It all started at an international boarding school nestled in the side of a mountain in Kijabe, Kenya. Luke and Claire met as juniors and quickly became close friends. After high school, they parted ways for university. After three years they reconnected at a mutual friend's wedding, where they began to text every few months. But one fateful summer day in 2023, Luke asked if Claire would be free to call. So as good friends do, they called for 3 hours. One call turned into two, and soon Claire and Luke began to talk every couple of weeks. By Thanksgiving, Claire had a HUGE crush on Luke. With encouragement from her best friend, she gathered up the guts to ask him out. Thankfully, it went very well, since he had been planning to do the same thing. Claire visited Luke on her way home to Arizona for Christmas, where they spent three days getting to know each other in person and sharing their beliefs and values. They agreed on every front, so it felt only natural for them to start dating! The next 5 months were spent flying back and forth between Tennessee and New Jersey. It wasn’t hard to see how they were a perfect match. Come June, Luke had moved to Phoenix and proposed to Claire at the top of a mountain, and she said YES! Now the rest is history :)

We’re heading back to New Jersey for Luke to start his Masters of City & Regional Planning at Rutgers University! Claire will be working remote and they'll both be attending Claire's home church: Jacob's Well.