On September 11, 2022, Franke and Ali met for the first time at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota pool. What began as a quick and casual lunch turned into a wonderful afternoon. One hour turned into five as Ali and Franke talked and relaxed in the pool, enjoying each other’s company. Over the following weeks, their instant connection blossomed into something beautiful.

If you were to ask Ali and Franke what convinced them of their connection from the start, they would likely say it was how effortlessly they could talk for hours. Their openness, vulnerability, and playful banter came naturally from the very beginning.

As the months turned into a year, their love for each other deepened with every passing day. Even in the face of challenges, their bond grew stronger, becoming the cornerstone of a solid and enduring relationship.

Both Ali and Franke were believers and followers of Jesus before they met but had been living with “one foot in, one foot out” in their faith. Over the first year and a half of their relationship, they began watching online sermons together and developed a hunger to grow spiritually. On a flight home from Ali’s Matron of Honor Marisa’s wedding, they watched a sermon by Pastor Tyson Coughlin of Vizion Church. Through that sermon, the Holy Spirit moved in both of them, revealing that it was time to go all in.

Not long after, they knew they wanted to get married. In the months following Franke’s proposal, they planned an intimate religious wedding ceremony with their immediate families. On April 26, 2024, Franke and Ali were married in the eyes of the Lord at the beautiful chapel in Selby Gardens Spanish Point. Afterward, their parents hosted a lovely reception. Franke’s mother and sisters went above and beyond with the decor, creating a night they will always cherish.

Although Ali and Franke chose to wait for the “legally married” part until their upcoming larger ceremony with friends and extended family, there was no doubt in their hearts that their union was true under God. At the end of that weekend of their religious wedding ceremony, the Lord affirmed their covenant by shining a rainbow over the exact spot where Franke had proposed to Ali, across the lake from their home.

"This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth". Genesis 9:12–15

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