The first time we talked about marriage was in a Subway booth at the Jordan’s gas station in Brookland, Arkansas. I was 17 and Casey was 16. We had been friends for the past two months, and we were practically inseparable. He was my best friend. So, when Casey told me he wanted to take me on an official date, I shot him down pretty quick. I told him there was no need for labels because we had a good thing going. I’ll never forget what he said to me! He said, “Well, that’s going to be tough because I’m going to marry you one day.” I laughed because I thought he was joking, and I also thought he was absolutely insane. He barely even knew me. But five years later, he proposed to me on the Goat Trail overlooking Buffalo National Park. Of course I said yes, and here we are. I guess the joke is on me. - M

We really met during the summer of 2017 during an ACT Prep workshop at our school. I sat behind her, and Maddy heard me tell my friend a joke. She overheard me talking, laughed out loud while the teacher was talking, and then repeated the joke to the whole class. She got the whole class laughing with her. She told me I was pretty funny, and it was the highlight of my day, but she barely remembers the ACT Prep workshop, much less talking to me. But she lit up the room, and I decided I was going to be the reason for that smile again. The official story is that we met at church. She says we started dating after we both went to the Dallas mission trip in March of 2018, but we were dating back in October of 2017. Everyone knew it except for her. We definitely weren’t just friends. - C

I knew who Maddy was before she knew I even existed, I had a huge crush on her in the 8th grade. She was a cheerleader, and I played football in high school so I saw her a lot, but we had never had a real conversation before. She started going to church with me and my friends and, one day after church, she ended up back at my house for a bonfire. Everyone left around midnight, and Maddy and I stayed in the basement until 3 AM talking about all kinds of stuff. I'm not for sure if I was in love with her at this time, but I fell in love with who she was as a person at 3AM in my parent's basement (by the way, sorry, Mom, for waking you up at 3 in the morning for you to find your son in the basement with a girl you have never met. I swear it wasn't what it looked like...). I liked that we could have intellectual conversations about anything. I knew she was someone important to me when she texted me asking for my snapchat, and I very quickly downloaded snapchat just to talk to her. It's been five years, and we still haven't run out of things to talk about. I love that the most. - C

I had no idea he was going to propose to me when he did. Casey had planned a trip to hike the Goat Trial which overlooks The Buffalo River. We had hiked up this long trail and we were so gross and sweaty. But the view was beautiful! We stopped at the highest point of the trail and we were taking a video using a tripod for my phone. Right before he proposed I took too many steps back, and I almost fell off the cliff! Casey had to stop me from falling backwards. When he did propose, I was speechless (which doesn't happen often), and I was crying and sweaty. Almost no one has seen that video, and it's going to stay that way. The proposal was perfect! When we first became friends, like within a month of our friendship, he told me about the trail and how he would take me there on day. And five years later he proposed to me on that trail. I wouldn't have wanted to say "yes" anywhere else. -M