Wedding: Joseph and I met when we were teenagers in church. We never thought to bat an eye at each other. I remember one time he was mean to me and I didn’t like him for a long time. A few years later him and a group of people came down to visit our church and they hung out at my house. I was dreading having to see him and host. It turned out to be a good time. Joseph and I became friends after. I remember liking someone else so I never thought about anything more than friends with Joseph. Joseph and I started texting back and forth. I enjoyed talking to him because he was funny. It was nice to get to know him more. I started getting feelings for him and he did for me as well. After a few months of constant talking, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I was 16 at the time. I was so excited! My first boyfriend, my first love, my first kiss, and also my first heartbreak. After a little bit, he broke up with me. I was devastated. We both went on with our lives… Fast forward 10 years later- November 2023, I posted on my on my Instagram story my favorite Cody Johnson song. I had a gut feeling someone would reply to it. And maybe an hour after I posted it, I seen I had a message notification from Joseph commenting on my story. I don’t know how I felt. Especially with how it ended with us. Someone I thought I’d never hear from again. We got to talking and he asked me to go to dinner with him while he was working in Ocala. I called my cousin as soon as I seen who messaged me. She said I should go. I turned him down when he originally asked but we went the next night. I was so nervous driving there after work. I almost turned around. My cousins had to talk me into it. My heart was beating out of my chest. I finally got there and seen him. I was shaking bad from being so nervous. We had dinner and just talked about the last 10 years of life. Everything that has happened in that time. We didn’t realize how much time has passed until the waiter came up and told us since we were done we had to go because it was busy 😅 so we went outside the restaurant and just talked. Until we realized that it was 12 am and I had work the next day. We were there talking for 6 hours but it felt like a few minutes. Everytime we said goodbye we would get to talking about something else. On my way home I called my cousin and told her how it went and I told her I missed him. I knew then and there that I still loved and cared for him. We continued talking and here we are today! I am so thankful to God for second chances because I got my best friend for life! I love you Joseph and I can’t wait to marry you! - Madison

Our story started 12 years ago on November 1 2013. Our first date was the Thanksgiving morning at about 5 am on November 28th 2013. Our youth pastor at the time told me the Lord wasn’t in our relationship for a while so I ended things Fast forward to November 14 2023. I was heading to Ocala for work I checked Instagram and saw a story she posted. She had Cody Johnson song with it. I messaged her and asked her if she heard the rest of the album. She wanted to impress me so she said she had (even though she hadn’t).I asked her out since I was in Ocala. She told me she was open on the 15th. I really wanted to see her so I ended up sleeping in the truck behind the Ocala mall. Our first date was at Rocos Tacos. We met at 6:30 and they asked us to leave after about 2 hrs at the table so we ended up walking outside and talking for another 4 hrs. I headed to Jacksonville and the whole way back I was looking forward to our next date and how amazing she was. I knew I couldn’t mess it up this time. I wasn’t sure how our relationship was going to work due to my work schedule being so busy. Our story is still being written.- Joseph