I met Rachel two years ago when she just arrived on the island. I immediately really liked her and we started dating. We started talking after Christmas about going to the next step because we realized we loved each other so much. She’s become my best friend and when you meet someone that’s your best friend and you love them, it’s like a second arm – they’re a part of you. You can’t not be with them.

The engagement was crazy because we got engaged and married so quickly. She hadn’t seen her parents for over a year and a half. They’re from Boston so I flew her parents in and I hid them in some bushes in North Tienmu Park. I also flew my parents in as well. We were going for a coffee in the morning so I had my friend call and say he’s working with some kids at a park and he needed some coffee.

We got to the park and it’s the park where I first told her I loved her. She saw the bench, and she asked, “is this the place where you first told me you loved me?’ I said, “I don’t know. I think it’s somewhere.”

We sat on the actual bench and waited [for] our friend because we had his coffee. I was nervous and looking around. Meanwhile Mr Franklin had placed a camera in the trees and there were three different camera angles and hidden people taking pictures. I turned, got down on one knee, and said “Rachel, this is the bench where I first told you I loved you. I want to ask you if you would want to spend the rest of your life with me. I love you. Will you marry me?”

She broke down – she put her head on her lap and started crying. I grabbed her hand and put the ring on her finger and she said “I love you. I would love to spend the rest of my life with you.”

She turned around and her mom and dad were standing there. She looked at them and was just in complete shock. She dropped down and then she got up and pushed them. It was really cute. I brought in my other parents and she turned and she collapsed again.

Since our parents were here, we got married the next day. The wedding was so much fun. Because she already knew we were getting married at some time, she had created all these painted tshirts. The groomsmen had painted shirts and suspenders. I had a tuxedo t-shirt. She had a painted t-shirt dress. We had all these crazy flowers. It was a lot of fun and we all went crazy. She came down the aisle to a classical Chinese song. We danced out to “Happy.”
 
Mr. Edwards is a upper school drama teacher at Taipei American School. 
 

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