sam (Chris's brother and sister-in-law), Ashley and Chris say "I love you" for the first time. January 2018: Chris and Ashley go on their first (and currently only) joint mission trip, along with Ashley's sister Lexi and five other volunteers from Ashley's church, St. Michael's in Netcong (where the wedding ceremony will be held). The missionaries traveled to Cap-Haitien, Haiti to help the Missionaries of the Poor with their care of disabled children and adults. Fast forward through lots of dates, meeting each other's families, vacations in Lake George and the Catskills, kayaking, hiking, growing in friendship and faith, and countless St. Paul's events...

May 11, 2019: Chris proposes to Ashley, and she tearfully (and joyfully) accepts. The engagement involved kayaking, horseback riding, hiking near waterfalls, picnicking (neither of them ate much because Chris was so nervous and Ashley was beginning to suspect something), walking through the zoo, zip-lining, and strolling through an arboretum to a spot that Chris's brother Mike had set up with flower petals, lanterns, and a keyboard. Chris then played "Come to Me" by the Goo Goo Dolls, an Ashley favorite, before bending onto one knee to ask Ashley to marry him. Fast forward through more dates, a lot more time spent with family and friends, growing participation and ministry at St. Paul's, a global pandemic, a lockdown (where Chris spent all three months with the Hernandezs, growing much closer to Ashley's family), and months of wedding planning and house-hunting during the remnants of crazy 2020 and early 2021. October 9, 2021: Ashley and Chris will get married, in the sight of God, their families, and their friends. They will commit themselves to a lifetime of love, service, fidelity, and friendship, and they are so excited to have you all there to witness it and celebrate with them. Ashley and Chris would like to thank all of their family and friends for their unending support and love throughout this journey, St. Paul Inside the Walls for providing a place of faith and community in which their relationship was able to establish a firm foundation, and the good Lord for blessing their lives so abundantly in each other.