The road to the two of us meeting each other and (after a few years) falling in love is a somewhat long one filled with many, many coincidences, some of which occurred before we were even born! To start, our parents are the exact same age and got married on the exact same month of the exact same year: August, 1987. We are pleased to report that both sets of parents are still happily married and more in love than they were on those reportedly HOT August days. On top of that, both the King and Baucom kiddos were born in the same years with the oldest (Jack and Marlee) being born in 1993 and the youngest (Joe and Kelly) in 1995. We could add that Jim Baucom and Cindy King also happened to ride out the same hurricane at the same campground back in the 70s and the fact that there are about a thousand "Jims" between the two families (both dads, three out of four grandfathers, etc.)... But, you get the point. The two of us grew up in the same Northern Virginia county of Fairfax and went to neighboring high schools about 15 miles away from each other. We enjoyed playing sports and hanging out with our families and Labrador Retriever pups. At the end of our high school careers, both of us decided to attend James Madison University--GO DUKES! ...And you would think that JMU is where our paths finally crossed...

But sadly, JMU was NOT where our paths would converge. In college, we both enjoyed Greek Life and made the friends that are now our best and dearest. We are certain that we attended a few of the same Greek life functions, but still, we never officially met until two years after graduating from JMU. Coming up on the summer of 2018, Jack and his three buddies were looking for a new place to live closer to the heart (and action) of Arlington. They decided on a townhouse in Ballston in a great neighborhood next to town. It just so happened that Kelly also lived in that neighborhood, in the townhouse directly next door to Jack's. After discovering that both houses were filled with JMU alum, we decided to introduce ourselves and go out for a night downtown. The night that we met in person, Kelly went right up to Jack and asked if he would be her new best friend (yes, this actually occurred)... Jack agreed despite having never met Kelly before in his life and he made good on that promise over the next few years. Our first two years of knowing each other were filled with days and nights out in the city, LOTS of Bulldogs football, late night March Madness hangouts, game nights, and tons of smiles and laughter. We really did become best friends, and we wouldn't have wanted it any other way...

Well... looking back, we might have had it SOME other way since we both definitely had feelings for each other at different times throughout those two years. But, in the summer of 2020, we finally shot our shot (after a lot of texting) and told each other how we felt on the now sadly closed Whitlow's Rooftop (RIP). As you can probably guess, the rest is more than history and after just nine months of dating, Jack asked Kelly to marry her on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building in Chicago, Illinois. Kelly said, "Of course!!" and that is what brings us here today. By now, you can probably tell that we consider our marriage to be **meant to be**. We have been blessed beyond measure with a great love and friendship that we know will stand the test of time. We hope that you love our love story as much as we do. We cannot wait to share our love with you on May 13th--LET'S CELEBRATE!

On March 26th, a (very!) windy, yet beautiful day in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, we were married surrounded by family on the beach. It was a perfect day--a day we will never forget! We are looking forward to continuing the celebration with you, our very closest family and friends, on May 13th in Arlington, Virginia.