how it all began…
Gino and Jackie’s story starts on the blacktop at Our Lady of Good Counsel. Gino was in third grade when Jackie started first grade at OLGC. For the next 6 years, their lives would cross paths but it wasn’t until high school that they got to know each other more. They can’t remember the exact time they officially “met”, they just knew they were friends.
Over the course of two years, they became better friends and would spend countless weekends at their best friends Bernie and Allison’s house - the Eisbrenner’s. When Gino was a senior he asked Jackie to prom as a friend. Before boarding the party bus, they took pictures at his Nonni and Nonno’s – not knowing what their story would one day become.
The next 5 years came and went as they both moved on to achieve different goals but they continued to stay in each other’s lives whether it was tailgating at Michigan State, weekends back home, or trips to Florida with friends. In 2018, Jackie moved to Minneapolis for a job opportunity and to be closer to her extended family but they kept in touch over the years as “friends”. Eventually, the distance made them realize there was something more there and the friendship began to take on a different title…so began the long-distance relationship.
Remote working went into effect allowing them to put a pause on having to worry about the next plane ride they’d have to take to see each other. Fast forward four years, and many more plane rides later (this time together) including adventures to Italy, Glacier, Zion, Grand Canyon, California, and Hawaii – it was time for the next big adventure…
The Proposal
The first person to see the ring and hear about Gino’s plans to propose was Jackie’s Nana - Sally. She was never good at keeping secrets, but with all the wedding talks she and Jackie had in her final weeks, she never spilled the beans once. She passed away not long after and never got to see the proposal but was able to give Gino her blessing and was one of his biggest fans.
On April 23, Gino and Jackie had plans to go see a show at the Detroit Opera House with his Nonni and Nonno - Georgia and Silvio. When they arrived at their house, Gino told Jackie they needed to feed the fish in the pond before going inside. She went to look for the food in the gazebo, but when she opened the door, she realized there wasn’t any fish food inside - instead two big words: “MARRY ME”. She shut the door and turned around so fast that Gino could hardly get down on one knee fast enough to ask her to marry him at the very same spot they took prom pictures together 10 years earlier.
