Michael and Daniella met for the first time on April 1, 2012 while performing at a concert with the Unity Gospel Ensemble at Northeastern University. Marc Diaz, Michael’s best friend and best man, was the director of the choir at the time and he had invited Michael to sing as a guest artist for the concert. Daniella was a member of the choir and she could not help but be drawn to Michael as he sang down heaven and ushered in the spirit of God into the church during the final song of the night. The concert ended, they had an unremarkable first introduction, and they went their separate ways for a few years.
During the summer of 2014, Daniella was a part of the search committee that was in charge of interviewing and hiring a choir director for the Unity Gospel Ensemble. She remembered Michael from the first day that she met him and he was her first choice as a candidate. Luckily, Michael had just moved back to Boston from Springfield and he was looking for an opportunity to work with a college choir. Daniella and Michael spent the first year working together at Northeastern without any romantic sparks.
The following year started out the same but at a certain point Daniella and Michael began spending more time together. It started out in group settings with mutual friends but as time went on, the time that they spent together involved less and less people until eventually, it was always just the two of them. Michael would occasionally mention this girl that he thought he might like but because they were so close as friends - Daniella didn’t even think that he could have been talking about her and Michael never elaborated beyond that. The academic year came to a close, Daniella moved back home to Maine for the summer, and things seemed to slow down.
The turning point in their relationship happened in the middle of that summer when Daniella came back to Boston for a few days to look for an apartment. Michael found out that she was in town and dropped what he was doing to meet her where she was. They hung out that night with one of Daniella’s close friends, Ashley (who is one of the bridesmaids). They were having a deep discussion and Ashley asked Michael a random question about what he would name his future child. The name that he said that night was a name that Daniella had carried in her spirit from a young age and a name that she knew she would give to one of her children in the future. And in that moment, it felt like so much more than serendipity and more like a confirmation that they shared a profound connection.
Michael and Daniella have talked every single day since that night.
When Daniella went back to Maine, Michael would call her every single night and they would talk about everything and anything for hours at a time. It continued that way for a short while and during that time, they did not say a single word to each other about what was evolving between them. It was not until Michael took Daniella out for a special dinner that he shared his feelings for her and his intention to date her.
Their very first date followed shortly after and it was at Seasons52 in Chestnut Hill.
Throughout their wonderful two and a half year courtship, Michael and Daniella talked fondly and often about their future together.
However, it still came as a complete surprise to Daniella when Michael finally proposed to her.
On December 8th, 2018, Michael executed the most beautiful and unexpected proposal to Daniella in the presence of their friends, family, and beloved church community at Bethel’s Annual Christmas Cantata.
For those who know Michael very well, they know that this event is one of the most momentous nights of the year for him and it requires a lot of time, energy, discipline, and prayer in order to be able to pull it off successfully every year.
Michael had tasked Daniella with running the lights (as she had for the past two years) but that year he was intentional about giving her a title as a production assistant. Daniella did not understand why she needed a title to run lights, so when the end of the night came and he called all his production assistants to the stage - she stayed in her seat. It took her a few minutes to realize that she needed to go up to the stage. As she stood up there, she had no idea what to expect as Michael began to thank her but her heart melted as she heard him say,“ ... I don’t want to do life without her.” And before she knew what was happening, Michael got down on one knee and asked Daniella to marry him.
The rest is history... and the future.
We are honored and infinitely blessed to be able to celebrate the next phase of our lives together with the people that we love most in this world. Thank you for being a part of our special day.