About Us
We’re Rachael and Jared — a California girl and a Michigander who found each other in the Sunshine City. What started as a Bumble match turned into a love story filled with adventures, laughter, and a whole lot of pickleball.
Now, we’re getting married on April 15, 2027, and we couldn’t be more excited for our future together!
Our Story
We matched on Bumble just a month before Rachael moved to Saint Petersburg from Northern California. Jared even called her during the cross-country drive — talk about making an impression! Our first date was unforgettable: we met at Bad Mother coffee shop, strolled along the pier, had lunch at Doc Ford’s, and walked back into downtown. We were planning to catch a movie but realized we both had dogs waiting for dinner at home. What was supposed to be a casual coffee date turned into a 4-5 hour adventure. We both knew this was something special.
On August 31, 2025, Jared proposed at Lake Tahoe during Rachael’s girls’ trip. He surprised her at a gorgeous golf country club right on the lake’s beach during brunch. Some of Rachael’s best friends were there to celebrate, and Rachael’s sister and her fiancé helped coordinate the whole thing. It was absolutely perfect!
About Jared
Jared works as a salesman for a distributor of valves and actuators, supporting customers across Florida, Alabama, and parts of Georgia. He’s thoughtful, measured, and takes his time thinking things through (sometimes to the point of analysis paralysis!). He’s the calm, put-together one who balances out Rachael’s wild, all-over-the-place energy. He’s quieter and more reserved, but deeply cares about health, wellness, and helping others.
Oh, and he really, REALLY wants a Toyota Tacoma. Like, he won’t stop talking about it. (We’ll get one eventually, Jared!)
About Rachael
Rachael works as a Senior Consultant in Data & AI at Microsoft, working remotely from Saint Petersburg. She’s the planner, the activator, the one who makes things happen. She’s talkative, adventurous, and always has the next trip, activity, or goal lined up. She’s passionate about health and wellness, networking, volunteering with the Junior League of Saint Petersburg, and creating experiences. She’s also the one who gets teased for “not working much” (even though she definitely does — she just doesn’t complain about it as much!).
About Ellie 🐾
Ellie, our sweet yellow lab–golden retriever mix, is 13 years young and doing wonderfully for her age. She loves food, swimming, long walks, and belly rubs — very much in that order. She’s been a constant source of joy and unconditional love, and we’re so grateful for every day with her.
Life Together
We love doing everything together! We play pickleball (not as often as we’d like, but we’re working on it), golf, attend festivals around St. Pete, travel, play cribbage at home, watch shows, read (separately but together), cook and clean (Rachael does a bit more of the cleaning), hit the gym, and constantly challenge ourselves to grow. Right now, we’re doing a dopamine detox together — cutting back on certain habits to be more present and intentional.
We also love going to the beach, paddleboarding, hanging out with family and friends, and catching movies, musicals, concerts, and comedy shows. Whether it’s a quiet night at home or an adrenaline-pumping adventure, we’re all in — together.
Adventures We’ve Shared
We’ve been fortunate to explore some incredible places together:
- Cabo San Lucas — sky bikes!
- TreeUmph! in Florida
- Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco (including Muir Woods)
- Saint Augustine, The Keys (including Dry Tortugas)
- The Bahamas on a cruise
- Rachael’s hometown in Northern California
- Jared’s hometown in Michigan
2026 Travel Plans
This year is packed with adventures:
- Detroit — Jared’s sister is in a musical!
- Austin, TX — first time for both of us
- Michigan — Jared’s uncle’s wedding on July 11
- Nashville — bachelorette and bachelor parties the weekend after (we’ll all meet up one night!)
- NYC & New Jersey — Jared’s cousin’s wedding in September, plus exploring the city
- Michigan for Christmas and possibly North Carolina for Thanksgiving
And for our honeymoon? We’re thinking Costa Rica for 7-10 days!
Our Favorite St. Pete Spots
We love the beaches, Vinoy Park, the pier, and exploring downtown. Saint Petersburg has become home, and we’re so grateful to live in such a vibrant, beautiful city.
What Makes Us, Us
Jared and Rachael complement each other perfectly. We’re both adventurers who love doing things, but Rachael is the planner and activator while Jared is the thoughtful, methodical one. Rachael is wild and all over the place; Jared is calm and put together. Rachael is talkative; Jared is quieter. But we both care deeply about health, wellness, being present, and helping others.
Friends and family say we’re great together — that we complement each other well, share the same values and morals, and that it’s wonderful we found each other. We agree! It feels like a miracle that two people from such different places met in Florida and built this life together.
Our Ideal Sunday
Wake up slowly, make coffee and tea, enjoy breakfast, play a round of golf, grab lunch, relax in a hammock at a park, have dinner, swim or paddleboard at the beach, and finish the night at home watching a favorite show. That’s perfection.
Looking Ahead
We’re excited for what’s next:
- Getting married on April 15, 2027
- Honeymooning in Costa Rica
- Having two kids (ideally a boy and a girl!)
- Finding a bigger house and renting out our current one
- Traveling more — both big, expensive trips and smaller, camping adventures
- Saving to start our own health and wellness business
- Finally getting that Toyota Tacoma (and more fun water toys for family adventures!)
In five years, we’ll be married four years, have at least one child (and maybe be expecting our second!), and be living in St. Pete — probably looking for a bigger house while keeping this one as a rental.
We created this space to share our journey, stories, and adventures with family and friends near and far. Thanks for being part of our story!