Chapel Hill Church

Wedding Day

Ceremony

Reception

Our Wedding

Turns out, good things can come from working brunch. If you've every worked in the restaurant business, you know nobody likes the brunch shift. The pay isn't great, and patrons haven't had their coffee yet... But there was one upside to working brunch for Stephen - the bartender. The words he used to describe her were "intelligent, hard-working, kind, and regal." And cute, obviously. He asked a colleague (shout-out to you, Kristin Bargmann) to do some recon. Bargmann very subtly asked Rachel, "If Stephen hypothetically liked you and wanted to ask you out, would you say yes?" Rachel said she would. Hypothetically, of course. Next shift they worked together, Stephen waited for the opportune moment to make his move. Moments alone are hard to come by during brunch, so when she went outside to the freezer for more ice cubes he seized the day. And the rest is history. Later that week, he dazzled her with dinner. And while discovering Rachel was a Dean of Spiritual Formation and ordained pastor was a plot twist, Stephen became only more convinced he'd found the right one. It didn't take long for Rachel to fall for Stephen's gentle spirit, quiet confidence, and love for Jesus and his elderly neighbors. Also he was a chef. And an artist. And real cute... One year later, Stephen left a very expensive lump of coal in Rachel's stocking on Christmas Day and asked her a question. She said yes to that one too.

It all started in the freezer.

Our Story

Photos

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met playing Uno in their college dorm freshman year. Summited Mt. Sunflower together (the highest point in Kansas). Jac served as the getaway driver for all college skinny dipping escapades.


Jaclyn Cooper

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met their rookie years at Montreat College. Surfed in Portugal and spelunked in Kentucky. Survived bears falling out of trees overhead, Hurricane Helene, and camping in Mississippi in July.

Kristin Eggert

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met at Gordon-Conwell. Pranked a seminary professor by wallpapering his office with 500 copies of his yearbook photo. Detained together by police in Providence, RI on suspicion of involvement in a house fire.

Josefine Tse

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met in infancy ca. 1994. Successfully visited a museum together in every city they've lived in. Still friends after 30 years even though Madeline is a vegetarian and Rachel shoots innocent creatures for fun.

Madeline Monson

Lifetime Brother Achievements: Stephen’s been stuck with Judah since November 1993. Judah has a freakish ability to almost always win in Mario Golf. They are kindred Carolina Hurricanes fanatics and two of the most competitive people on the planet.

Judah Pies

Lifetime Dad Achievements: 50% responsible for Stephen’s existence. He taught Stephen to work hard, be ferociously competitive, and is still the first person Stephen calls for handyman advice.

Michael Pies

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met working together at Copper Crown in 2018. They share an admiration of the Dark Souls video game franchise and have matching SpongeBob BFF rings.

Michael Recker

Lifetime Friendship Achievements: Met working underage and under the table at Grandpa Russell’s Fish House in 2005. They’ve been friends for 20 years in spite of the fact that their respective college teams viscerally hate each other (NC State and UNC).

Stephen Reynolds

Wedding Party

Q + A

Room block is available for guests via the link below (under Toone-Pies Wedding). Kindly note that 10 rooms are available, and any rooms not reserved by 5/15/25 will be released. https://www.bestwestern.com/en_US/book/hotel-rooms.48133.html?groupId=8P6VB1J4

Rachel & Stephen

Rachel & Stephen

R&S