Our story began during our freshman year at Florida State University, when we met on a weekend retreat through the church community that would shape so much of our college experience—the Catholic Student Union at the Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More. (It's funny because once we started dating years later, we recounted how we both explicitly remember the exact moment we met!) Although we first met our freshman year, we hardly spoke over the next three years, exchanging only brief pleasantries in passing or when we saw each other at Sunday mass. Despite the size of Florida State’s campus, we somehow kept running into each other—far more often than you’d expect for an Engineering major and an Economics major. By junior year, our paths crossed again when I, Anya, was volunteering with a dear friend to serve ice cream after the Sunday evening student mass, giving us the chance to reconnect in person with some polite small talk. Enamored by our very, very short interaction (which he later admitted was what pushed him to make a move), Bryce took the chance and reached out the week after, inviting me to be his date to his Air Force ROTC detachment's upcoming Military Ball celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the branch. By the grace of God, I thankfully accepted his invitation. That warm, September night was the first time we ever held a conversation more than two minutes, the first time we ever hung out, the first time we ever met a two-star general in a buffet line, and the first time we ever danced all night together. It was also the night we first fell in love with each other. And now, we will be dancing together forever.

How lucky are we that January 23rd falls on the Feast of the Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph! This feast in the Catholic faith celebrates the marriage between the most holy parents of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Hoping to model our own marriage after that of the Holy Family, we are so thrilled to share our Sacrament of Matrimony with the blessing of Mary and Joseph's marriage feast. Mary, Mother of God, and St. Joseph, Head of the Holy Family, pray for us!