"My beloved is mine and I am his." Songs 2:16

Hear it from them: “On October 4th, I was serving for a church event. Usually we reserve seats for invitees from different churches, so that’s what I did. I didn’t know I was unintentionally putting the man of my dreams (not exaggerating) on the seat directly behind mine, but you could say God has a sense of humor. On the following day, lo and behold, a follow request followed by a message. You could probably hear my scream from two zip codes away. I was freaking out—this felt different to me. He asked me on a date, and I said yes (I know, shocking). God and I have little things between us, and one of them is my incessantly annoying habit of asking for signs—He is sick of it. Prior to the date, I threw a quick plea for one again, and asked, “God, if this is somehow meant to be, make him get me flowers, you know I love roses”. We talked, and if you were to ask him he’d probably say I looked really confident and relaxed (I genuinely forgot my name for a second talking to him, I should’ve received an Oscar for the acting). Two hours slipped by, and I was getting ready to leave, he said, “I’ll take you to your car, but before you go, I have something for you.” Some call it coincidence, I call it a sign—but regardless of how we want to call it, I went home with a bouquet of roses and my future husband.” — Bella "It all started on Oct 4th on a 508 night, I saw the most beautiful woman in the world doing one the best things she loves to do (telling people what to do lol). She had this aura around her that I could not explain, and at that moment Isabella Moreira had taken a front row seat in my brain that couldn’t be moved, and still to this day is there. The morning after, I had reached out to her on Instagram and was able to start getting to know her, and we had planned our first date. That whole week of texting before our first date made me realize two things. 1. She must be amazing at smiling and waving (inside joke) and 2. this girl is such an amazing person. Bella is so easy to talk to, and could put a smile on my face no matter what I was dealing with internally. The day of the date I was soooo nervous, I woke up early and started praying all morning asking God to calm down my nerves, and while I was driving, that hour had never felt any more slower in my entire life. It felt like I had ample amount of time to talk to God about Bella. When I finally saw her, that same breathtaking beauty had set me back, and I was in awe of the unbelievable job that God did when creating her. We sat down and started talking, with the peace that flooded my soul when I looked into her eyes I knew at that moment that was the one I wanted to be with for the rest of my life." — Renzo

When we were dating, we had an inside joke, every time either one of us missed each other, or had to go back to our cities (Renzo originally lived in the North Shore, to my demise), we would say "$75". If you're wondering why we're throwing random numerical values at each other, that's how much a marriage license costed at the time. Clearly the fix to our "ache" was to tie the knot and all our problems would be gone (right?). One day, really any random given tuesday, Renzo said, "$75" and I simply agreed, "okay." He brushed it off, because that's insane, but I doubled down, and said "OKAY." In that moment I think we both realized we meant it, and he said, "Bella, will you marry me?", duh yes. We both started freaking out, especially because at the time "commitment-phobe" was my middle name (and everyone thought it was Moreira). Coincidentally, we had a photoshoot booked prior to making this decision, our good friend Angie as a photographer had a mini campaign for Valentine's Day, and offered a slot to Renzo, as that's Bella's favorite holiday. After making the decision to get married, we said, "why don't we make that our engagement shoot?", and so it was. Angie had no idea. We used a travel ring as my real one was on the way to getting designed/created. I was given my dream ring with a beautifully sentimental (and private) proposal, and that's when we made it public.

We looked at Boston's courthouse dates to check availability, lo and behold, February 13th was one of the very few available. I, obviously, jumped at it - that's always been my favorite date, and now I have a much bigger reason for loving it — loving him. We (each) invited our closest friend, and went together on that morning. Our vows were exchanged, and the officiant loved us so much she requested to take a picture of us on her phone (convinced she has the best job, celebrating and officiating love all day long). Just like that we were the Pappaterras. One year ago on this date, we stood side by side and vowed forever — quietly, intimately, and just us (and the tiny lady that stood between us). It was sacred. It was ours. Now, one year later, we’re inviting you to witness and celebrate what began in private: a covenant already made, a love already lived. This isn’t the beginning of our story — it’s the continuation of a promise that’s already been growing for a year. We’re so glad you’re here to be part of it.

To be continued... Feb 20th, 2026