Grace: started sweetly and simply… Eli: It started with a rejection. Grace: We started off by becoming friends through a church group. Our friendship was based on chocolate-covered tomatillos, music, and studying the Bible together. Eli: AND… I really liked her. A lot! Grace: He asked me out. I panicked. I said yes then I texted him and asked if we could meet earlier for coffee. Eli: To clarify, she asked me if we could meet earlier, not because she just couldn't wait for our first date, but because she wanted to let me down easy. This lovingly became known as our “not a date” date. Grace: On said “not a date” date, we sat and talked for an hour… AFTER I discussed all of the reasons that we probably wouldn’t work out. We sat and talked about life and got ready for what both of us expected to be an uncomfortable camping trip with our church group. Eli: Mind you, this trip was the day AFTER our “not date” date, so I was thinking “how on earth can I win this girl over before the trip is over?” Just kidding. I was terrified. Grace: I was also nervous because I didn’t want to make things weird between us. I really did like him (yes, even though I did reject him), and we spent a lot of the time together, laughing. Eli: Anyway, fast- forward about two months and we’re still in this kinda limbo state of liking each other, but really having no idea what to do with it. And then… one day… I get a call. It’s from Grace! And my heart is beating out of my chest! Grace: So was mine. After talking with my sister, she told me that I was being stupid, so I called him. After a lot of rambling, he took the hint and asked me out for the second time. Eli: And like any gentleman would, I took her to the same coffee shop where we had our “not date” date. I know, classy. Grace: From there, we started to get to know each other more. We had plenty of awkward moments and plenty of fun too. Eli: Yes! We’ve been skydiving, learned how to make pottery, hiking, cookie competitions (first time winners too!), night kayaking, LOTS of game nights, puzzles, we learned how to make Thai food… Lots of amazing stuff! Grace: My favorite times have been simple, where I couldn’t really explain what the day looked like, I just knew it was spent laughing together and talking about what we wanted our future to look like. Eli: Mmm Hmm. Those have by far, been the best times. Neither one of us ever dated before meeting each other, but I knew, pretty early on, that Grace was my first and only love, aside from Jesus. Grace: Oh my goodness. I knew early on that Eli was special, and I was thankful (still am) that he chose me. Eli: Before we knew it, almost a year and a half later, we were back at that same coffee shop (we’re creatures of habit). Grace: I had no suspicion of a proposal, as I was in sweat pants, my hair was wet, and I had three differently-colored jackets on. Eli: She looked so hot! Like that was too many layers to be wearing in a vehicle. Grace: Anyway. Eli: Anyway. For the last year or so, I wrote in a journal every night. I would jot down my thoughts, prayers, and an occasional poem to her. I reached the last page, and realized, this was how I was going to propose to her. So I wrote, “Will you marry me…” and gave her the journal. Grace: And I said yes! Well, first I said “What?” then I said “yes”. To clarify, we had gone through the drive-thru and were sitting in his truck at this point. He told me that both of our families were going to meet later that day to celebrate. The rest was history (this was last month). As we’ve been planning a wedding, we’ve gotten to look back at all the people who have been important in our relationship and reflect on how special it is to not only love each other but have an amazing group of people around us too. And I know I look forward to spending June 27th with my favorite people. Eli: Yes! We’re so excited to celebrate with you all! Thank you for reading this long-winded, amazingly written story.