Sarah and Russ met at James Madison University (Go Dukes!) in a history class during their Spring 2012 semester. Russ sat beside Sarah on the first day of class and said she caught his eye because of her bright red sweater. They talked every day before and after class, but neither one of them made any moves. In late January, Russ invited Sarah to his roommate’s birthday party hoping to spend more time with her outside of class, but she was too nervous to go to the party by herself. After a month of sitting beside each other every other day, Sarah slid into Russ’ DMs to ask him about an upcoming paper. Russ took that opportunity to ask for her number and eventually asked her out on a date to see a movie.

Fast forward 10 years, Russ and Sarah decided it was time to finally make things official by getting married. Russ wanted his proposal to be private, but knew Sarah had always wanted to be able to look back at the special moment. He enlisted the help of their friend to secretly take pictures and picked a spot in downtown Roanoke they both loved, Center in the Square. On a beautiful Sunday morning, after being rained out the day before, Russ convinced Sarah that they should go walk downtown to check out Center in the Square before grabbing brunch. Russ and Sarah went to the rooftop to view the crystal clear day and while Sarah’s back was turned to take a picture, Russ dropped to one knee. He asked her to put away her phone and when she turned around, he asked her “Will you marry me?”. Russ and Sarah share a home in Vinton, Virginia with their two cats, Luke and Leia, and love living in the Roanoke area. You can find them them hiking the Blue Ridge Mountains or AT, walking around the Farmers Market on Saturday mornings, floating down the James River with tubes or SUP boards in the summer, seeing a movie at the local Grandin Theater, or out at a brewery for trivia night putting those history degrees to good use. They enjoy quiet nights home binge watching their favorite shows, playing Nintendo Switch, or snuggling on the couch with their cats while reading. They’re looking forward to continuing their adventure together as husband and wife.