We’re Getting Married!!!

1,700 miles from home, Tariq Craft and Samyiah Garcia met for the first time at school in Grambling, Louisiana. Both strangers to the South. Both wide-eyed and bushy tailed college students, ready to experience people and places unlike anything they had ever seen before. Both were surprised to find inside each other something so familiar. In 2018, Samyiah and Tariq became friends and soon discovered that they were raised within 10 miles of each other, in their mutual hometown of Palmdale, California! By 2019, the two had begun dating, flying home together for the summer, astonished at how much they had in common, despite the fact they had never met before. On, July 14th that summer, Tariq asked Samyiah to be his girlfriend. They returned to school together for the fall semester, and were forced home again by the lockdowns of 2020. During this time, the couple and their families grew close. They were finally able to return to school, just in time for Samyiah to graduate from Grambling in 2021 and move to Memphis, Tennessee to pursue her Master’s! Tariq graduated the next year and joined her in Memphis. Everything changed when the couple bloomed into a family! On October 23rd, 2023, little Kalemi Craft entered the world. Both Tariq and Samyiah’s families and friends had come together to welcome the new baby girl. On July 14th, 2024 Tariq asked Samyiah to marry him, she obviously said yes! This year 2026, Samyiah and Tariq are excited to celebrate their marriage on… (you guessed it) July 14th! You are cordially invited to witness this union and celebrate the love and happiness of the Craft Family!