As you can imagine, there has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding our wedding, and we've had to make a few tough decisions. Given the circumstances and our concern for the health and safety of all celebrating, we have made the decision to postpone our original wedding reception in Italy to June 11, 2022. Rick Ferrante | 919.675.8912 | rsciaffo@ncsu.edu Daniela Agostini Ferrante | 252.292.6121 | danielamaferrante@gmail.com    Thank you for your prayers, love, and understanding!

Rick and I met at a church retreat in 2015. I was a freshman in college and he was a junior. After that retreat we started to see each other more often and soon became friends. We found out that we happened to be in the same class (even though we were majoring in completely different subjects), and began studying together. Rick also convinced me to join a choir he sang in (which ended up becoming one of the highlights of my time as an undergrad and the people in that choir became my second family). At a certain point Rick and I would see each other almost every day and we became pretty good friends. It didn’t take long for me to realize what a fantastic person Rick is and that we would make an awesome couple. But Rick has always been a slow person... so it took him 7 months for him to finally ask me out on a date! When we started dating we were already such good friends that everything felt natural and relaxed...I knew this was the guy. Shortly after we started dating, Rick got a job as a QA Engineer in Charlotte, NC. I stayed in Raleigh to finish my undergrad degree and start my masters. Because I was so busy with school, Rick drove a total of 6 hours almost every weekend to see me (and has been driving to see me on the weekends for the past 3 years). Rick is my best friend, my number one supporter, and the most selfless person I have ever met... so when he flew to Italy while I was visiting relatives to surprise me with a proposal, of course I screamed, YES!

I knew I was ready to marry Daniela for the past year or so.. so it was really only a question of when I would make it happen! That meant I had to get some blessings, a ring, and propose! I wanted to involve both of her parents as soon as I knew, so one weekend while I was with Daniela and her family, I had her brother pull her outside and ask her about the trees in the backyard (this will ALWAYS keep her busy, as she studied natural resources/forestry in college). Once she was gone, I told both her parents that I wanted to marry their daughter (admittedly I was a little nervous so I think I yelled a little when I blurted out the question - sorry!). They both said yes, hugged me, and Daniela was none the wiser when she walked back in. It took me months to pick out the perfect ring. I knew I wanted something unique with a traditional flair... Daniela also helped me out with a few hints. I asked her mom for some help, and one pinterest board later I had my design in mind! I went to a local jeweler, found the perfect diamond, and one month later they made my ring and engraved it with a message that would remind us of exactly why we were doing this: In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.

I filmed a super cheesy spoof video based on Daniela's favorite reality TV show, “90 Day Fiance”, where I was the main character flying across the world for love. I flew to Italy (when Daniela was visiting family), got her brother to show her the video, then surprised her with a proposal around some of her closest family! After some of my coworkers helped me film, I spent many nights staying up to 1 or 2am editing what I had, and just generally worrying that something was going to go wrong during my travel to Italy. In fact, we had a little scare because the internet connection was pretty poor at their house in Italy, so just in case I brought two USB sticks with with the video on them. Once I landed, her family greeted me, smuggled me into their house, and set everything up. I waited outside the front door (while it was cracked) nervously listening to her reaction to the video. As soon as it was about to end, her mother motioned me in and I slowly snuck in and and kneeled behind Daniela. BAM! She said yes, I had a fiance, and a MUCH larger family. Special thanks to Aaron, Heidi, Bao, Deng, and Yehor for helping film the video. Thanks to Wally, Lena, Gabriella, Costantino, Marco, and Francesco for coordinating the surprise.. and not giving it away!

Check out my proposal video here: https://youtu.be/zZwxlC0oo2o Check out her reaction here: https://youtu.be/4roOf0z4wjM