We met at Lauren’s first cousin Bailee’s wedding—who also happened to be marrying one of Chris’s best friends, Mason—on May 21, 2022, in Birmingham, Alabama. When Lauren saw Chris walk down the aisle, she immediately knew she needed to talk to him at some point that night… but she wasn’t going to make it easy. Chris made several attempts throughout the evening to get close and start a conversation, but every time he did, Lauren played it cool and casually walked in the opposite direction. Just when Chris was about ready to give up, Lauren’s mom and sister-in-law swooped in and encouraged him to try one last time. Chris told them he had already tried multiple times—but agreed to give it one more shot. That conversation changed everything. After that, Lauren made sure to spend as much time with Chris as possible for the rest of the night. We hit it off quickly and soon learned that Chris lived in Las Vegas while Lauren lived in Pensacola. Despite the distance, we discovered we had several mutual friends and instantly felt connected. We FaceTimed nearly every night for weeks, and eventually Lauren planned a trip to visit Chris in Vegas—where we officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. We both knew long distance would have its challenges, but we never questioned whether we’d end up together. After that first trip, we knew this was something special and built to last. We dated long distance for about nine months, met each other’s families, and then in 2023, Chris made the biggest sacrifice of our relationship by moving to Pensacola. Since then, we’ve moved into a new home, adopted two cats, and built a fun, exciting life together. In May of 2025, we traveled to Spain with some of Chris’s family, and on May 4th, Chris proposed in Madrid. It was truly a dream come true. We always knew we wanted an intimate destination wedding and had heard nothing but amazing things about Banff. Although we’ve never been before, we can’t wait to experience it for the first time with our closest friends and family. We’re so excited to celebrate, dance, and drink the night away with you all at the Fairmont golf course. We are incredibly grateful for each of you and for the love and support you’ve shown us throughout our journey. We feel so lucky to have such special people in our lives and cannot wait to celebrate together.