Sarah and Mark Dale                            – The Bay Net photo by Anna Bedford

This Valentine’s weekend the NewTowne Players will produce “Love Letters,” a drama in epistolary form, as a fundraiser for the community theatre. “It’s a tradition with ‘Love Letters’ to have a celebrity couple perform,” said Wendy Heidrich, artistic director, who invited Mark Dale and Sarah Raley Dale to star in the upcoming performance.

Mark and Sarah became local celebrities when they were selected as The Today Show’s Hometown Wedding couple last year, so while Mark hasn’t acted since grade school, he should be used to an audience. The two became instantly famous in St. Mary’s County, during the filming and the much publicized wedding preparations they found themselves recognized everywhere. “We’re like the little hometown celebrities,” said Sarah.

“I would go to Target just before they closed,” said Mark, “because I’d go in for toilet roll and razors and it would take two hours!”

“I can definitely understand how famous people can’t get their daily things done,” Sarah said Wednesday. “We’ve kind of decided that we can’t go to the grocery store together, because then people will definitely recognize us.”

And the celebrity recognition isn’t confined to St. Mary’s County, or even Maryland. The couple recently got congratulated by a waitress in Wyoming, and they were tapped on the shoulder going down an escalator in Pennsylvania. But the publicity isn’t all unwelcome. “A lot of people ask about my dad, which is nice,” said Sarah, whose father is undergoing treatment for cancer. “People feel like they know him and they care.” Sarah said her parents were delighted with the wedding, and her mom didn’t mind not having too much input. “She’s not into party planning and big social events, anyway,” said Sarah, “ my parents had their wedding in their home” – which was a far cry from their daughters large and elaborate ceremony.

Fittingly, “Love Letters” is the story of a couple who have been friends since childhood and the progression of their relationship as revealed through the letters they write to each other. Mark and Sarah met at Leonardtown High School and began dating when Mark was a senior there and Sarah was a junior. They will have been together for seven years this June. Sarah wanted to graduate from college – she attended St. Mary’s – before they got engaged. Mark had the ring six months in advance but waited until after graduation. He proposed while they were vacationing in the French Riviera, a trip that was Mark’s graduation gift to Sarah, who loves to travel.

The couple bought a house in Lusby and had a year to decorate and fix it up before the wedding. Sarah who likes to do interior painting in her spare time, did all of the interiors herself. They are currently living in Calvert but would like to move back to St. Mary’s “and the water,” perhaps to Valley Lee where Sarah’s parents are. Today Sarah is director of sales at the Hampton Inn, and Mark manages ProFitness Gym in Wildewood.

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