From Allie:

When it came time to find a date to my senior formal at Clemson, I called on my bestie girl Anna Claire to help me out. She presented me with a pair of identical twins, Jacob and James, and told me to pick one! With a blind pick I went with Jacob (@James you were a close second <3) and the rest was history!! We danced that February night away, and by April we were a couple after some deeeeep convincing on my part (subtle foreshadowing to how we got engaged!) After a spring break trip to Key West, our 5th year at Clemson watching Jacob's final football season, and all of the beach and lake trips in between, finally we both graduated and set out for the real world. Jacob stayed in Clemson for another year getting his Master's Degree, while I headed back to Charleston to start my first nursing job at MUSC. After spending wayyyy too much time on I-26 that year, Jacob graduated and decided to move down to Charleston! (& NO!! I didn't force him, I just constantly reminded him of how much fun we would have in Charleston together :-)).

Jacob got settled in his new job, we met some new (&old!) friends, spent a lot of time at the beach, and ate and drank our way around all of Charleston. We have had the most fun and made so many incredible memories together! I never doubted that Jacob and I would end up together, and so I began my quest of not-so-subtly ensuring that we would be engaged within the year of my made-up timeline. I enlisted my go- to gals who did their best work to make sure all of my dreams would come true. After celebrating 3 years together over our favorite meal and champagne at Indaco, we went for (what was supposed to be) a sunset walk on Folly beach where Jacob popped the question! And by question I mean he asked me if I was tired of being his girlfriend and naturally I started spinning assuming we were breaking up. Thankfully not! We got engaged that April night on Folly beach, and Jacob gave me the most beautiful ring I have ever seen! The night was perfectly imperfect and has had me smiling ever since. That same summer, we bought our first house and have been very busy making it our own, and enjoy every minute of it!

From Jacob:

The night was February 26th, 2021. I had spring practice the next day but I agreed to go to a formal with Anna Claire's friend Allie who I barely knew at the time. I was going to leave early and just hang out, but I had so much fun I stayed the whole time with Allie. Allie and I have met before a couple of times here and there through mutual friends, but we never really hung out until that night. We stayed in touch for a while until our senior year spring break in Key West when Allie and her friends needed a ride from the airport. That's when I truly made my "move," and the rest is history from there. We both then graduated from Clemson, (I graduated first :P) and Allie moved to Charleston where she blackmailed me into moving down with her. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made. We have had a great time exploring every inch of Charleston and eating/drinking at every restaurant and brewery you can think of. I then knew it was time to pop a certain question to Allie (don't worry, she had a certain number of her girlies to question me weekly on the subject).

I had a great plan to propose; it was all laid out with an Italian dinner, champagne, sunset beach walk, and even drinks on the beach. Instead, the waitress gave us multiple free items for our anniversary, the beach had a high school party getting broken up by the police, and Allie didn't like the beach bars drinks in the pitch black. Despite almost everything going wrong, I still decided that night was the night I would ask Allie to be my wife, and she responded with a "yeahhhh". (she thought I was about to dump her). Since then Allie and her Mom have been planning our wedding, (jk I'm helping some) Allie and I bought our first house, and we continue to enjoy life with friends and family and look forward to the rest of our lives together.