Marcos and Megan met at church in León, Spain, on Megan’s very first Sunday after moving there in September 2024. Before she left, many people had warned her that if she moved to Spain, she might end up falling in love with a Spanish man—and sure enough, on that very first Sunday, she met Marcos. At the time, Marcos was living in León, studying Business Administration at the university, and living with his beloved grandparents. After Megan met his aunt—the pastor’s wife—she pulled Marcos from inside the church to meet the “new American girl.” The moment he saw Megan, Marcos thought to himself that she could be his future wife. For him, it truly was love at first sight. As Megan began settling into life in Spain, Marcos kindly offered to help her navigate the many documents and logistics she needed to sort out. Since he was also one of the only people she could easily speak English with, the two quickly became close friends. Marcos texted Megan every day to check in, ask how she was doing, and see whether she needed any help, which Megan was deeply thankful for. Eventually, Megan got all her documentation completed, but Marcos kept texting her every day. At one point, she finally let him know that the paperwork was finished and he didn’t need to keep checking in. But by then, it was clear it had never really just been about the documents. While praying and seeking the Lord’s will for their relationship, they continued getting to know one another, their friendship deepened, and before long, they both realized they desired to be more than friends.

After getting engaged last August, we applied for a K1 fiancé visa, which was estimated to take 6–11 months. If you know anything about the immigration process, you know it can be complicated and unpredictable. Based on those estimates, we began planning for an October wedding and trips to visit each other throughout the long year of distance ahead. After months of long distance and patiently waiting, Marcos came to visit in April. Within his first week here, we saw that USCIS processing had slowed significantly — almost to a halt for K1 visas. We realized our original plan for an October wedding would likely not be possible, and that we might be facing a much longer wait than we had anticipated. Being together, and seeing the growing uncertainties in the world, we couldn’t imagine saying goodbye again. We began praying and seeking wise counsel about what to do. As we considered the opportunity to get married sooner and begin our life together without an unknown wait — despite Marcos arriving with only the suitcase he came with and having to leave his exchange year early — we knew it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up. With much prayer and thought, we made the decision to change our plans and move up the wedding date within the legal window we had. By God’s kindness, a single date opened during one of the busiest wedding seasons, and all of our vendors were not only available but willing to make the change. We are so thankful. We know this change is not ideal, and it truly grieves us that many people we love may not be able to be there with us due to the short notice. We completely understand, and we want you to know how deeply we love and value you. Your presence in our lives means so much more to us than your presence on this one day. While a wedding day is special, it is only one day. We look forward to celebrating our marriage with you in other ways when we are able. More important than the wedding itself is the marriage, and we are so thankful to the Lord for opening this unexpected door for us to enter into His gift of marriage sooner.