Jake and Autumn started dating because their friends told them about each other!

While Jake's version of the story is more dramatic (no surprise there) and Autumn's version of the story is more direct and factual (no surprise there either), they both love to tell their story because it involved so many amazing people that brought them together.

Jake was told by a friend (Tyler Kline) that he should think about taking Autumn on a date in early May 2023. However, Tyler also told him to wait a while because Autumn had just recently become single. Then about 2 weeks later another friend (Christian Rodriguez) was talking to Jake about dating, and told him that he should think about asking Autumn out as well but to wait a little bit.

Meanwhile, Autumn was healing from a breakup, and with the help of her community, arrived to a place where she was content in being single. Then, out of the blue, a friend of hers (Victoria Rodriguez) told her that Jake Mayer wanted to take her on a date! Autumn told Victoria, "That's nice, and tell him I am flattered, but I am not ready to go on a date yet." She was thinking that there was no way that Jake Mayer wanted to go on a date with her!

Then, fast forward about 4 weeks later to mid June. Autumn and Jake were both at Student Camp serving with Family Church. Autumn was leading worship for camp and Jake was a camp counselor for a group of boys.

Jake sees Autumn. Autumn sees Jake. EVERYWHERE.

Jake's friends talked to him about Autumn. Autumn's friends talked to her about Jake. Autumn and Jake's friend groups overlapped so much that pretty soon everyone was telling Jake and Autumn that they should be together.

After 2 days of his friends talking about her, Jake decided to text Autumn in the middle of camp. This was their first one-on-one conversation! Camp then comes to an end, but when they returned home that Saturday, Jake had the audacity to continue texting Autumn. They talked all day, every day for the next 4 days until Jake asked Autumn out for their first date.

Jake and Autumn were both nervous, but there was a good sign of their chemistry, because their first date lasted for 4 hours at Howley's Diner in downtown West Palm Beach.

Immediately after that date, Jake made it very clear that he wanted to pursue Autumn and take her on another date. He set the expectation that he would eventually ask her father for permission to ask Autumn to be his girlfriend.

Autumn knew after the second date that she was going to marry Jake. She thought that he was something very special and was a man of character, conviction, kindness and had a love for Jesus that she had never encountered before.

7 days after their first date, Jake knew that he loved Autumn and wanted to marry her. He discovered this when he was telling his parents about Autumn and was trying to describe the depth of emotion that he had for her. He knew then, that no other word could accurately describe how he felt about Autumn other than "love".

Jake and Autumn spent 5 months pursuing, dating, and courting each other. They left notes for each other, and cared for each other when the other was sick. They were intentional with how they dated, and they almost went on more double dates than one-on-one dates.

On December 17th, 2023 Jake proposed to Autumn at Lake Okeechobee and told her for the first time that he loved her. He told her "I love you Autumn, I have loved you since July 27th, 2023 and I want to love you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?" To which Autumn replied with an emphatic, "YES!"

Jake and Autumn are excited for marriage and the opportunity to spend the rest of their lives pursuing God's design for their marriage and for Godly community.