You may be asking yourself how a girl from the heart of Mississippi fell in love with a boy from South Alabama. Well I’m here to tell you, it was nothing short of divine intervention!

Alex was born to Christine + Mark Sealy in March of 1994 and grew up in this magical little fairytale of a place called Fairhope (FHP). I was born to Lynn + Scottie Williamson in Jan. of 1995 and grew up in little old Kosciusko.

Over the years, I would go to Gulf Shores + Mobile for vacay and visiting family and since Alex only lives 40 mins from each, you’d think we would’ve met there. But nope! (Unless y’all come across some old vacay pics and see me or him in the background— still searching mine for that!)

So as the years progressed, Alex went on to play football in Kentucky at Morehead State majoring in Animal Sciences, and I (bless my poor parents) went to Mississippi State to major in Architecture. So at this point, it seems impossible that the two of us would ever meet, but just wait! (And this is the part of the story I’m sure both of our parents will cringe at because I mean SO much money but it was all for a good cause in the long run).

As fate would have it, Alex decided he was too far from home and football just wasn’t where God was calling him anymore. So, a friend at his dad’s hunting camp started talking about this crazy major called Forestry only offered at a few colleges, one of which was Mississippi State. At the same time, I had just decided that Architecture definitely wasn’t for me (sorry Daddy, I couldn’t pass physics). So I was biding my time at East Central Community College until I figured out my next steps. While there, a professor suggested that I check out Forestry (which you would think would’ve been common sense because of my dad but hey). So in August 2015, Al and I were both in the booming metropolis known as Starkville, MS.

Fast forward to Jan. 2016, and you’ll find me and Alex both in this brand new class being offered the first time that semester. It was kind of on the DL that this class even existed so it’s crazy we both ended up there. Anyway, Jan. 2016 I (according to Al) sat down in the seat right beside him day 1 of class. He naturally went back and told his work friends that he couldn’t wait to talk to the cute girl that sat beside him earlier that day in the next class. Well, I hate to ruin the surprise, but I did not sit beside him the next class. I probably got there late or wanted to sit closer to the board— no one will ever know the reasoning. So, in true Alex fashion, he decided it was not in his best interest to try to talk to me since I had inadvertently shunned him. We actually ended up being in a group together in that class and talking to each other but neither of us remembered that until MONTHS later for whatever reason.

Fast forward to May 2016. We were in the same summer field class. For those of you who don’t know, summer field is basically hell on earth but it bonds you to your class mates like crazy. Seriously it’s 2.5 months of sweating, getting scratched by briars, and basically doing manual labor for free. So I was in a group working in the computer lab a row up from Alex one night in late May. The smartest kid in the class was in my group and he was proofreading so I was kind of just hanging out when I noticed this poor boy behind me struggling to do work by himself. His group members weren’t there. He had a few questions and I had time to kill so I helped him as much as I could that night. Still, no numbers exchanged, no sparks flying (yet). The next day we got our new group assignments and there was the name of the super cute hardworking boy who sat behind me the night before! We started working on our first task trudging through blackberries together and I couldn’t help but notice how cute and kind this boy was. We obviously had to exchange numbers for the projects sake (wink wink) and he ended up adding me on Snapchat that night. So, I kind of had my eye on him but couldn’t quite figure him out. Everyone seemed to gravitate towards him, and I really couldn’t blame them! I mean he was so logical and had the best personality. He was funny, serious, complicated, playful, kind, all the things!

Anyway, enough of the mush, we started hanging out as friends with all of our other friends that were struggling through summer field with us. Summer nights filled with whiskey and the sounds of Alex’s incredible guitar playing (I mean seriously, Stevie Ray Vaughan is probably even jealous from the grave) are what led to us forming a beautiful friendship. But who am I kidding? There were sparks from the get go. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, could sense the vibes between us. Our friend Clay was “shipping” us (as the kids say) before we even thought of the possibility of dating.

So anyway, one night I had a thin crust cheese Domino’s pizza (that was my fave in college) and I asked Alex to come hangout and eat pizza + watch David Attenborough documentaries. WELL in true Alex fashion, he was stubborn and was wanting me to come to his apartment. We went back and forth and finally I agreed to come over. Clearly I really was into him because I NEVER shared my cheese pizza or drove to anyone’s house. I pulled up and walked in and caught him throwing clothes in the washer. Which thank you to his Momma for teaching him that!! Anyway, we stayed up all night talking about this magical town of FHP and where he lived and I shared stories about my past and things I was passionate about. Our faces were both lighting up the whole time at the ease of the conversation and all the things we had in common! I mean it was seriously like we’d known for each other our whole lives. HOURS later, this super cute boy who I was SO about finally kissed me! And the rest is history from there!

Four and a half years later, we’re engaged + living in our first little home together. I can’t speak for Alex, but I’m happier than I think anyone on the face of the planet + so grateful that football + architecture didn’t work out to lead us to a fateful meeting that was clearly divine intervention.

God truly picked out our perfect matches. Where I’m emotional and passionate, he’s logical and reasonable. Where I’m a planner, he’s go with the flow. Where he’s sometimes grouchy, I’m happy. He’s my person and I’m his, and I’m so grateful to everyone along our paths that have lead us to this beautiful moment in time.