We’re getting married!

Rachael met Michael and as he prepared to ask her out, Rachael told him dating was pointless and relationships were a waste of time. After some time goes by and a few group hangouts, Rachael’s mom encourages her to tell Michael about how her opinion has changed. It could be seen a mile away that they wanted to be together and so they had the ‘feelings’ conversation. Afterwards, Michael never asked Rachael to be his girlfriend. She came home one day to flowers on the counter and Michael proclaiming, “you’re my girlfriend now” and the rest is history.

Rachael grew up in Pennsylvania with her family of 3 siblings, amazing parents, and two dogs (Roxy and Skye). Right before graduating from West Chester University with a Bachelor's Degree in Early and Special Education, she was offered 2 different positions in the same school district in Virginia. By fate or luck, she chose Margaret Brent Elementary, the school directly in front of Michael's. After meeting, it was almost an instantaneous connection that started out as friendship and grew stronger with time. Rachael has always had the dream of a destination wedding and brought the idea up with Michael who was excited (and nervous) but ultimately said YES! Rachael wanted to move to a more affordable area with lower taxes and colder weather, so naturally she broached the subject with Michael of moving north. To her surprise, he was on board and they chose the state of Delaware to settle in and plan their future together as husband and wife somewhere new to both of them. It was time to settle down roots and plan this wedding!

Michael grew up in Stafford County Virginia, the same place Rachael and him would ultimately meet. He grew up with his amazing parents, older brother, and twin brother (who is younger by 10 minutes). He has his Masters degree in History Education. Michael began to work at Mountain View High School, of which he also attended, as a teacher and football coach. He now works at Dover High School in Delaware after leaving his home state for the first tome ever! Michael has only left the country one time, so far, with Rachael's family in 2022 to Mexico. His own destination wedding will mark the second time he has needed to use his passport. He loves to drink Vanilla Coke and adores Rachael and the 5 pets they share (Luna, Fitzgerald, Winnie, Reggie, and Montego).

Michael planned to propose at some point in the spring of 2023, but had not decided on a date. After checking in with both sets of parents, he settled on March 4th 2023. The location was easy, the park behind Rachael's first apartment in Virginia. It was one of the first places they spent time as a couple and an area that they frequented even after moving and adopting their dog Luna. Michael got down on one knee and asked Rachael to be in his life forever (or something along those lines as they both forgot what was said). In a surprise turn of events, Michael arranged Rachael's family to surprise her in Virginia on the big day. March 4th, 2023 marked not only the first day as fiancé's, but also the first day our families met one another. We cannot wait to embark on life together as husband and wife.

Rachael and Michael expanded their family from 2, to 5 in one year. On June 27th 2022, after moving into a new apartment we decided our home needed a dog. After the loss of Rachael's grandmother, they agreed to name their dog Luna, in honor of her late dog Lou Lou. I know she would have loved her and we wish she was able to meet her before she passed on. Her presence brought so much happiness in a very sad time. After some time, in October of the same year we decided to adopt our first kitten and Rachael's first ever cat. On December 5th 2022, they suffered a loss of their first cat, Guppy. The family shrunk back down from 4 to 3 and the hole was too great. A few weeks later, the loss was so big after so much preparation for our first cat, they adopted their second cat Winnie. She was an excellent companion to Luna and was such a cuddly kitten. In an unexpected turn of events, after wandering into PetSmart, they laid eyes on Fitzgerald and decided it was meant to be. They continued this behavior of entering PetSmart and suddenly a man placed a cat randomly into Michael’s arms. We were in the store with our neighbor and friend Jenna, who had just lost her cat, and we both ultimately decided to adopt cats. This is how we added our Reggie to the family and Jenna took home his sister that same day. After all these pets, we began volunteering and supporting the cat rescue. We supported weekend after weekend and even helped to beat the record for most cats adopted—18 in one day!! Finally, Rachael asked Michael if he would consider letting them be fosters. He hesitated, but this one Tuxedo cat kept pawing at Rachael as she walked by. She vowed to take him home if no one adopted him. Alas, no one took the sweet boy, so we took him and after that we were kidding ourselves if we thought he would ever leave. I promise you now—we are not getting anymore animals. Our family finally feels complete! Over the years we have had so much joy and love, our family has grown so much and we are excited for marriage to continue living our lives together.

There are so many pieces of Rachael and Michael’s story that are interesting to note. Junior year in high school Rachael decided randomly she wanted to move to Virginia and teach second grade. She visited with her family one time and that became her dream, so she started applying to different elementary schools at random to make it a reality! Rachael was offered to teach at various schools. Some in Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Virginia/-with all these offers it became overwhelming. It might be fate or luck but, Rachael chose a school directly in front of Michael’s workplace AND flipped him off in the parking lot only to end up dating him. Brand new to the state and this is how they ended up meeting. Rachael’s first friend in Virginia was a coworker who was ironically named Michael who was also a PE teacher at her school, but then she met her (now fiancé) Michael and found out his twin brother is a PE teacher at an elementary school! Michael’s sister-in-law Sara, has the same exact birthday as Rachael (August 15th), so they are birthday twins married to twins. Rachael and Michael moved to Dover Delaware, only to learn later on that Rachael had visited the EXACT area with her maid of honor Megan in high school. Their annual jeep races occurred right where Rachael is now living! In other fun ‘manifestation’ or ‘fate’ news, Rachael has always wanted to have a destination wedding and thought twins would be present in her life. Whether that be, marrying twins or having twins of her own. Luckily, Michael was on board for flying out of the country to be married and he is a twin. We will have to wait and see for the other part. Life is what you make it and so far it seems beautiful.