“We’re getting Married”

Bryan & Jessica’s paths were quite different prior to meeting each other. While Jessica spent most of her life in the western part of the USA, Bryan had spent his entire life in the Carolinas. Almost as unlikely as a collab between Tupac & Biggie, the paths for these sweethearts aligned in July 2023 when they met while volunteering at Renovation Church in Simpsonville SC. Although we had attended this church for different lengths of time (Bryan since February 2023, Jessica since 2019), we both decided to sign up to volunteer at the church in summer 2023. In July 2023, we began getting to know each other while volunteering on the church’s hospitality team. It was through these weekly 30-minute interactions that our friendship began to develop which laid the foundation for what would come later – a strong and healthy dating relationship. Despite having strong feelings early on, Bryan took the courtship slowly, mostly due to his personality, and partly due to breaks in seeing each other. As an Enneagram type 5 and Myer’s Briggs INTJ, Bryan’s pace is reminiscent of a tortoise. (Slow and steady, but eventually winning the race.) In October, Bryan made the bold move of asking Jessica for her phone number at church and then, asking her out later that same day. Our first date was postponed due to Jessica’s cat (Penny) getting pneumonia, so it ended up being 6 weeks between asking her out and our first date. Although the wait was long, the reward was well worth it! The first date was excellent and was the driving force behind Bryan & Jessica’s relationship moving from friendship into dating. Due to conflicting holiday schedules, it was another 6 weeks between the 1st & 2nd date, but the 2nd date was even better than the first! More dates began to follow and by April, Bryan & Jessica had confessed their love for each other. Since then, our love has continued to grow stronger by the day, and in June we began discussing the possibility of marriage. In July, Bryan proposed to Jessica at Caesar’s Head State Park while we were on top of a mountain, both literally and figuratively, and I know that neither of us ever want to come down. -Bryan