Raquel & Russell in Baltimore, MD

Sometimes people discover that “the one” has been right in front of them the whole time. That’s what happened to Raquel and Russell. They met at a party when they were kids, and though they attended different schools and lived in different states, they maintained a friendship that decades later, evolved into something much bigger. “It was like one day I finally saw who he was,” says Raquel. The Bride Raquel Williams, 38, Census Bureau supervisor The Groom Russell Clark, 39, president of an IT consulting firm The Date May 1 The two dated for three-and-a-half years before Russell’s public proposal. The couple planned a weekend trip to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC. They finally stopped at the Tulip Library and Russell knew that was the spot. He flagged down another couple and asked them to take a photograph of them. “I gave the guy a wink and said one more shot, and then I knelt down and proposed,” says Russell.