Just Married: Will Chase and Anna Hahn

It was like the movies.

Anna Hahn and Will Chase met Dec. 15, 2014, at a Young Professionals Group meeting. It was the last YPG meeting for Anna, because she didn’t want to see Will again. ‘He is ridiculous and full of himself,’ she said after they met. Even though she avoided the YPG meetings, she couldn’t avoid Will. They kept running into each other at various events.

Two years later, they were both going through a divorce with the same divorce attorney and became a sounding board for one another. In June of 2017, two months after Anna’s divorce was finalized, Will asked her out on a date. Anna didn’t feel like dating, but decided it wouldn’t hurt to go.

The two hit it off and continued to hang out. Things got serious

after Anna was flipped off an ATV at a friend’s lake cabin and had to be rushed to the hospital.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Will said to her after her accident. “Will you be my girlfriend?”

The proposal

Anna was celebrating her 30th birthday May 1, 2018. The two went to dinner at Lila, and Will had prepped the table with balloons and a bottle of wine beforehand. She thought nothing was out of the ordinary — it was just a normal birthday celebration.

After dinner, he asked if she wanted to go watch the sunset at Bayfront Park. The day before, they had watched the sunset as well, so Will told her they watched the sunset together while she was ending her 20s, and now again at the start of her 30s.

Will started talking about their past year together — how he didn’t expect to meet someone so soon, how amazing the past year was and all that they had been through together.

Then Anna realized Will wasn’t beside her anymore and turned around.

“He was on his knee, hair in a man bun, proposing to me,” Anna says.

The wedding

Four years to the day they met, Will and Anna were married. 

Will’s first wedding was really large, Anna’s first wedding was very small, so they decided to try something new.

“I really liked the royal wedding,” Anna says. “A morning wedding with lunch, and then everyone is free to do what they want after that.”

Anna was a low-key bride, so the wedding planning went smoothly. The tone of the wedding was set right away with a watercolor painting invitation by their friend Mimi Cirbusova, featuring elaborate greenery and deer. The couple was affectionately nicknamed the Bambi’s, which coordinated well with just a touch of the holiday season.

The day before the wedding, lightning struck the church, taking the power out. The church didn’t have a working sound system or lights for their big day, so they relied on only natural light, making it that much more special for the couple.

“The part I was most present and feeling like I was aware of what was happening, was when I was saying vows in the church,” Anna says. “It was very intimate, emotional and spiritually moving.”

Will’s favorite part, he says, was seeing Anna walk down the aisle and then shaking her dad’s hand.

“My favorite moment was having all my friends and family looking at us, but being aware of that and being present, looking Will in the eyes and feeling all that energy and peace,” Anna says.

Anna tried hard not to cry during the wedding — she didn’t want to ruin her makeup — although Anna says Will didn’t hold back. He “cried like a baby — huge alligator tears.”

After the wedding, the couple posed for photos at their favorite places around town, including many spots downtown, the Center of Architecture, Burns Court and The Compound.

The couple ended the day at Embassy Suites Sarasota celebrating with 70 of their friends and family, before ending the night with casual drinks at local downtown spots.

“It was exciting, it was fast — I was pleased about how everything came together,” Anna says.