D'Erika and Jared met at the beginning of the fall of 2019, shortly after D had moved to St. Pete and gotten a job at Johns Hopkins All Children's hospital. They met one evening at their church's young adults ministry. Now at this point, they were not interested in each other as Jared had a large, ugly beard and Jared had thought that D'Erika was mean because she told Jared's friend that his mustache was gross. Jared thought she was cute and funny, and D'Erika believed him to be a "cool guy".

Their first conversation together was a rough one, as Jared proceeded to ask her a rather deep question, and then looked away from her at a TV while she was responding. "Ugh! Annoying". D'Erika thought to herself. However, despite Jared's poor first impression, he was given another chance at woo-ing D'Erika... Once he shaved his beard.

Now that Jared looked presentable his efforts to get to know D'Erika began to succeed. Pretty soon after, they were great friends and hung out with each other often. As they continued to get to know one another, Jared knew his attraction to her was undeniable. Jared and D'Erika proceeded to go on a few "dates-that-weren't-really-dates", and shortly after that Jared officially asked her out.

From that point on, a beautiful relationship grew and blossomed to become the one we will all gather to celebrate very soon. To learn more about their story, and the story of how they got engaged, watch the video below!