Our love story didn't begin when we met nine years ago as sophomores in college - me at Michigan State and Luke at Northwood University. I thought he was cute and kind of immature. He thought I was "pretty and smelled good"... Many years passed, but yet, life kept drawing us back together. Our families had a lot in common - vacationing to Sanibel Island, Florida, ties to Cincinnati, and Luke's sister, Meredith, living in my new city, Charlotte. Luke lived in Santa Monica at the time, and when he reached out saying that he was coming to visit Meredith and wanted to see me, I thought it was pretty weird but accepted anyway. I will never forget that big smile on his face as I walked up Sycamore Brewing and the hug he gave me. "Why is this kid so excited to see me? We haven't talked in 5 years" was running through my head, but I was flattered regardless. We were both completely comfortable from the get-go, enjoyed a couple drinks and then went on our merry ways. It could have ended there, but I am so glad it didn't. In his words, he knew I would be his girlfriend one day, and he made the effort so that could be true, talking almost every day that summer until we met again when I was visiting my friends out in California. We fell in love during that four-day trip to Cali - combining our friend groups, watching volleyball, and hitting up every beach bar in Manhattan Beach. Seven months passed of late night FaceTimes and making it work long-distance before Luke moved to Charlotte. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. A little over three years later, here we are. Absolutely loving our home in the Queen City, seeing both families as many chances as we get, and planning the rest of our lives together. And we're so excited to celebrate it with you all!