Michele Frances Popple and Brett Alyn Howell of Gainesville, Fla., have set a Dec. 16, 2006, wedding date. The 12 p.m. ceremony will be held at Wake Forest United Methodist Church in Wake Forest.

The bride-elect is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. David Paul Popple of Raleigh. Her grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Paul David Popple of Gainesville, Fla., and the late Mr. and Mrs. Willie Haywood Ayscue of Chicago, Ill. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University and is employed as a genetics technologist at the University of Florida Cytogenetics Laboratory.

Her fiance is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Dwight Alyn Howell of China Grove. His grandparents are Mr. and Mrs. Carl Junior Gaskey and Mr. and Mrs. James Herbert Howell Jr., of Salisbury. He is a graduate of North Carolina State University and is employed with the University of Florida as a doctoral student pursuing his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering.