To our family and friends: With our families, Jake and I have decided to postpone our wedding reception until a later date. This was a difficult and emotional decision as we have been planning this day for a year and half and looking forward to it for much longer. After almost 8 years together, Jake and I are so ready to be married. When we got engaged, the word we heard the most was FINALLY! We know many of our family and friends have been looking forward to this day with us for so long now, and we are all hurt and upset. Many tears have been shed, but keeping everyone safe is so so important right now. With our families, in a small ceremony, Jake and I will be married on May 16th. It is important to us that we get married like we had planned. Our wedding celebration at a later date will have a ceremony and reception so everyone can celebrate with us, FINALLY. We will be sending out more information in the mail soon and also updating our website. Thank you for your support, prayers and love. We truly could not get through this without you!

Although we had been going to school together for a few years, we didn't really get to know each other until our freshman year of high school. Assigned seats in freshman English class placed us right next to each other and our friendship began. We became close friends throughout high school and finally started dating on Jake's birthday, right before senior year began. After we graduated from high school, Jake went on to play football at Averett University in Virginia, and Abigail moved to Campbell University for school. Our undergraduate years went by quick, and we were anxious to see where our paths would continue. Jake landed a research position at South Dakota State and Abigail began pharmacy school at Campbell. Even though 1,400 miles separated us for two years, we remained strong and enjoyed many FaceTime dates and trips over school breaks together. From early on, we knew we were meant for each other and persevered through the many years of being long-distance!

Jake and McKenzie (Abigail's cousin and MOH), had came up with a plan to get Abigail on board with taking pictures when Jake was home for Thanksgiving. They decided to take them at Childress Vineyards, and Abigail was completely clueless the entire time! McKenzie had taken a few to get the lighting right, and somehow Jake managed to sneak the ring out of her camera bag without Abigail noticing. McKenzie started to take more pictures, and after Abigail realized Jake had moved away from her, she turned around and noticed Jake was on one knee. How else does one celebrate just getting engaged in Lexington? As soon as we finished taking pictures, Jake and McKenzie were starving, so we went to the BBQ Center for lunch and came up with how to tell our parents. Abigail was still in complete shock, she couldn't eat anything or stop shaking the entire time! We spread the word through our parents and grandparents, and surprised the rest of our families on Thanksgiving the next day. It was a truly magical moment that we had looked forward to for so long and we will remember those details forever. After being together for nearly eight years, we couldn't be happier to finally be preparing and planning for our wedding! We are excited to see how God will bless us as we begin our journey together!