Francesca: “In September 2015, I was hired at Spring Lake Heights School as the new fourth grade teacher, the school where Kevin was teaching middle school social studies. For the first month, we didn’t talk or see each other much besides the occasional ‘Good morning’ in the hallway. It’s surprising in such a small school, but Kevin followed the middle school schedule and I followed the elementary school one so our lunches and breaks were different. In October, we ran the Rook Run with our school in Long Branch. In true Kevin-Fashion, he was there an hour early, and I got there super early too because I was worried about parking. No one else in our school showed up for awhile, so it left Kevin and I there to have our first official conversation. I thought he was adorable, but quickly dismissed any idea of us ever dating since we worked together. Later in the year at an after school happy hour, one of our colleagues joked that we should date and get married. She even wrote on a piece of paper ‘Kevin and Francesca’ in a heart (we still have that paper). After lots of dancing and laughter that night, we realized it wasn’t a bad idea and scheduled our first date!”

Kevin: “Francesca started teaching at my school at the beginning of my third year there. I didn’t officially meet her until she organized the headband and sock order for a fundraiser run the teachers were all doing. Even from there though we never really talked or saw much of each other until the following Spring at teacher happy hours at the Boathouse in Belmar when we really hit it off. Much of this was due to our mutual lack of dancing abilities and love of laughter.”

Francesca: “Our first date was at Taka in Asbury Park. Kevin told me that he took an Ancient China class in college where he learned the “right way” to use chopsticks. While showing me, he knocked over a full glass of wine and spilled it all over the table!”

Kevin: “We decided to go on a date in late April of 2015. We went to Taka in Asbury for sushi. Naturally I spilled wine all over the table, floor, and myself… really showing my grace under the pressure of a first date. We laughed all night and immediately realized how comfortable we were with each other.”

Francesca: “After a month or two of dating I bought my bike, and I was so excited! I lived in Middletown, then Hoboken before moving to the beach, so I never had a beach cruiser that I could jump on to take me to the beach. The day I got it, Kevin biked over from Spring Lake Heights to Bradley Beach to meet me. We biked EVERYWHERE. I didn’t really think about how easy it had been because of the wind at my back, and that on the way home it would be harder because of the wind resistance. Coming home was so hard!! Kevin stopped with me to ‘look at the scenery’ (really it was to catch our breath!) and even switched bikes with me in hopes to make my ride easier! I realized that I found someone that would entertain my sometimes crazy ideas, be patient and kind with me when I’m struggling, and that I could have fun with no matter what.”

Kevin: “We spent the rest of the summer spilling more wine, dancing the nights away, going on long late night bike adventures, and playing volleyball and tennis. Our favorite phrase quickly became ‘When you know, you know.’ ”

Francesca: “I knew it was coming, but I had no idea it was happening the day that it did. On April 29, we had plans to meet Kevin’s family at the Biergarten in Asbury Park. We took an Uber there, and I looked up to realize that our driver turned into Ocean Grove, not Asbury. I tapped Kevin and whispered that I wanted him to say something. He looked at me and said, ‘We will just walk over instead.’ I totally just assumed the Uber driver was lost, and it was a gorgeous day that it would make sense for us to just walk and cross the bridge into Asbury. As we were walking over the Ocean Grove Bridge, Kevin got down on one knee and proposed. As soon as I said yes, there was an eruption of cheers coming from the rooftop above us. I looked up and noticed Kevin’s family and mine. They had watched the whole thing from rooftop of the Biergarten. Kevin also had one of his childhood friends, who also happened to be a photographer, on the bridge taking pictures of the whole thing! After we had our moment together, we walked over to the Biergarten to celebrate with our loved ones. It felt like a dream!”

Kevin: “I went out to dinner with Francesca’s parents in April of 2017 to ask them permission to take Francesca’s hand in marriage. Around two years after our first date we were heading to Asbury Biergarten for an afternoon drink. The Uber driver drove into Ocean Grove, which Francesca immediate realized he was must have been lost, but I just shook it off and said it was fine. We got dropped off on other side of lake from Asbury and had to cross the bridge that is directly under Biergarten. As we walked across the bridge, I stopped Francesca, bent down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Little did she know that our families and friends were all upstairs on the roof of Biergarten watching the entire thing, so when she said yes, the entire rooftop erupted in cheering. It was incredible. I owe credit to Billy Egan, a dear photographer friend who we recently lost, who helped come up with the plan and perfectly captured the moment for us.”

Francesca: “I sent Kevin about a million pictures of exactly what I wanted and he had it custom made for me! I think it is classic and timeless, which is why I love it. Surrounding the diamond is a “basket” of small diamonds that makes it sparkle when looking at it at any angle. There aren’t a lot of jewelers in the area that make that basket, so Kevin searched high and low before finding someone who could do it! The time and thought Kevin put into making it my dream ring makes me love it (and him) even more!”

Kevin: “Naturally Francesca sent me hundreds of pictures of rings as she knew an engagement could be coming up. And of course the details she wanted were not made by any jewelers. Through the help of her mother, we found a place that could make her perfect ring. The feature that was difficult was the ‘basket’ around the bottom part of the ring. When the jeweler showed me ring, I knew it was the one.”

Francesca: “This was the hardest question for me because I can’t just pick one thing. Kevin is seriously the best person I have ever met. He is kind, patient, and caring, He is constantly putting others needs before his own. He would do anything for the people he cares about and loves with his whole heart. I am seriously so lucky.”

Kevin: “It is cliche, but we truly are best friends. We have so much fun whether it be playing tennis together, going on bike adventures, or just being lazy all day. Life is pretty great when you are always having the best time with the best person.”

Francesca: “We seriously have two of the best families on the planet. They would do anything for us and have so much love for us and each other! Having all of them in one place celebrating means so much to me, and I can’t wait for that!”

Kevin: “My grandmother has been a parishioner at St. Catharine’s Church for most of her life, and it has been a dream of hers to have a grandchild get married there. We can’t wait to make that dream come true for her.”