Matthew and Rena met through River Oak Church in Chesapeake, VA after simultaneously attending for many months. It wasn’t until their mutual friend, Paige, made a random comment about how they should "fall in love and all be best friends forever" that they noticed each other. It was this comment that started a mutual interest in each other, and over the following weeks Matthew and Rena started to converse and interact with each other more intentionally.

After a number of weeks of prayer and trusted council, they decided to take their growing friendship to the next level. Their first official date was at a local seafood restaurant where Matthew ordered his favorite dinner, a burger topped with crabcake, and Rena ordered her usual meal, chicken tenders. The meal was followed by a walk on 85th Street on the North End of Virginia Beach where they officially became a couple.

Rena was already friends with Matthew’s sister, Evelyn, months before she started dating Matthew. In fact, Evelyn was one of Rena’s first friends in Virginia Beach. Rena met the rest of Matthew’s family after church one Sunday afternoon in late January. They made sandwiches together and the Mannix’s explained how they figured out Matthew was seeing somebody before he had even told them. “You don’t just go to Outer Banks that late in the middle of winter unless you’re taking a girl there” Sallie (Matthew’s mother) laughed. They played board games at the kitchen table after lunch, an activity the four of them continue to this day. Matthew’s parents and siblings were immediately very fond of Rena and could easily identify all the ways God had answered their prayers by her being in Matthew’s life.

Matthew met Rena’s entire family for the first time in early February in Lynchburg. They got together that weekend to support Rena’s brother, Eli, in a skiing competition at Liberty University. Matthew quickly became friends with Rena’s brothers, and enjoyed family game time during his visit. Rena also took Matthew to Wintergreen where she got to teach him how to ski for the first time. Matthew got to meet a lot of Rena’s extended family when they visited Grand Haven, MI in early August for the famous annual Coast Guard Festival. Matthew and Rena are excited for many more trips to Michigan over their lifetime.

Matthew picked Rena up to go on a morning sunrise date followed by breakfast. He requested a “nicer outfit” from Rena when she walked out her bedroom wearing sweatpants. She changed into a dress in which Matthew casually approved of with “that will do.” They walked down the beach at 85th and barely made it to the sand before Matthew stopped and gave Rena a hug. He said many sweet words about how much he loved her and how he wanted to do something about that. As soon as he got down on one knee and asked Rena to marry him, she twirled around in excitement… and said yes! Rena then turned around to find all four of their parents were at the beach ready to congratulate them! Rena was so excited that her parents had traveled from Michigan to surprise her on her special day.

The couple arrived to the Mannix family house to what Rena thought was a dinner with both sets of parents. To her surprise, she was greeted by both of her brothers, who also traveled from out of town. Thinking the surprises were surely over, Rena couldn't believe it when she walked into the next room and found a group of her closest friends, both from Hampton Roads and Lynchburg. It was a wonderful evening of laughter, catching up, good food, Rena’s favorite snacks, and pictures, of course!