A Whirlwind Romance Shared by Ferdinand Jewelers

As a family jeweler serving a community for nearly 40 years, we are privileged to share many beautiful stories while building lifelong relationships with our customers. Here’s Rachael's story.

Pictured above is Rachael’s mother Wendy on her first Mother's Day 23 years ago! Rachael is a quadruplet, one of two girls and two boys. They are an ER nurse, a social worker, an electrician, and a tool and die machinist. All are healthy, full grown and amazing young people who I have watched grow up from birth as the family jeweler.

Rachael’s story:

Chris and I met in February 2021 on the dating app Hinge. Chris, an officer in the Marine Corps, was deployed in Kuwait and still had two months left in the deployment. I live in New Jersey. Within 24 hours of messaging on the app, I was jokingly, half-seriously telling my nurse friends at the ER that I had met the love of my life on Hinge! The next day, we FaceTimed from opposite sides of the world… and every day after that for the following two months, for several hours a day.

Chris already had 17 days of leave planned to go home to Staten Island in April, so we arranged to spend our first weekend together in Atlantic City. But how and where would we actually MEET for the first time? We decided to have me pick up Chris from the airport.

After taking two shots of Bacardi parked in my car at Newark Airport (I was so nervous lol!), I looked for Chris at Baggage Claim 1 Terminal. I ran over as soon as I saw him and we kissed right away, both laughing because of how surreal the moment was. We hung out for a few hours at the airport, and then I took Chris home where I was introduced to his ENTIRE family and close friends (scary, right?). It was that weekend when Chris told me he was going to marry me, and I knew he was right.

In the year that followed, Chris and I had the most successful long-distance relationship that anyone could hope for. I headed out to San Diego, California every 2-3 weeks to be with him and we took incredible adventures together - visits to 8 national parks, spontaneous trips to Disneyland, and awesome road trips. My favorite was the drive up and down the California coast.

The year of journeys was wonderful, but I think the reason for our successful long-distance relationship was that we always put each other first. We have always treated each other with the utmost respect, a solid basis for our genuine loving friendship.

Fast forward… a month ago, Chris got orders to Okinawa, Japan. We both knew immediately that we would take the orders together or not at all. Within 48 hours, we decided to spend the next three years together in Japan, a Big Life Change, but an easy decision knowing we’d have each other. And that’s when Chris and I decided to get married!

The last month has been a whirlwind. Chris immediately flew to New Jersey to ask my dad for his blessing. The next day, Chris and my mom went to the Ferdinand’s (of course!) to find the perfect engagement ring, which the Ferdinands had ready in a day! Chris picked up the ring, flew back to California, and on April 14 at my favorite beach in Encinitas, he proposed!

We will celebrate with a small ceremony on May 29 on Coronado Island, California. I can’t wait!! I’ll send pics!

Author’s note: I am one of a set of quadruplets. We are very close. When my soon to be fiancé visited Ferdinand Jewelers for a ring, Chris Ferdinand (the other Chris) informed him that he needed to ask not only my dad for his blessing, but my siblings too because we are a package deal!