November 5th, 2018... it’s just a first date “they said”...it’s just coffee “they said”...but it was more than that for us...it was the last first date for each of us...but thankfully, started a forever of enjoying coffee together!

Shortly thereafter, we made the decision to be exclusive and only date each other…for those of you who have been out of the dating scene for a while, that means we became boyfriend and girlfriend on December 12, 2018.

John Mark really wanted Emily to meet his family, and although it was last minute, he asked his sister, Jessica, and now Brother-in-Law, Johnny, if Emily could come to their Wedding in the Florida Keys in February of 2019. Graciously, they said yes and were very excited to meet Emily! Emily took some time to consider how big of a step this was and decided that it was a step that she wanted to take. Emily found John Mark’s family to loving and affable and John Mark’s family loved Emily and that made John Mark very happy!

After dating for almost five months, on March 27, 2019, John Mark and Emily said “I love you” to each other, things were starting to get pretty serious!

Through the Summer and Fall of 2019, Emily and John Mark continued to deepen their relationship and go to more vulnerable levels of connection. When they had their one year anniversary they were ready to start talking about getting married.

They had plans for what needed to happen and the preparations that they wanted to make before getting engaged, and unfortunately, things were not lining up or coming together. THEN, COVID-19 happened and we both thought “We are never going to be able to get married.”

During stay at home orders, John Mark and Emily spent a lot of time with each other and started to realized that each other is what they wanted, and all of those “plans” and “preparations” may not be that important. On April 29, 2020, over dinner, John Mark was simply telling Emily how much she meant to him and how he always wanted to be with her…then, Emily said “Are you asking me something?” John Mark started to cry and said “Yes, Yes, I am! Will you marry me?” Now Emily crying also said “Yes, I will marry you!”

It has been a challenging year for both of John Mark and Emily’s businesses and planning a Wedding in the middle of a global pandemic has been difficult, however, we know that we have each other and at the end of the day…that is what is most important to us.

Thank you for celebrating with us! We can’t thank you enough!