We would like to invite you to join in the celebration of the marriage of Derrick Joseph Baez and Stephanie Nicole Cruz on Friday, May 17. We will be having an Open Ceremony at Crossroads Community Cathedral, followed by a cake reception in the café. All are welcome to come celebrate with us on this very special day! Thank you for sharing in our lives from the home, school and church. Each of you has been instrumental in making us the individuals we are today and there would be nothing more pleasing then you joining us on this special day.

In the autumn crisp air, two people took their work inside the Communications computer lab at Central Connecticut State University. On that very day, Derrick was overseeing the maintenance of the lab, as Stephanie searched the depth of the World Wide Web for one of her homework assignments. It was at that moment where Stephanie saw Derrick looking at pictures of The Hartford Project. Automatically, Stephanie was shocked. Since Central was a secular university, she was surprised that there was someone in the same room as her that knew what The Hartford Project was. Filled with excitement, Stephanie rolled her chair over to Derrick’s desk grabbed his computer mouse and with a huge smile on her face said, “You know what the The Hartford Project is?” At first, Derrick was a bit surprised by Stephanie. He had no idea who she was, and she just took his mouse from his hand! But one thing that caught his eye was her smile and how happy she was. For the next two hours Derrick and Stephanie discussed church, favorite worships songs/bands, and even watched a sermon together. Stephanie even considered skipping her math class just to stay and talk to Derrick. From the beginning she knew there was something very special about him.

From that moment on, the two of them started hanging out with each other in and out of school. At first, Stephanie made it very clear that she just wanted to be friends with Derrick. Derrick understood and was very respectful, but he knew that he wanted something more with Stephanie. He saw her passion for life, and her love for other people. But most importantly, he saw her love for God and her desire for other people to know HIM. Being just a friend to Stephanie was never an option. Stephanie felt the same way for Derrick. He was so gentle, kind, caring and loving. She loved how she was able to be herself around him. Even as friends, Derrick made Stephanie feel like the most important person in the world. As a young teenage girl in youth group, Stephanie remembered that she always wanted a man that would lead her. Not that Stephanie couldn’t lead herself, but a man to lead her spiritual. A man that would take care or her, treasure her and comfort her. A man that would put God first and be so in love with him that he would love her through HIM.

As time went on their beautiful friendship turned into a beautiful relationship and on Friday, December 29, 2017 in front of their entire youth group and family, Derrick asked Stephanie to be his wife.