Kafe Kokopelli

Rehearsal Dinner

Wedding Day

Wedding

Dade City Garden Club

Reception

Our Wedding

Nicole and Hayden first met early in their freshmen year of high school; Hayden sat behind Nicole in Latin class. They struck up a budding friendship, which grew over their four years at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Even in those days, Hayden had feelings for Nicole, but it would take several more years for their romance to blossom. By their senior year, the two were such close friends that Hayden had been invited to Nicole’s sweet sixteen party and they rode in the same limo on their way to Senior Prom.

The Start

After high school, Hayden and Nicole lost touch for a few years. Hayden went to school in Orlando, at the University of Central Florida, while Nicole went to the University of South Florida out west in Tampa. But their paths were destined to cross again. One day, Hayden was driving to the west coast of Florida to meet some family for an evening in St. Petersburg. As he made his way out there, he happened to drive by a sign that read “University of South Florida.” He thought to himself, “who do I know that goes to USF?” It clicked that Nicole had gone there, so he decided to see if she was willing to meet up when he was driving back through.Turns out Hayden had seen a satellite campus and Nicole actually went to school several miles further east than he’d realized, but they still managed to meet up after not seeing each other for a long time. When Hayden left Nicole’s apartment later that night, he knew there were still lingering feelings from all those years ago. Over the next year or so the two rekindled their friendship, meeting up to go to Busch Gardens or Disney for an afternoon. They shared stories about work and life, even giving each other relationship advice and swapping stories about crazy exes (we all have at least one).

The Friendzone (?)

After this went on for a while, both of them had developed feelings for one another. But this went unspoken for weeks, until a fateful New Years Eve party. The year is 2015, and Hayden heads over to Nicole’s apartment for what he expects is going to be a large gathering of people all kissing when the clock ticks over. He’s decided to ask Nicole if she wants to kiss, since they’re both single and it’s a tradition and all that stuff. But when he arrives, there are just four other people there, and only one couple planning on sharing a kiss. So he chickens out. Then things got interesting.At this party, unbeknownst to Hayden, Nicole had also been hoping to get a&nbsp; New Year’s kiss. When she didn’t, she was upset, which brought home the full realization that she had feelings for this kid. So she hatched a scheme; she made sure they had plans to go to Disney in two weeks, on January 14. That day, she decided, she’d get that kiss. January 14 rolls around, and they spent the whole day in Magic Kingdom, being goofy, going on rides, taking pictures. At the end of the whole thing, they’re watching the fireworks on Main Street&nbsp;At this point, he had largely given up on Nicole and him ever being more than friends, but he’d decided to be the best friend she could ask for so that if the opportunity ever arose, he’d be there. The night came to a close as they returned to Hayden’s apartment in Orlando. They started to hug goodbye when Hayden asked if she’d like to come upstairs and watch the latest season of Gotham, a TV show they both enjoyed.

He’d asked this question before, and always been politely turned down. Not tonight.&nbsp;So she came upstairs. While she was in the bathroom, he quickly jumped onto his Xbox and bought the second season of Gotham before she came back. They turned on the first episode and sat down on the couch. Hayden leaned forward, trying not to think about the beautiful girl next to him. He felt a brush on his elbow, shifted his arm slightly, felt it again, and turned to look to his left. Nicole was watching him, one hand on his arm. He froze for a moment, let a single “Oh”, and leaned in to kiss her.

The Part Where Things Get Interesting

They’ve now been together for almost four years, with their wedding falling on the exact four year anniversary of that surprise first date. They’ve done a lot together in those four years, surviving over two years of long-distance dating before finally moving in together. They took in not one, but two orphans and are the proud cat parents of both Babe and Jazzy. They’ve revisited Disney for each anniversary since, staying at the Port Orleans French Quarter for their third anniversary.&nbsp;

Some Years Later...

And in June of 2019, just a few days before his 25th&nbsp;birthday, Hayden asked Nicole to marry him. Her answer remains a mystery to this day.&nbsp;(We kid.)After&nbsp;Nicole received a casting call for&nbsp;the annual Halloween show at Busch Gardens, she immediately called him to tell him the good news. He told her they would have to celebrate when he got home. While Nicole expected a mini-celebration, there was no way for her to have known that Hayden had another surprise planned. Needless to say (or perhaps, all of the need to say...), he popped the question,&nbsp;she said yes. Both are very excited for all of the future adventures that are to come on their journey together.

& Now We're Here

Our Story

Details

I was lucky enough to be given a built-in best friend in this girl. Christina is my little sister and my favorite human in the world (sorry Hayden.) There are endless things to say about this girl, but know that I am inspired by her everyday.&nbsp;She is currently attending UF for pre-med and is a genius. Chris, thank you for the many laughs, inside jokes, cut-throat advice, and the decision to spend this day with me.

Christina Grannnie

Sebastian Pinto

Keron Prashad

Daniel Fana

Julie Saperstein

Amber and I first met at our Summer nights orientation at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay in 2014, and she has been ride or die ever since on and off the stage. I have had the joy of working with Amber in multiple shows and roles at various theme parks (she is magic on the stage), but I’ve been even more blessed to have her as one of my best friends. She is one of the most passionate, talented, genuine humans I have ever met. She is the first person to celebrate the joys, help you through the struggles, and bring pineapple to your doorstep on particularly hard days. Thank you for everything that you do and for helping me celebrate this day!

Amber Aversa

Shanna and I met during Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens in 2016 and became friends almost instantly. Shanna makes up ¼ of “the squad” (also consisting of Amber and Jeffrey) after the four of us were randomly grouped together during that first year together. Since then, Shanna has been there for me through the laughs, the tears, the Disney dates, and, of course, a million squad nights. Shanna is a performer and one of the best singers I have ever heard (please ask her to sing something, for me). On top of that, Shanna is a beautiful person inside and out and one of the sweetest souls in existence. I’m very excited she is part of our big day!

Shanna Crenshaw

To get back to the start of my friendship with Alyssa, let’s bring it back to 2003 where we first met at Tropical Elementary. The first year of knowing each other was spent with me not liking her because she picked the same book as me to do a book report on (I have always been a little dramatic). Thank goodness we were able to put all of that behind us in the fifth grade as Alyssa became my best friend. Together we survived student government nominations in elementary school, all of the awkwardness and puberty in middle school, countless numbers of sleepovers with zero sleep, crushes, heartbreak, concerts, Warped Tours, and now a wedding! Thank you so so much for being part of this day!

Alyssa Walters

Sabrina and I met our freshman year at USF when we were assigned as random roommates. I was shy initially and kept myself locked in my room the first few days, but at some point, Sabrina forced me to be social. We soon learned that we were both majoring in creative writing and had a few classes in common. Over the next few months of that first year, we would learn that we had an abnormal number of things in common and decided that Jesus had to have had a plan to bring us together. Throughout our college years, we would come to found an official book club together on campus, attend the same campus ministry, take up an additional major of psychology, spend countless nights not sleeping and binge watching the Office, take basically an identical course schedule, cry a lot in front of each, cry a lot from laughing so hard, graduate Summa Cum Laude together (humble brag), and go on many, many adventures. There’s an endless list of things to thank her for, but for now, I say thanks for always being there for me, especially on a day like this.

Sabrina Lutz

Jeffrey is 100% an angel and the world doesn’t deserve him. That said, he also came into my life during the 2016&nbsp;season of Howl-O-Scream, and I am so grateful he did. There is an exhaustive list of all that Jeffrey has done for me, which will not be disclosed here for the purpose of brevity, but anyone who has come in contact with him will attest to&nbsp;his seemingly endless generosity and caring. Over the years, Jeffrey has become a best friend to Hayden and myself, my roommate, and uncle to my fur babies. Jeffrey, thank you for the movie&nbsp;nights, the music sessions, the hippie talks, and, of course, for being a HUGE part of our wedding.&nbsp;

Jeffrey Sadler

Wedding Party

Photos

Q + A

Registry

Rooms reserved under the names of the bride and groom. Book before December 10, 2019.

Nicole and Hayden

Nicole and Hayden

Travel

Hampton Inn