We're getting married!

Lauren: To be completely transparent - I don't remember meeting Austin for the first time. If you're at all familiar with the community at Berry College, you know that you're familiar with pretty much the entire student body as soon as you enroll as a student. I remember hearing the name "Austin Schriver" a lot my sophomore year, but I distinctly remember him interviewing for WinShape in the Spring of 2019. I was a peer interviewer and Austin was in my group I was observing. I remember being very unimpressed. I remember thinking "Well he thinks he's something' else, doesn't he?" Little did I know, we'd end up on the same RA staff the next fall, and he would turn out to be not so bad. Austin: I remember Lauren observing me for my peer applicant interview into WinShape, and I remember liking that she was willing to jab back at one of my jokes. Soon after, when we were all on the same RA staff, Colt Doster and I took it upon ourselves to harass Lauren at every staff meeting.

Austin: Over the course of the 2019/2020 school year, Lauren and I became great pals. We bonded over mudding in my truck on campus. When we left for the Spring Break of 2020 - that ended up being much longer than anticipated (thanks, covid) - we had been spending a lot more time together. Over the longest spring break ever, we FaceTimed all the time. One time over the summer I drove to campus from Atlanta to see Asa Owens, not knowing he wasn't actually on campus (thanks to our pristine communication skills). As a plan B, I decided to spend time with my pal Lauren and later asked her to drive me to cookout. Lauren: Over the summer, we FaceTimed ALOT. He quickly became my very best friend. I once told Austin that I was 0% interested in dating him (which was 100% a lie) just to be sure he'd stay my friend forever - didn't think that would turn into ACTUALLY forever! The fall of 2020, we played the classic game of "will they, won't they," which was excruciating for both parties. I finally decided I was "done playing his games" and declared I was totally over any feelings I had for him. However, the next day was his birthday, so I HAD to make him some cookies. "But seriously, after that - I'm done." Turns out he asked me out that day, and I caved. I'm so glad I did.

Lauren & Austin: It didn't take many months of dating before we knew we were going to get married. We'd always made fun of couples that said "we just knew," but really... we just did. Lauren had never dated anyone before Austin and had decided that maybe being in a relationship wasn't the Lord's plan for her. Austin had similar thoughts. Oh, how the Lord had a great surprise waiting for them! Lauren: Speaking of surprises... so was the engagement! I had moved to Arkansas to start a job with Mohawk Industries in mid-October, so I knew that any plans for a proposal would have to be complex. I flew home for Austin's last football game at Berry, and I just knew this weekend couldn't be "the" weekend, because how could he have had time to plan this AND drive to Knoxville to ask my parents?? Somehow, he'd done it all. He picked me up and drove me out to the field where we went stargazing on our very first date (right next-door to Frost Chapel, where we're getting married!). Not only was I surprised by the proposal itself, but also to hear that our wedding date had already been booked for 6 months! Austin: We'd always wanted to get married at Frost and I knew it usually had a pretty long waitlist, so I booked the wedding six months before I proposed and figured Lauren would be okay with June 11th. It was an educated guess. I knew nothing about engagement rings, so I spent the summer figuring that out. Asa tried it on before Lauren did to make sure it worked right. I drove to Knoxville to talk with her parents one Monday in October and had a blast with them. We started planning right away. I knew I could use my last football game as a good excuse to get Lauren to Berry, and it worked out.