From Hannah's POV: Carter and I met on the first day of the Fellows Kick-off Retreat. Picture two nervous introverts meeting each other and that is a pretty accurate depiction of how our first conversation went. Important side-bar: before going off to Fellows, a lot of my college friends joked with me about how I would for sure find my husband among the other fellows. Being the good rule-follower that I am, I assured my friends that was impossible; dating other fellows was strictly off limits. All jokes aside, it was in this context of friendship and rich community, that my feelings for Carter took me by surprise. There were definitely early signs that feelings were developing. I was blown away by his kindness towards and ability to connect with each of the fellows. Anyone who knows me knows the #1 thing I was looking for in a guy was emotional maturity and anyone who knows Carter knows he is overflowing in empathy and compassion. Fast forward to December, I was beginning to feel like I might burst if I didn't tell someone. Telling Carter was of course off limits so the next best thing was telling everyone besides Carter. However I felt a growing resolve to tell him. So one evening after class, I awkwardly pulled Carter aside. After that, I do not remember what words came out of my mouth but it was something along the lines of "I have feelings for you" and some other nervous rambles. Meanwhile, from Carter's POV: Before meeting Hannah, the only thing I knew about her was that she went to W&L. Based on that, I assumed we probably would not be the best of friends (apologies to my new W&L friends, I previously had the impression that W&L was a snobby school, an admittedly hypocritical–one could even say snobby–take from a guy who went to UVA). Anyway, within the first week of meeting her, Hannah proved me to be unbelievably wrong. I remember hearing her testimony days after we met. I was blown away by her story, but even more so by the way she told it: with courage, passion, and conviction in her beliefs. It did not take long for feelings to develop from there. The jury is still out on when exactly I “knew” I had feelings for Hannah. I maintain it was months after we met, but it’s possible that several of my groomsmen would tell you that I started talking about “this girl” much earlier. Either way, by Christmas I knew that I wanted to pursue a deeper relationship with Hannah. How could I not? She was the most empathetic, caring, curious, and intentional woman I had ever met. But being the rule-following person I am, I told nobody in Fellows and buried those feelings deep inside (a good, healthy way to handle emotions). I figured if I felt the same way when the program ended, I’d just ask her out then: a plan that did not account for the possibility that the feelings could be mutual. Hannah, as we now know, had a different approach. When she told me how she felt, I was shocked but filled with joy, and then I panicked because I was not prepared to respond. I imagine I said something smooth like “Wow um okay wait cool um I also have the same feelings that you do.” Here we are a year and a half later. From their perspective: Our story has been characterized by different seasons of waiting. After coming down from the excitement of figuring out we both had feelings for each other, we realized we were entering a 4-month waiting period before we could go on a first date. Entering into long distance when Carter went off to law school meant waiting weeks between each visit. God has been teaching us about what it looks like to wait well: to sit in the sadness and longing while continuing to invest in the communities that God has called us to for this season. We are so grateful for the people that God has put in our lives (that's you!) to walk alongside us in dating, engagement and soon to be marriage. We are so excited for the next chapter in our story and we hope you will join us as we wait with eager anticipation for August 9th!