Our story up to this point has been anything but typical or predictable, and the same goes for how we met! We connected through the dating app, Hinge, in November 2018. Angela, who had previously set up her account at a coworker’s recommendation, deleted it off her phone because she was not interested in any of the matches (she just hadn’t met Andrew yet). A little while later, another coworker asked to see her profile so she re-downloaded Hinge only to find Andrew’s first message that he sent the previous night. Here’s how it went: Angela (profile question): What do you value most in life? Andrew: Jesus Christ and following his call to be discipled/make disciples! What about you? Angela: Amen! Same :) my faith is really important to me, so I’m glad we share that! Not much of a pickup line, but it worked! We kept texting, sending gradually more massive messages. Soon after, it became clear that an in-person meeting was appropriate so we agreed to: Tuesday, Nov 27, 2018

However, much like Pride and Prejudice (our favorite), the start of our relationship was certainly not ideal. Besides our faith, we seemed to have little in common. From the start, there didn’t seem to be a natural compatibility or common interests to lean on (Andrew was active and ate salads, Angela enjoyed watching movies and eating taco bell, Angela loves to travel and explore new cities, Andrew hasn’t taken a vacation for the past 5 years... etc). When it was time to leave, Andrew received his “goodbye” in the form of a polite, “I’ll text you”, and we proceeded to go our separate ways. Needless to say, the relationship did not begin on a high note. Nevertheless, in our unlikely story what does emerge is God’s hand bringing us together in our differences: Angela fell in love with Andrew’s deep love for God and his community and as her trust and respect for him grew, she quickly knew she wanted Andrew to be the one to support her, challenge her, and lead her for the rest of her life. Andrew was surprised (but extremely grateful) to have a second date with Angela and points to it as the first time he entertained thoughts of spending the rest of his life with her. He was impressed by her courage to pursue a relationship founded solely on their compatibility in Christ and nothing else. With all of the other shared interests they have developed since, her bravery in following Christ through difficult and uncomfortable circumstances is what Andrew loves and is encouraged by the most. *** We don’t take credit for anything in our relationship and are content to showcase God’s goodness and sovereignty in bringing us together – He takes care of us! We are getting married out of a deep conviction of His will for us and have tried to be thoughtful about how this shapes our relationship practically. The way we spend our time together, the people we meet, the timeline (yes, we know we are moving fast), how we conduct our wedding… all to honor Christ!

So, we would love if you would join us on our big day - please come anticipating a time in His presence! If this sounds appealing to you, please be praying for us. If it doesn’t, please come anyways… you just might be surprised! Soli Deo Gloria! A + A