We're getting married!

Getting engaged during a global pandemic, we knew our wedding plans would have to be flexible. Due to COVID-19, we planned on having two wedding events from the start: a small, intimate wedding in the fall of 2020 with our closest family and friends and a large, grander celebration in 2021 or 2022 with all those we hold dear in attendance. We set 11/28/20 as our wedding date and got to planning. Unfortunately, last week, just two weeks shy of our big day, we found out Mary Kate had tested positive for COVID-19. Fortunately, she has fully recovered and is in good health; unfortunately, we had to make several last-minute changes to our plans for everyone’s health and safety. We will still be getting married on 11/28 but only with our immediate family in attendance. While we are deeply saddened we will not be able to have more family and friends there with us, we trust that this is the best decision for everyone involved. What’s most important to us is moving forward with the vows and commitments we intend to make while also keeping all those we love and cherish safe and well. While we will miss you on Saturday, we are looking forward to celebrating with you down the road! We anticipate having a larger celebration with everyone we wish could have been there in the fall of 2021 or spring of 2022. Mark your calendars and expect to hear more from us in the near future. As with everyone else in the world, this has been a strange and challenging season for us, but we can’t wait to get married and to get together with everyone soon enough and celebrate! “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam 3:22-23 NRSV). Here’s to the Millers! With love, Luke and Mary Kate

For over a month, my friend Sarah insisted that I meet her classmate Luke. She didn’t know much about him except that he had long hair and frequently wore two t-shirts that she knew I would appreciate: an Elvis & a Clarksdale, MS one. We schemed of ways we could organically meet and went as far as combining our Bachelorette watch parties in hopes he would show. The night of the event, Sarah was at a local brewery with Luke and a few other classmates. She insisted I skip my workout to meet Luke in person. Eventually we struck up a long conversation and I left intrigued but sure of the fact that Luke was not interested. We insisted that he come to watch the Bachelorette, but he insisted that he had to attend a church event. Surely he would skip church if he was actually interested in me!? We ended up with over 30 people in our house, and the guest of honor didn’t even show up. I, convinced Luke was not interested, moved on until two months later a friend messaged me to set me up with one of her husband’s friends. Little did I know, it was the same guy with whom Sarah had tried to set me up! The night of our date, Luke knocked on my door at 5:30 P.M. Throughout the night, we grew more comfortable and I began to realize that he remembered a lot more about me than I would have thought. Finally, he dropped me off at my house at 3:30 A.M., at which point I messaged my friends declaring that I was going to marry him. We both would have said the phrase “when you know, you know” is cliché until our first date proved us wrong. Luke is the most encouraging, loving, and generous man. He listens to me, challenges me, advocates for me, and, most importantly, laughs with me. I never believed I was worthy of a man who loves me like Luke, but he constantly reminds me that nothing is further from the truth. I am beyond excited to spend the rest of my life with the man of my dreams!

During the summer of 2019, I developed a frequent ritual with some of my classmates. After studying Hebrew all afternoon, we would join our professor at the local brewpub to decompress. Over time, the crew grew to include other students and friends and friends of friends. On July 15th, I was at the brewpub when a few new individuals joined us. One of them caught my eye from the minute she walked through the door, lighting up the room. From her smile to her warm greeting to the joy others exuded when she arrived—I immediately knew she was someone special. Her name was Mary Kate, and we ended up enjoying a long conversation together about life, college, church, community, and place. Before we parted ways, we realized our friends were going to be watching the Bachelorette together that night at her house. But, alas, I couldn’t attend because of a prior commitment at church. So I left—both starstruck and convinced we’d never meet again. However, I was sure to creep on her Facebook later that evening, discovering she knew my best friend’s wife. I dropped them a hint, and a couple of months later—unbeknownst to me and only after Mary Kate and I had just missed each other on Samford’s campus weeks earlier—my friend’s wife had arranged our first date together. It turns out one of our other mutual friends had been trying to set this up all along. One date was all it took, and by the end of the night (10 hours later!), I knew I was going to marry Mary Kate. Fortunately, she felt the same way, and now I get to spend the rest of my life with the woman better than my wildest dreams. Mary Kate is wise beyond her years, loves more deeply than I can fathom, embodies a manifold number of virtues, knows no stranger, and is the most beautiful woman I know both inside and out. Every day I am in awe I get to be with her, and nothing sounds sweeter to me than growing old together.

Since their first date, Mary Kate and Luke both knew they would get married one day. Their intuitions proved correct, and several months after that first date, they found themselves discussing a future together. When the time came for a proposal, Mary Kate wanted something meaningful—as did Luke. Luke decided to propose on July 15th, exactly a year to the day since they met. After weeks of covert planning, including clandestine meetings with some of Mary Kate’s best friends, July 15th finally rolled around. Unfortunately, Mary Kate found out the night before that she had recently been exposed to COVID-19. After some last-minute adjustments and a sleepless night for Luke, they embarked on their final date together as a “dating” couple. Once Luke had emailed Mary Kate’s boss to get her afternoon work meeting switched, he picked her up around 2:30 at her house. Their date began at the same brewpub where they had met a year ago. Luke brought a series of envelopes along with him, each one marked with a particular date of significance for their relationship. Each one was associated with a particular place and memory they shared together, and the letters inside included reflections on their relationship—past, present, and future. For each envelope, Mary Kate was able to quickly identify what location it was associated with. But at the end of the date, there were two envelopes remaining. One was a decoy envelope with Mary Kate’s birthday written on the outside. Mary Kate was unable to pin down the location until they neared her house. As they pulled up, Luke confused Mary Kate further by instead grabbing the other envelope marked 07.15.20. They began to approach Mary Kate’s front porch together when Mary Kate noticed one of her plants had been moved. At that point, it clicked, and she realized what was happening. After lots of anxiety, excitement, confusion, laughter, and—most of all—joy, Mary Kate said, “Yes,” to Luke, and here we are today.