Before they said ‘I do,’ they washed each other’s feet

THE INTRODUCTION: Delaware natives Darby Biasotto and Michael Trinsey met May 21, 2014, at The Well Coffee House and Marketplace in Hockessin. She was a 21-year-old student at Pellissippi College in Tennessee, working a summer job at The Well. He was 32 and running his own business, which included creating a website and social media for The Well, run by his friend Robert Kossak. Part of her reponsibilities were to manage events and social media. Robert told Darby she should meet Michael, who often worked from the coffee shop. Robert introduced them one day when Michael was there. Both were both immediately interested in the other, but Michael played it cool. Darby was leaving for a friend’s wedding, and Michael suggested they together in two weeks to talk. They set the date. Until then, she enjoyed hassling him over his very specific latte orders: large 3/4 spiced chai, 1/4 vanilla with almond milk and light ice.

THE FIRST DATE: They met at The Well for seven hours. They bounced ideas off each other, looked through the calendar and met with other staff members. Robert, in particular, is an enthusiastic, energetic guy who gets wound up when he’s excited. At one point, Michael leaned over to Darby and said, “After today, I’m going to need a drink. Interested?” She said yes, and he picked Ulysses American Gastropub, his favorite bar. They talked for three hours, during which they discovered that they had both grown up in North Wilmington and both graduated from Concord High School. She liked that he was a gentleman and that he was funny. He liked that she was adventurous – she had gone to Uganda to work as a missionary when she couldn’t decide what she wanted to study in college. They had a lot in common, including enjoying beer tastings and hiking.

THE FIRST KISS: They continued the we’re-really-working pretense at the start of the second date. Michael told Darby he would write up the notes from the first meeting and suggested meeting to go over them during happy hour at Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant at the Wilmington Riverfront. They came in and set up their computers. Within 30 minutes, “we just wanted to spent some time together,” Darby says. They headed to Koomba for sushi, then Big Fish Grill, Firebirds and Ulysses. Michael drove Darby home and before she got out of the car, he asked if he could kiss her. She immediately started listing all the reasons they shouldn’t date, but while she talked she was watching his crooked smile and mid-sentence she shut up and kissed him anyway. She would find out about a week later that Michael didn’t have anything to do with event planning after Robert told her how cool it was that Michael wanted to help. “Isn’t that what he does,” Darby asked Robert. No, he told her. Michael had only recently volunteered to help. By then, Michael had asked her on a real date. They would go on to date all summer, spending time with each other’s families. That fall, she told him she was going back to school. She wasn’t sure how he would react. Two days before she moved down, he surprised her with a weekend in New York City, complete with a photographer and a picnic in Central Park. It was his way of saying he wanted to try a long-distance relationship. He drove her back to Tennessee and during the next nine months of the school year, he drove the nine hours down and back about every third weekend. She graduated in general studies in 2015 and moved home, got a job with Americorps for a year and lived with a friend. They wanted to see what it was like to date when they were dealing with routine lives, not just exciting visits. By 2016, he had told her was going to propose, but she figured that with his sense of humor, he would do it at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31.

THE PROPOSAL: On May 21, 2016, the second anniversary of the day they met, Michael told Darby he had a surprise for her. Darby was not the least bit suspicious. They went to Ole Tapas Lounge and Restaurant in Newark for dinner, and then he told her they were going to Hockessin. She started laughing. “What’s in Hockessin?” she demanded. “Are we going to The Well?” They were. They walked in and she found an area had been cleared out. He put on music and asked her to dance with him. She kicked off her shoes and took his hand. They swayed back and forth to Kip Moore’s “Hey Pretty Girl,” and he started talking about their lives together and how happy he was with her and how he wanted to make her happy. Then he got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She was shocked. “Is this a joke”” she demanded. Then she laughed and said, “Yes!” They kissed and he said, “OK. I’ll be right back” and he bolted up the stairs. She heard a lot of cheers and then a herd of people came running down the stairs. It turned out that he had talked to her dad five months before and then gone around and gotten her parents, his parents, their siblings and friends from across the globe to help make a video for her. They all watched the video and partied the night away.

THE CEREMONY: Darby and Michael married three months later, on Sept. 4, 2016, at Old Stone Farm in Landenberg, Pennsylvania. They had known they wanted an outdoor ceremony and they knew they had to do it quickly or wait until the following year. They loved the venue, which had an opening over Labor Day weekend. They said their vows in a field outside the restored barn, near a rustic cross. A blanket Michael placed around the base of the cross had special meaning to them. They had used it their first summer when they went to a picnic at Lums Pond and ended up lost after going for a walk around the pond as it was getting dark. Their phones died. They held hands and eventurally found their way back to the picnic site, where they laid on the blankets and watched the stars. Michael took it with them for the Central Park picnic. It would go on to be the tree skirt for their first Christmas tree and used at a picnic in their first home. The flower girls threw petals that Darby’s mother had dried from flowers Darby’s dad had given her when she turned 16 and from the first flowers that Michael gave Darby. Michael wrote the entire service, which Robert officiated. Aly Reed, who roomed with Darby in Uganda, sang at the ceremony. They had a prayer, short sermon and then communion ordered at Wawa. Darby had pocketed a roll for communion from McKenzie’s restaurant, where the rehearsal dinner was held, only to wake up the next day to discover that her pitbull/lab mix pooch, Moose, had eaten it. “Very sweet, but always hungry,” she says. So on the way to the service, she stopped at Wawa and bought another roll, reasoning they were always her favorites anyway. And because Darby and Michael wanted to focus the day on starting a new life, rather than having a grand party for friends, they had a feet washing ceremony. “Washing your feet is a sign of humbling yourself and serving each other, and that’s what we wanted our marriage to be,” Darby says. “We wanted to start by serving each other.” They used an old metal wash tub that had belonged to her great-grandmother, Mary Norma Hill, right in front of the cross. Their vows ended the ceremony.

THE DRESS: Darby didn’t expect to wear a traditional dress, just something white, flowy and fun. But with two months to go, she went shopping with her mom at Brides and Grooms in Newark. Her mom spotted the gown with cap sleeves, a sweetheart neckline, vintage beading on the bodice and flowy bottom and brought it to her daughter. “I know you didn’t want beading or anything, but when I saw it, it made me think of you,” her mom said. Darby agreed. As soon as she put it on, she thought, “Yep, this is it.”

SOMETHING OLD: Wrapped around her bouquet was a handkerchief that belonged to the same grandmom the wash tub came from. Darby also tucked into her shoe a sixpence given to her by Jessie Duckwarth, a friend from England,.

SOMETHING NEW: Her gown.

SOMETHING BORROWED: The handkerchief, which her mother had loaned her.

SOMETHING BLUE: A pair of lace panties with their wedding date on them, a gift from her friend, Cherith Festa.

THE RECEPTION: The reception started with a cocktail hour in a restored bar and moved to a tent. Darby and Michael were busy greeting guests when he suddenly disappeared. She found him in the bounce house with seven kids piled on top of him. When he came out, he didn’t have his shoes. He still claims the kids stole them. “I think he just wanted to show off his pink socks,” Darby says. “He even left without his shoes that night.” Instead of traditional catering, they hired food trucks I Don’t Give A Fork, Kapow, and utlandish, which each offered several dishes. Guests could just walk up and get what they wannted.

THE MOST POPULAR GIFT: Several sets of the game Cards Against Humanity, which they had on their registry at Target and on Amazon. “Not sure what that says about us,” the bride says.

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THE MOST SENTIMENTAL GIFTS: Darby’s grandfather Howard Gerlach, a woodworker, made them a set of homemade cutting boards. He also created a door harp, which creates music whenever the door is opened. It matches the one at his house.

THE HONEYMOON: They went to Riviera Maya, where they relaxed. They enjoyed massages on the beach, the pool bar and sunbathing. They also went ziplining, rappelling, snorkeling and cliff jumping.

THE FAMILY TREE: Their parents have a great love stories, too. The bride is the daughter of Kim and Andrew Biasotto of North Wilmington. Kim and Andrew’s mothers worked together at the nonprofit Reading Assist and they introduced the pair, hoping Andrew would invite Kim to the prom. He already had a date, but fell in love with Kim and walked her down the aisle. The groom is the son of Gina and Bob Trinsey of North Wilmington. They had grown up in Philadelphia, where she was the girl next door whose friendship turned to love.

WHAT’S NEXT: They rent a house in Claymont, where Michael has made much of their furniture and Darby has enjoyed being able to paint and rearrange to her liking. Michael owns Above Average Handyman, a contracting company. Darby works full-time for The Well as ministry support and financial administrator. They plan to stay in Delaware and adopt a dog soon. They hope kids will arrive in a few years.

To have your ceremony considered for this feature, you must fill out a questionnaire and send us a photo. Please email Sundaylife@delaware online.com or call (302) 324-2884 for a form. This is a free service, and we cannot guarantee a specific ceremony will be chosen. Couples also may have their ceremonies appear in Celebrations, (302) 324-2781.