We're getting married!

Sarah grew up just a block away from Jojo's on 22, the restaurant Francesco's father Frank owns. She went to elementary school at West Hanover, which sits right behind the restaurant. As a little girl, Sarah would frequent Jojo's with her neighborhood friends when it was still only a pizza shop. In 2012, Francesco's father Frank expanded Jojo's on 22 to be a full Italian dining experience. Sarah grew up in that neighborhood, celebrating many birthdays and life accomplishments having dinner there. Still, she never saw Francesco. Fast forward- after moving back to the Harrisburg area in 2020 she was looking for part time work waiting tables. She was going to work at a Crackle Barrel close to her apartment and was set to begin sometime in August 2020. Her sister had been waitressing at Jojo's on 22 for a few years at this point and was taking some time off. She, and Sarah's parents, asked her to help out at Jojo's while her sister was away. Sarah declined the offer, but it was too late, as they had already told Francesco and his dad that she would be coming to help out. About six weeks into Sarah working part time at Jojo's, and the occasional flirting on the job, she was coerced by fellow employees to ask Francesco out, as they believed he wanted to date her (mostly because they saw him grab Sarah's hands to show her how to roll pizza dough one time). After some deliberating on if she should or should not attempt to ask out her part time boss, Sarah went for it, and he said yes. The rest is history!

Sarah began school in January of 2022 to obtain her teacher's license in the cosmetology field. It would be a six-month program leading up to May. Francesco had begun working his own company, Randazzo's Excavating and Land Services, on top of working full time at the family restaurant. This was going to be an extremely busy, and hard six months. But, they were committed to begin the process of setting themselves up for the life they were planning to live together. Sarah had an inkling that Francesco would probably propose sometime in May, when school was finished, or around her birthday. Along comes Francesco's birthday, April 1st, which fell on a Friday. As anyone in the restaurant industry knows, Friday is just too busy of a day to take off. So, Sarah was planning a birthday party for him on Sunday, so that some of his friends who live further away could come. Sarah and Francesco's mother, Rachel, were at the house cleaning all day on Friday to prepare for the upcoming Sunday, before meeting him for dinner that evening. During that day Rachel had asked Sarah if she thought that Francesco had even looked at rings yet. Sarah jokingly responded, "No way. I can see his location and he is only ever at Jojo's, Costco, or his buddy Jim's!". Later that evening while having dinner with Francesco, Rachel told Sarah to tell Francesco what she had said that day because of how funny it was. They all laughed until Francesco casually said, "Well, I think we will be getting engaged sometime next year." Sarah was a little stunned, and said, "Wait, I thought we said sometime this year we would get engaged, don't you remember having that conversation?" Francesco responded so seriously by saying, "No I really don't." As Rachel and Francesco were laughing about it, Sarah said, "I don't know how much more clear I can be with you!." Letting it go because it was still in fact his birthday, Saturday went on as usual. Francesco went to work, and Sarah went to her Saturday class. When Francesco had gotten home that day, he called for Sarah to come outside to help him with something. His four-wheeler had died a few days earlier, and as Sarah made her way to the back porch, she could see him kneeling next to it with his toolbox. She thought, "Great, it died again". As she stepped outside to get closer, Francesco pulled the ring out of his toolbox and asked Sarah if she would marry him with the biggest grin on his face. Completely shocked, especially from the conversation the night before, Sarah said, "Really?! Yes!". The two of them shared the moment together in private, Sarah completely taken back, and happy as ever. He really pulled the ultimate April Fools prank! They had plans to attend his cousin's going away party that night, where all his family from Lewistown would be. They had a wonderful evening sharing the news with them, and then celebrating with the rest of their family and friends in a very unexpected, informal engagement party/birthday party on Sunday. It was the perfect weekend, and now they will spend the rest of their lives together.