- Roughly 27 years after their first wedding, a divorced Cincinnati couple has tied the knot again.
- Daughter Rachel Gaede has been documenting their unique love story, which went viral earlier this month.
Roughly 27 years after their first wedding — which ended in a somewhat contentious divorce — Cincinnati couple Julie Shore and Scott Gaede, both 54, remarried in an intimate ceremony on Thursday attended only by their two daughters, Rachel and Caroline.
The couple and their unique love story had previously gone viral. Last week, the two recounted to Business Insider their reconciliation 7 years later, having found their way back to one another after a rapid succession of family tragedies and milestones.
A cousin, Cameron, who served as the ring-bearer at Julie and Scott's first wedding, was chosen to officiate. Julie told BI she didn't want a stranger performing the ceremony, which she envisioned as an intimate testament to the perseverance of their family — even as hundreds of thousands of fans have followed the journey on daughter Rachel's TikTok account.
@gachelraede our cousin brother (16 DAYS)
♬ My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski
"Despite the fact she's blasted it all over the internet, this is a very intimate moment for our family, and it's important that we value it as a unit," Julie said.
The wedding date was chosen based on Julie's hairdresser's availability
Scott proposed to the whole family last Christmas, first asking permission from Julie's 98-year-old mother and then giving daughters Rachel, 24, and Caroline, 20, their own rings containing stones from Julie's original engagement ring.
Julie told BI she initially envisioned a destination wedding somewhere warm. But this fall, she felt a renewed sense of urgency to make things official after her mother suffered a health setback and hearing about the fatal shooting that occurred at UNC Chapel Hill in August, where Caroline goes to school. When her notoriously busy hairdresser texted an appointment reminder for December 28, it was settled.
"I had a moment of, 'We just need to make it official,'" Julie told BI. "'We need to be a family in every way right now.' And so we've just mobilized."
@gachelraede second time’s a charm
♬ My Love Mine All Mine - Mitski
In recent weeks, they've been planning the event "on the fly" in just 20 days, Julie said — though she also has plans for a larger gathering for the extended family in the future.
'Everyone wept their eyeballs out'
The ceremony took place in the window-filled hallway of a local theater, Rachel told BI, and her parents wrote their own vows, adding that her dad had some anxiety about delivering without crying in front of everyone.
"Everyone wept their eyeballs out," Rachel confirmed on TikTok.
Julie told BI her dress was "reminiscent" of her first wedding gown, but with a shorter, "second wedding vibe." She also selected blue satin mini-dresses for her daughters, and Rachel did Julie's makeup for the big day.
@gachelraede successful parent trap
♬ WAR IS OVERRR - sarah
On TikTok, after the ceremony was complete, Rachel joked that her life was like "The Parent Trap," the 1998 film where two daughters scheme to reunite their divorced parents, and viewers were also touched and tickled by the cinematic love story.
"Wait, so all that trauma was for nothing?!" one joked. "This is my royal wedding," another added.
"Thanks for taking the time to share this journey with us strangers," a third commenter said.