We had known each other for a few years, but it wasn’t until a mission trip to Jamaica that everything changed. What began as a simple friendship quickly grew into something deeper—something that would become our forever. We started dating on February 2, 2020, when Alex was a senior in high school and Lauren was a junior. Even with Alex already committed to attend Ole Miss, we were just as committed to each other, determined to make the distance work. The following year, Lauren joined him in Oxford, where we spent three unforgettable years together in a place that holds so many of our favorite memories. Even in seasons apart, our love only grew stronger. Oxford became even more meaningful when Alex proposed there—a full-circle moment, as it’s where his father proposed to his mother 27 years ago. It was the perfect beginning to our next chapter. We can’t wait to celebrate our wedding in our hometown, surrounded by the people who mean the most to us, and then return to Jamaica—where it all began—to start our life together as husband and wife.