Our relationship started with a wink across the bar. Ben was interested in the "girl with the voice" wearing cute jeans and Jackie was intrigued by the curly-haired bad-boy playing pool. Ben started up conversation that never really ever ended. We were instant best friends that quickly turned into deep love and admiration for the other. Before our college experiences ended at Central Michigan University in May of 2016, we decided that we want to do this whole life thing together and the future plans were in the making.

We had just taken a break from our tandem bike ride where, picture this, Ben quickly (I wish the underline feature were available) led the way through some woods and down some very steep hills dragging me screaming behind him... We were laughing, joking, and taking pictures of each other pretending to be models. At one point Ben spent a lot of time digging through his bag for lord knows what and I wanted his attention. So I began shaking my booty and singing in a silly voice, “ohhh Benjamin, do you love me? Do you love me, Benjamin!?” He responded with the ring and said, “Enough to ask you to spend the rest of your life with me?” I said yes and that is when all my happy tears started flowing and Ben couldn’t stop laughing. The story of that day gets funnier as it goes - we'll tell you over drinks. ;)

First off, we are so grateful to know the talented photographer, Briana Autran, who earns credit for all photography on our website. She is inviting, open-minded, creative, beautiful, kind - seriously the list could go on & on. To learn more about her, check out the link at the end of this story. Jackie's side of the story goes like this... We met up with the lovely Briana and drove up near the top of Hawksbill Mountain. We planned for another hour long hike up to sunset. Ben is carrying only a few outfits and a tiny cooler containing a half full water bottle, 2 beers, and a few granola bars. We laughed and played while she captured breathtaking photos. After sunset, the three of us began our hike down - all phones nearly dead with no service which we were using for flashlights. Of course, we missed the trail on the way back down. Once we figured we were going the wrong way, we voted to just keep walking down. We thought we were destined to find the road and/or parking lot sooner than later. Eventually I think I see a headlight, which turns out to be a group of campers that I scared the hell out of. Luckily, they have a map and can easily navigate our route. Turns out we went 3-4 miles down in the completely wrong direction. We end up having to stay the night with these generous campers who gave us two tarps, an extra blanket, and filtered water to survive. We began our hike back up at sunrise. A few hours later we spill out of the woods in our clothes from the night before to find an ambulance waiting for us. Turns out we had 8 police departments out looking for us. We laughed through the whole thing and I am thankful to have such good company through this unexpected adventure where we faced fatal possibilities. We still talk about the potentials that could have surfaced in this situation and are so thankful for Mark and Sam - our generous mountain men. https://brianaautran.com/ *She does amazing things. She is definitely a person that you want to know.