Despite the fact that we attended rival high schools, went to the same college, and had a bunch of the same friends and interests in common ... we didn't meet until we'd each graduated college and signed up for DeSales ServiceWorks, a year-long full-time volunteer program run by the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.

During the volunteer year, we became close friends, united by our faith in God, our similar sense of humor, and our love of the same WB dramas.

Then, our friendship blossomed into something more.

After the ServiceWorks program ended, Tanya moved to the New York City area to teach music at three Catholic elementary schools, and Shaun moved to the same area a few months later to begin working as a copy editor for a magazine.

Fast-forward to December 2006. One of our favorite bands, Omnisoul, was playing in Manhattan, and we had a bunch of good friends who were coming to see the show. During the middle of the band's set, they stopped their performance and called Tanya up on stage. That's when Shaun ran up, got down on one knee, and proposed.

(View the video of the proposal.)

And, thank goodness, she said yes!




Our Wedding


We were married on Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007 at St. Cornelius Church in Chadds Ford, Pa. The officiant was Fr. Bob Bazzoli, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales, whom we knew from our time in the ServiceWorks program.

The reception was held at Naamans Ballroom in Boothwyn, Pa., and we went on a one-week honeymoon to Cosby, Tenn., where we stayed in an amazing cabin with a fireplace right on the cusp of the Great Smokey Mountains, which were in peak leaf season at the time.

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