In the summer of 2021, Leah, Jared, and Nessa spent a month living in Lewes, Delaware, performing a two-person production of Hansel and Gretel with the Rehoboth Summer Children’s Theatre. Their mission? To teach kids across the state about the importance of a well-balanced diet — all through the magic of a fairytale.

With no real responsibilities outside of bringing joy (and vegetables) to the local libraries of Delaware, Leah and Jared made the most of their month by creating a 30-day bucket list. They played mini golf, took the ferry to Cape May, discovered new coffee shops, rode bikes to get ice cream, watched both the sunrise and sunset on the beach along with other various beach activities.

One day, while driving to one of their two-show days, Leah spotted a field of sunflowers. She immediately wanted to stop and take pictures. Jared, ever the responsible one, promised, “We’ll stop on the way home.” But by the time they finished their shows, the weather had turned, and the stop never happened.

Two years later — They are performing in a production of The Sound of Music together. Jared had planned a week-long vacation for the two of them. None of this was unusual; They have now performed in over 5 productions together and Jared often takes the lead on planning. But a few days into the trip, Leah couldn’t help but say, “You are making this the best week of my life… What gives?”

They hiked, saw a Broadway musical, and even made a pit stop back in Philly so Leah could facilitate the final performance of a class she was teaching — “Couldn’t they just move the vacation around?” Everything felt effortless, fun, and full of intention — just the way Jared wanted it to.

They made their final stop of the week in Lewes, DE. Jared had made Leah feel so carefree, as he often does, that as they drove to their dinner reservations, she didn’t even notice they were heading in the wrong direction. She didn’t question it when they pulled into a sunflower farm. She thought it was cute that someone else was having a photoshoot there — not realizing she was the reason for it.

Moments later, Jared was down on one knee in the very kind of sunflower field they never got to stop at two years before — asking Leah to be his wife.

Leah and Jared grew up only forty-five minutes apart in Maryland, but somehow, the universe decided to make them wait. For years, they lived parallel lives—same corner of the world, same love for theater, same general orbit—but their paths never quite crossed. It wasn’t until both of them independently moved to Philadelphia that fate finally gave them a nudge.

Their first meeting could have been any number of moments. Maybe it was the night their group of friends went to trivia. Or perhaps it was when they saw that one musical at that one theater. It might even have been at that party, when Jared ended up holding the cute girl’s dog. Whatever the case, their paths crossed more than once. They did not think much of it at the time until they were cast opposite each other in Goosebumps the Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium at The Walnut Street Theatre. Between the rehearsals, the laughter, and the occasional spooky sound effect, they finally had the chance to really get to know each other.

Jared made the first move—he offered to drive all the way from his apartment in Chinatown to 11th and Tree Street just to give Leah a ride to rehearsal at 8th and Walnut. And if you know anything about Philly, Leah probably should’ve known right then and there that he had a crush on her. She declined the ride but accepted the offer to get coffee after one of the shows. They will have been together for 7 years on their wedding day.