If you’re reading this site, you probably know us at least a little bit. But if you’d like the long, sordid, and ultimately uplifting story of our “courtship”, read on...

Ben and Rachel met at the World Gathering of Young Friends in August of 2005. We were both Quaker and both under 35, so we attended this once-in-a-generation gathering of young Quakers from around the world. In the days before the WGYF at Woodbrooke Quaker Center (the ancestral home of the Cadburys), Rachel and Ben were on separate committees planning the final details of the conference. And they met. Consumed with organizing details, Rachel didn’t give Ben much thought at first, but eventually she formed more of a clear picture: his questions were uncomfortable and his laugh was annoying. Best to avoid him. Ben, however, didn’t come to quite the same conclusion: his interest piqued by her beauty and intensity, he decided to run into her every chance he got.

Two months later, they found themselves on a delegation to Kenya to continue the World Gathering of Young Friends for the many young African Quakers who had been denied visas by the British government. After three weeks of traveling together, a friendship was beginning to form. But not without hardship: Ben awkwardly made his feelings known. And Rachel didn’t return them.

A turbulent friendship followed. After a year and a half, Ben was starting to give up hope. But in 2007, after graduating college, Rachel came to Boston to visit Ben. They began to date. It lasted a week before crashing and burning. They both thought this tale was finally over.

Rachel went off to experience the world, working in Baltimore and Philadelphia and then traveling through the Middle East and Europe. Ben worked internationally, too, but from the comfort of his home in Boston, tripling the size of the film festival he worked for, the 48 Hour Film Project.

In 2009, Ben visited Rachel in her hometown of Baltimore, and the two reconnected during a brief but touching day together. Immediately afterwards, Rachel embarked on a transformational journey along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Before, during, and after, Rachel dreamed of Ben and wrote to him constantly. When she returned, Rachel called Ben and poured her heart out to him. And then Ben told Rachel he had started seeing someone else while she was in Spain.

Two and a half years passed. There were a few phone calls and a brief visit between our star-crossed lovers, and also lots of thinking and growing. Rachel and Ben were scheduled to see each other at the Friends World Conference in Kenya. Due to work commitments, Rachel was not able to attend, but when Ben returned to North America, she called him to ask how it had gone. He told her about it and happened to mention that he had ended his relationship. They started talking more frequently. During this time, Rachel quit her job and ended her relationship too. As friends, they reconnected again and soon discovered they still had feelings for each other. On a whim, Rachel traveled to Burning Man in August of 2012 to experience the event that she had heard about from Ben for so long...and of course see if there still was anything between them.

And there was!

But a few days later, Rachel and Ben were dating again, deepening their friendship and their love. After a year of fun and bi-coastal travel and communication, Rachel moved to Boston in June of 2013 into an apartment with Ben. This December, a little over 8 years after their original meeting, Ben proposed to Rachel through a series of box-within-a-box shenanigans and Rachel said yes!

We will be married at Woolman Hill under the care of Beacon Hill Friends Meeting on June 14th, 2014, and we look forward to sharing with you the celebration of our lives together in the past, present, and future.