#ToHaveAndToussaint

What a year it has been! Getting engaged and landing new jobs has made 2019 pretty eventful. But we never get where we are in life without a little help from above….. Anna and I had our own paths in life, or so we thought. But God led us down one that brought us together. When my family moved to Colchester in 2015, a singing workshop at the local church caused us to first meet. The church musical, A Christmas Carol, brought us together again in 2016 after I graduated college and moved to my new home. The Passion Play in 2017 brought us together for a third time. You know what they say...third time’s the charm! Changes in life can often disrupt relationships, but when it is meant to be, it is meant to be! Anna’s parents moved to Virginia in 2017, followed by me for a Catholic school music teaching position, which also led me to finding a music directing position at a church, my dream job of course. Anna soon found a job, moved down, and was led to her dream job as a Learning & Development Specialist. She really missed being in HR. With much discernment and prayer, on the anniversary of our 2 years of dating in April 2019, I asked Anna to spend the rest of her life with me in this crazy adventure we have started. And of course, she said yes! -Andre

What you really want to know is the mushy lovey wedding stuff. Am I right? So... we are in Chicago for Easter with his sister (my bridesmaid, Kim) and her now-fiance (groomsman, Will) - y'all will get to meet them. It's blistering cold. Extra windy, even for the windy city. We had a plan, but Andre secretly had a better one. When I thought we were walking to a little local improv show, we ended up at Hamilton! He had gotten tickets for us! (It was fantastic. 10 out of 10. Highly recommend.) So when we leave, his local friend Ryan (another groomsman, super cool guy, highly recommend lol) suggests heading to a cool bar nearby. It's not every day you see Hamilton in Chicago so why not? Turns out, it's a speakeasy (love them) and they have karaoke (love that even more)!! So we sign up. Then I notice his name is in 5 songs and mine is in 20. Like what the heck! He goes "I dunno it's probably random". Well it wasn't. Turned out he went up to make a special request because the song (our song - so cute) wasn't on the list. He sings our song, it's beautiful and romantic, and at the end he starts walking across the bar to our table. I'm sitting there like "is that even allowed?" So the song ends and I'm like "aww he's cute" then he starts talking and I'm thinking "wait what?" Then he gets down on one knee and asks me to marry him. I nod and cry and take the ring and put it on myself (apparently not the way its supposed to happen but #sorrynotsorry - I was excited) and the bar erupts in applause (after I finally say the word yes out loud and make it real) and then they gave us free champagne. By 15 hours later the whole Mass was planned so we hope you love the music! We are so excited to celebrate with you, our closest loved ones. With love, Andre & Anna