In the fall of 2019, after months of going to church alone, Jacqua was determine to face her social anxiety and attend one of Passion City Church DC’s Community Groups in hopes of making a friend. At the time, Nick was working for WeWork at the Rosslyn location; the same location that hosted Passion’s Northern Virginia Community Group. Jacqua was so nervous about being late that she showed up 30 minutes early and proceeded to stand awkwardly in the lobby while she waited for the event to start. Conveniently, Nick was early too. While both of them were seeing other people at the time and weren't looking for another relationship, Nick remembers thinking how beautiful Jacqua was that night. Jacqua, on the other hand, has no memory of meeting Nick that night. She remembers meeting Nick two weeks later at the Welcome to Church table outside of The Howard Theatre one Sunday afternoon. From then on, the two would see each other from time to time at church and Community Group, and kept up through social media throughout the pandemic, but Jacqua hardly considered them to be friends. Fast forward to Saturday, April 10, 2021 when one of Nick’s friends had organized a get together at a rooftop bar in Arlington. Little did Nick know, but Jacqua had heard about the party from a friend and would be there too. Still facing the same social anxiety, but longing for community after the pandemic and a recent break up, she was grateful to see a familiar face in Nick when she arrived. He immediately shared that he was moving, and asked her how she had been, how her family and work were, and how her boyfriend was doing. Jacqua was surprised to hear that he was moving and awkwardly replied that while her family and work were doing well, she and her boyfriend were no longer together. Nick tried to contain his excitement that his crush was now single! The two continued to talk over the course of the night, taking advantage of the opportunity to catch up and get to know each other better. When Jacqua made a comment that she didn't know many of the phone numbers in the giant group text for the party, Nick quickly replied, “Well, I can help! What's your number?” He then immediately panicked that he was being too bold for asking for her number given her recent break up and blurted out, “I am so sorry, this is completely platonic!” Jacqua laughed and gave Nick her number, silently thinking “Don’t make it weird” but outwardly reassuring him that it was fine and she was going to ask for his number anyway to help with identifying the people in the group text. Nick texted her the next day asking if she wanted to get together for coffee. Not wanting to rush into anything too quickly, especially since he was about to move back to Cincinnati in the beginning of June, Jacqua replied with something to the tune of, “I can’t this week, but maybe next week!” After five weeks of noncommittal responses to Nick’s gracious and persistent invitations, the two finally went on what turned out to be a great first date on May 18, 2021. The two continued to intentionally get to know each other despite the long distance over the next six weeks. Jacqua flew to Cincinnati to visit Nick in early July of that year and Nick flew to DC to visit Jacqua for her birthday a few weeks later. On that same trip to DC, Nick accepted a new job that would bring him back to the DMV. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Nick asked Jacqua’s parents for their blessing and her hand in marriage in early March 2023. Next, Nick needed a way to surprise Jacqua — a very large task! Jacqua is very observant and intuitive. She catches on to what’s going on around her and is very hard to surprise. Later that month, Nick had designed the engagement ring, but was still trying to find a good way to surprise Jacqua with the proposal. He knew he wanted to do something more formal, ideally on The National Mall, but knew getting dressed up would tip his hand. Nick prayed that God would reveal His perfect plan to him — one where he would be able to surprise Jacqua and do it the way she had always envisioned. Around that time, one of Jacqua's friends who owns a photography business reached out to ask if she and Nick would consider modeling for a photoshoot on The National Mall. She explained that she didn't have many photos there in her portfolio and thought that Jacqua and Nick would be a great couple to photograph. 

As Jacqua told Nick about her friend Jackie’s idea, Nick immediately knew this was God’s perfect plan for their engagement. Nick casually asked for Jacqua to send him Jackie’s instagram profile so he could “check out her work and see what he thought.” Nick immediately messaged Jackie and explained his plan. He loved the idea of a photoshoot and would ask Jacqua mid-shoot — hiding in plain sight! She was free on May 6, 2023 and was excited about the location Nick had chosen: The Jefferson Memorial.

 Nick and Jackie coordinated all of the details for a sunrise shoot and Jackie would set up the perfect angle and shot for Nick to propose. Jackie lead Jacqua and Nick to the top of the steps at the Jefferson Memorial and directed Jacqua to hold Nick’s hand and look away for a pose. At this moment, Nick pulled out a letter from his pocket and expressed his love for Jacqua and how he had prayed to God for a woman like her his whole life. He got down on one knee and asked Jacqua to marry him, and she said yes! Nick still had another surprise up his sleeve, though. He somehow managed to convince Jacqua that none of their family members were able to make it into town to celebrate with them, and that they would have to plan an engagement party later on — a believable story given how spread out their families are! Nick had planned the perfect surprise engagement party for later that day with their families and friends who traveled from all over the country to celebrate with them. Nick thought of every detail to make sure it was special for Jacqua — from the Kentucky Derby theme, to their playlist that was playing when they walked in, to the photos displayed throughout the room, and most importantly, the location. The party was held in the Rosslyn WeWork space — the exact spot where they first met in 2019! Jacqua was definitely surprised!