The same day that me and my friend Jessica moved into the neighborhood, we went to hang out with some of our friends at Jessica's boyfriends house right down the street. Once we got there, Andy was the only person I didn't recognize, so I said :"Hey, I'm Evita, what's your name"? He said "I'm Andy" and then walked away.
It was Homecoming at UWG, and I had been out with friends all day. I was tired, so I came home early, and before heading inside I noticed Andy walking right by my house. From our previous encounter I was sure he wasn't interested in being friends, but I still said hello, and asked him what he was doing outside so late. It was really refreshing to meet someone who was interested in something other than partying, so I decided to give him a chance.
After we finished up our last semester in college, Andy came home with me and we managed to visit over 7 different countries. Not only did my family love him, we also managed not to kill each other. Fast forward many trips and adventures, Andy asks me to go to Cumberland Island over Labor Day holidays, and of course I said YES because who doesn't love beach AND wild horses? Although he didn't propose on the Cumberland Island, I was happy he waited until we had both showered and rested to do an early morning, walk on the beach proposal...and now, we are busy planning yet another adventure, during which we will travel to Rome, Italy to say our I do's.
One cool, fall night at a intramural football game, I noticed a girl who was hanging out with my friend's girlfriend. After the game was over, I told him to hook me up with his girlfriend's friend, not expecting him to follow through or expecting much to come from it. Fast forward a few days and I found out this ministering girl lived three houses away from me and she lived with my friend's girlfriend. Things were starting to look up.
On another cool, fall night, I was out walking the dog and I noticed this girl was just getting home. I decided to introduce myself and found out her name, Evita. I heard she was European and thought this would be the perfect time to apply my otherwise useless European Studies to fire up a conversation. And it worked. We talked for a good 30 minutes about where she was from, what languages she spoke, what her favorite cities and foods were; to summarize this acquaintance, I asked Evita a bunch of questions she probably got/gets asked all the time. Way to be original, Me.
Over the next month or so, we did a bunch of stuff together. We went on movie dates, gas station ice cream dates, and spent time getting to know each other. We didn't have the same personalities/cares/views but we were compatible. We had fun together. And we loved spending time with each other. On November 1st, 2010, I finally manned up and asked her to be my girlfriend. On September 1st, 2013, I (finally) manned up and proposed.
After venturing to Italy on our visit to Europe in 2011, we decided that we should have our wedding somewhere in the beautiful country. After reviewing many citires, we decided upon the classic, Italian city of Rome. We've had a lot of help planning our wedding from the Folchitto family, who are from Rome, as well as all of their friends, who have made it possible to have our wedding there.
We are both Catholic so we wanted to get married in a church. Of course there are thousands of churches in Rome, so narrowing down the process was a bit tricky. We (finally) decided upon Santa Francesca Romana, which is located right next to the iconic Colosseum. Additionally, it has a side entrance that leads straight into the Roman Forum, where we will be taking all of our after-wedding photos.
The rest of the time we're in Rome will be spent wandering around, aimlessly. We don't have any specific plans besides being immersed in the city. We plan to visit all of the major sites, eating the delicious Italian food everyone always talks about, and indulging in daily trips to the Gelateria.
a brief history brought to you by Wikipedia,
Santa Francesca Romana, previously known as Santa Maria Nova, is a church in Rome, Italy, situated next to the Roman Forum in the rione Campitelli.
The church was built in the second half of the 10th century, incorporating an eighth-century oratory that Pope Paul I excavated in the wing of the portico of the Temple of Venus and Roma; it was named Santa Maria Nova ("new St. Mary"), to distinguish it from the other Roman Forum church devoted to St. Mary, Santa Maria Antiqua ("ancient St. Mary"), which had become dilapidated in the 10th century; it was rebuilt by Pope Honorius II in the 13th century, when the campanile was built and the apse was decorated with mosaics of a Maestà, the Madonna enthroned accompanied by saints. The interior has been altered since. Since 1352 the church has been in the care of the Olivetans. In the 16th century the church was rededicated to Frances of Rome (canonized in 1608), whose relics are in the crypt. Its travertine porch and façade is by Carlo Lambardi, and was completed in 1615.
