This Delaware couple invited cockroaches to their reception
Rachel Goldwasser and Daniel Sheehan
June 18, 2016
THE INTRODUCTION: Rachel Goldwasser of New Jersey and Daniel Sheehan of Wilmington met at Kid Shelleen's in Trolley Square on Oct. 22, 2010. She was 28, living in Wilmington and working as a teacher for children with autism in the Brandywine School District. Dan was 32, living in Wilmington and working as an accountant at a Wilmington bank. They were both out with friends. Rachel and her friend Sara Kosciuch were sitting on benches, chatting. Dan and his friends Jason Kane and Vince Socorse, who had been bar-hopping, walked in and sat down near the women. Jason struck up a conversation and soon the whole group was chatting. When Rachel and Dan started talking, they realized they had both been to Costa Rica recently and that they had a lot in common, including both attending the University of Delaware and living just around the corner from each other in Wilmington. They talked the rest of the night. Dan wanted to ask her out, but Rachel's sister was getting married the next weekend, and she wasn't available. She says it took a while to find an open date because he's a huge football fan and they had to wait until there was a day with no games. What teams? "Every team," she says. He laughs and corrects her: "No. Just Notre Dame and the Eagles." They did manage to meet for drinks a couple of times.
THE FIRST DATE: In mid-November, they went to Pizza by Elizabeths in Greenville. "It's different, it's local and it wasn't part of the whole Trolley Square bar scene," Rachel says. Dinner went well enough that Dan invited Rachel back to his place to drop off his car so they could walk to Kid Shelleens' for a drink and also to meet his dog Bailey, a yellow lab.
THE FIRST KISS: Bailey was jealous when he met Rachel, and stayed that way for a few months. After drinks at Kid Shelleen's, Dan walked Rachel back to her place, where he kissed her good night. Neither ever dated anyone else again. She liked it that he was tall, had pretty blue eyes and really loved and took care of his dog. And Rachel bought that dog's devotion with treats and walks in the park. He liked that she was tall, vivacious, had a sarcastic wit and that she was athletic like him and they could work out together. After three years, they moved in together. By then, she wanted to know where their relationship was headed. She didn't exactly pester him, she says, but their understanding had gone far enough that Rachel and Dan had gone to Steven Singer Jewelers in Philadelphia to look at rings in August 2014. She had made it clear she wanted to provide some “guidance,” and Dan realized he shouldn't make the purchase on his own, especially after she confided that she'd had a "nightmare" in which he proposed and picked the wrong ring. Rachel picked out a few different bands and stone shapes she liked, and left the rest to Dan. They went on to adopt another dog, WGEB Barkley, a black lab.
STORY: He got down on one knee to propose. So did she.
STORY: They washed each other's feet before saying 'I do"
THE PROPOSAL: Feb. 7, 2015, seemed like a normal day to Rachel, who had no suspicions anything was afoot. But Dan didn't want to wait until Valentine's Day to propose because that seemed a little cheesy to him. Rachel left to run errands and when she returned, Dan was upstairs with the dogs. He asked Rachel to call Barkley. When she did, Barkley came downstairs with a red heart decoration around his neck. As the dog got closer, Rachel realized he was chewing on a small black box. She opened it and saw her beautiful ring. As she was putting the ring on, she told Dan, who had been standing at the top of the stairs watching, that he had not even asked the question. He asked. She said yes.
TELLING THE PARENTS: Dan had the ring delivered to his mom’s house so she was aware of the pending proposal. Rachel’s parents happened to be on a cruise that week and Rachel couldn't reach them. When she did, she talked to her mom, but her dad was in the shower and it was 30 minutes before his mom could give him the good news.
THE CEREMONY: The wedding ceremony took place on June 18, 2016, in the Delaware Museum of Natural History’s “Butterfly Garden” in Wilmington. The couple didn't want to celebrate in a traditional hotel banquet hall, and they had narrowed the choices down to the museum and one other place. But they also wanted to have Toscana cater the reception, and it does at the Museum of Natural History. The ceremony started with a touching tribute to Dan's father and Bailey, both of whom had died before the wedding. Rachel and Dan chose not to have a wedding party. Instead, Barkley served as dog of honor, best dog and ring bearer. He wore a bow tie, cufflinks and ring pouch and was walked into the ceremony by Rachel and Dan's neighbor, Jody Gray. The biggest laugh of the day came when the officiant, Rosalie Rutkowski, asked Barkley for the rings.
THE DRESS: Rachel wore a strapless lace gown by Modern Trousseau from Jennifer’s Bridal in Hockessin. She didn't have anything old, but her something new was her gown and shoes. She also didn't have anything borrowed, but her something blue was a hair clip that had a touch of blue to pick up the color in Dan's tie.
THE RECEPTION: The reception also took place at the Delaware Museum of Natural history. Rachel and Dan arranged for some of the museum’s animals to come out during the cocktail hour. As guests were enjoying the food from Toscana, they could examine hissing cockroaches, a boa snake, a gecko and an albino hedgehog, all of which made the rounds. In addition to a cupcake tower, Rachel and Dan arranged for ice cream with that cake. They are huge fans of the UD creamery, and Rachel had reserved the UD “moo-mobile” food truck for the wedding even before they picked the location. The creamery allowed them to pick 10 flavors, such as Allnighter, Delaware River Mud Pie and Fluffer Nutter, a process Rachel said was nerve-wracking because she loves them all.
THE MOST SENTIMENTAL GIFT: The presence of family and friends, including Dan’s Aunt Patricia Sheehan and stepmother Carol Casey, both of whom he has not seen in many years, and Rachel's 94-year-old grandmother, Helen Marder.
THE HONEYMOON: Dan and Rachel spent 13 days on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Kauai. In Maui, they cliff-jumped, drove the road to Hana, watched the sunrise on Mount Haleakala and then biked down the side of the volcano. They just missed the arrival of Hurricane Darby. In Kauai, they did a lot of hiking, including taking one of the dogs from the Kauai Humane society on a “field trip” for the day.
THE FAMILY TREE: The bride is the daughter of Laura and Dr. Stephen Goldwasser of Manalapan, New Jersey. The groom is the son of Nancy Kirk of Wilmington and the late Kevin Sheehan.
WHAT'S NEXT: The couple recently bought a home in the Highlands area of Wilmington, where they live with Barkley and their new chocolate lab puppy, Rylee. Rachel teaches autistic chlldren in the Christina School District and Dan is an accountant at the same financial services company where he worked when they met. They enjoy spoiling their dogs and hope to have children one day.
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