Celebrate with us!

Our story begins in the very first week of college, two freshmen hundreds of miles from home learning to find our place in the world. Though we lived on brother-sister dorms, most of our time together during college was spent playing soccer on Friday afternoons. Over the years, we would talk occasionally, but though our lives were adjacent, they never quite overlapped, a theme that would only grow deeper as time went on. Four years and many soccer games later, we graduated college and went our separate ways - or so we thought. In fact, we started working next door to each other, John at a newspaper and Katie at a school. John would head into the office for his night shift as a copy editor around 3:30 p.m., just as Katie was heading home from a long day teaching her students. Two years went by, ships passing in the night, but we never once ran into each other - until one fateful day. John had found a new job back in Nashville, and it was time for him to move home. But having lived so close to downtown Lynchburg for so long, he wanted to go on one last nostalgic walk around the city. And as he turned around a street corner, there Katie was. We caught up for a brief moment, shared where life was taking us - and then the moment was gone. John and his cat made the long drive with a U-Haul back to Nashville, and a chapter closed. But the story doesn’t end there, far from it. January of the next year brought drifts of snow to both Nashville and Lynchburg, and when Katie posted some pictures on her Instagram, John reached out to catch up. But something had changed - and we felt it immediately. We started talking about our lives and what the Lord was teaching us, about adjusting to life after college, facing loneliness and building community and finding joy in it all. What started as a quick message became texts, which turned into phone calls and FaceTimes, which turned into a trip for Katie all the way to Nashville, where John took her on their very first date around town. Though we didn’t say it out loud, we both knew, looking over the quiet Nashville night sky, that something unbelievably special was happening. We made trips back and forth often between Lynchburg and Nashville as we fell deeper in love over the next year, meeting each other’s families and sharing our lives as we navigated seasons of change for both of us. Through all those moments, something we knew deep down from the very beginning became more and more clear. And after I (John) recreated our first date a year after that special day (obviously including a trip to McKay’s), I got down on one knee and asked Katie the question I’d been secretly waiting to ask her since we stood shivering in the February air that magical night. Of course, she said yes! And we can’t wait to celebrate with you as we begin a new, thrilling chapter of our lives together. Thanks for the part each of you has played in our story - we love you all so much!