Walking in Memphis... to the altar

Alli and Jackson met during junior year at Ole Miss, thanks to a classic friend-of-a-friend setup that neither of them knew would turn into anything serious. Alli had just moved into a house with her sweet friend Kenna, and the two of them wanted to attend a date party together, since they were in different sororities and Kenna had a boyfriend, they decided to set Alli up with one of his friends, Jackson. After some convincing (and a few Instagram exchanges), he finally agreed to be her date… mostly because he was told she was a great cook, among other things, from Kenna and Johny (who are now happily married btw). Ironically, plans almost changed when the original date party was rescheduled, and Jackson had already planned to take someone from home. But fate had other ideas, and the timing worked out perfectly- thank you, Jackson Cheney, for not being on time with the scheduling (the only time we will ever say it). Before the date party, we first met briefly at a concert in Oxford, Takeoff’s (1/3 of the Migos) last ever show. It was a quick exchange, but Alli immediately turned to Kenna and said, “He’s so cute.” Jackson later asked Johny where Alli was and made it very clear he wanted to see her again. A few days later, he officially asked her to the date party at Tango’s. We didn’t know each other well at all, just two people connected through mutual friends, but something clicked right away. The only thing we could confidently bond over at the start of that night was the Dallas Cowboys. By the end, love must have been in the air, because it felt like we had known each other our whole lives. From that night on, things moved quickly in the best way. We went on our first real date at St. Leo, and it felt effortless. We quickly realized how much we had in common from family traditions, twins, shared family birthdays, and a mutual love for PB and chocolate (and maybe each other, too). Exactly one month after that first date party, on Alli’s 21st, Jackson showed up with lunch, a gift, and one more surprise, asking her to officially be his girlfriend. From that moment on, we were inseparable. (Although Alli's still convinced Jackson only chose November 3rd so he could combine an anniversary and birthday into one celebration every year) Later on, we found out Jackson had sworn he would only date someone from Dallas. Then he met a girl from Memphis… and apparently decided rules are meant to be rewritten. We spent the rest of college side by side, attending every date party, Van Buren show, graduation, and everything in between together. One of Alli’s college dreams even came true when she was chosen as Jackson’s fraternity’s Sweetheart. We both stayed an extra year in Oxford. Alli for her SLP master’s program and Jackson for his MBA, making even more memories in the place where it all started. After graduation, Jackson moved to Dallas to work at FedEx (coincidentally, where Alli’s dad also works), and soon after, Alli joined him while completing her clinical externships (because, of course, he’s lucky enough to say a Memphis girl followed him to Texas). In the spring of 2025, we designed Alli’s engagement ring together at DeAngelis Jewelers in Germantown (thank you Mike), dreaming about what the next chapter might look like. And on April 17, 2026, Jackson proposed at Flippen Park, surrounded by so much love from both our families and friends at an engagement party immediately after (thank you to the Busers and Mambo Taxis served on platters). Since that very first date party, we’ve known there was something special about us. What started as a random setup turned into a relationship built on Alli dragging Jackson to new coffee shops, Jackson convincing Alli he has the world’s greatest taste in music, countless anxious nights cheering on our Rebs, and timing that only God could have planned better than we ever could. We’re so grateful for the journey that brought us here and even more excited for everything still to come!