I'm Rachel, the Yes Chef! I mentioned in my About Me post that I met my fiance and partner in crime- or should I say cuisine? - Will, while studying at Penn State University, and I get asked all the time about how we met. When we got engaged back in 2017 I wrote up our little love story, and thought I would share. I hope to keep Will involved in the Yes Chef Kitchen as much as possible since we share such a strong passion for life and for food, and he just happens to be a hoot and a half!
2001 – First Sight
At 7 years old, Rachel saw Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. Unbeknownst to Rachel and her family, during that performance, Will was on stage playing the character “Chip.”
2012 – First Meet
Rachel and Will met at Penn State in August 2012 when Rachel joined the Travel Club Tennis Team. Will had already been at Penn State studying Aerospace Engineering for a full year. They met on Penn State’s Centre court for their first practice of the 2012 season.
2013 – First Date
After a year of friendship, months of late-night conversations and meeting up to play piano for each other, Will and Rachel had their first date at Witherspoon Grill in Princeton, NJ. Their first date is lovingly remembered as the night of the Pepper Grinder Disaster. When assisting Will in grinding some pepper onto his Shrimp Alfredo Pasta, Rachel accidentally unscrewed the top of the pepper grinder; shooting the top of the grinder and its metal peg at the ceiling, and smashing the bottom half of the grinder onto her bread plate. They cried laughing.
2014 – It’s Official
Will and Rachel chose New Year’s Day to be their celebrated anniversary, to honor the adventure they shared in New York City that year with Will’s sister, Lauren, and his best friend, Christian. It was just a bonus that they would always have a champagne toast on the Midnight of their special day.
2014 – First Trip to Newport
In the Summer of 2013, before they were dating, Will was on his annual family trip to Newport, RI. He sent Rachel a picture from the grass court tennis tournament at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, saying “You should come with us next year!” Rachel was delighted at the offer, but thought he was just being polite. “There’s no way he means that, or that’s ever going to happen,” she thought.
Fast forward, Rachel and Will had been dating 6 months, and they were together in Newport, RI for the first time. They had the most incredible experience together; hiking, enjoying the beaches, and visiting the incredible restaurants and museums in the area. It only occurred to them after the trip that Will, like Nostradamus, had foretold the entire experience just a year before.
2017 – The Engagement
After almost 4 years of love, and even more years of laughter, Will and Rachel planned a long weekend to visit NYC, and Newport, RI. Will made a reservation for the two of them at the 2017 World’s 50 Best, #1 Restaurant in the World, Eleven Madison Park in New York City. To thank Will for his thoughtfulness in planning this beautiful excursion of food and culture, Rachel acquired tickets to the Museum of Mathematics for the two of them to explore prior to their dinner reservation. For the record, it ended up being a children’s museum (classic Rachel), and in good humor, they decided to check out the exhibits anyway.
After their time in NYC, they drove up to Newport, RI, where they spent a few days enjoying the hikes, fresh oysters, and finally found themselves on the cliff’s edge at Brenton Point at Sunset. It was cold. 0 degrees cold. This is where Will got down on one knee, and Rachel said yes!
“The sunset was beautiful, but not more magnificent than their Love.”
They celebrated their engagement at Castle Hill Inn, their favorite restaurant, on the edge of Narragansett Bay.
2019 – Today
Will and Rachel have been engaged for a year and a half, and are enjoying their lives together to the fullest. They are overwhelmingly excited to get married and share their special day with their closest friends and family!
When They Knew:
Rachel:
“I knew I would marry Will even before I knew if he liked me. It was his aura and the way he could make everyone and anyone around him laugh that pulled me in. I knew I wanted to be around that, forever. I told my parents months before we were even dating, ‘I’m going to marry this guy.'”
William:
“I knew I would marry Rachel when I found out that she would be studying abroad in Spain for the Summer of 2014. We had only been dating for a few months, but the feeling I got when I realized that I wouldn’t see her for almost 3 months made me see that I never wanted to be apart from her.”
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