It's and I Do take two!! Hopefully the only things that get hitched are Mike and Rachel!

The new date is Thursday, August 4, 2022!

Though Mike and I are legally married we can't wait to celebrate with all of you in 2022!

In 2015, Rachel traveled from New York to Colorado to spend a summer at Mission: Wolf to work with the apex predator of the mountains instead of the apex predator of the seas. Little did she know what was in store for her.

Mike was a show off around the refuge, walking around lifting heavy things and doing press hand stands to impress Rachel. She didn't really pay attention...

One day Mike sent Rachel a friend request on Facebook. She was surprised that he friended her since they hadn't talked much but she accepted the request. Rachel was planning on going about her night when Mike messaged her on Facebook. Knowing that she was a Disney fan, Mike told Rachel that he was going to watch Disney's Hercules trying to entice her to watch a movie with him. Rachel responded with no it's fine, I have the 90s live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that I'll watch.

That brief Facebook exchange was the start of a beautiful partnership. 3 years later Rachel was accepted to veterinary school and Mike proposed.

Mike heard about a new staff member that was a shark biologist coming to Mission:Wolf. He thought how interesting it was that she wanted to come work with wolves but thought it could be a cool blend of apex predators of land and sea. When he came back from a dirt bike ride on the day she had arrived, she was in the kitchen and on their first meeting, he was speechless. You could almost say love at first sight but Mike knew he wanted to get to know her more. A few days later, He tried to invite her to hang out with a Disney movie, but she countered with a denial because she had the live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies (and that sealed the deal for Mike as that had been a childhood favorite of his). And the rest is history.

Mike proposed to Rachel on Monday June 4, 2018.

Rachel was working at the town veterinary office not knowing what was waiting for her at home.

Mike left the sanctuary extremely early that day (unheard of!) to set the stage. Before heading to the cabin, where Mike and Rachel were staying, Mike ran to town to pick up ingredients for dinner (he asked Rachel's mom what her favorite dinner was the he could make, he can't cook), flowers, and candles.

Mike made a pathway of candles from the front door, through the living room, to the kitchen. Rachel would follow the path and end up at a laptop set up on the kitchen table. A note was next to the laptop that said "press play". When Rachel hit play, a song that Mike recorded started. It was a mash up of 4 Disney songs that Mike sang with the same tune but his own words. The songs were: Can you Feel the Love Tonight (Lion King), I Can Go the Distance (Hercules), Do You Want to Build a Snowman (Frozen), and A Whole New World (Aladdin).

Once the songs finished Mike came out of the room where he was hiding, all dressed up, with the ring that Mike and Rachel designed but he said he couldn't afford. He dropped to one knee and asked "Would you do me the honor of letting me share this whole new world with you?" Rachel was speechless and nodded (she said yes 5 minutes later but Mike still gives her a hard time that she nodded).

For those of you driving to Colorado Springs the day of the wedding please keep in mind that traffic south on I-25 is horrendous in the afternoon and is riddled with perpetual construction! Please give yourself time to make it to our wedding so you don't stress yourself out too much! (However there is a hosted bar if need be.)