Marshall County High School is a huge school, but Erika and Jake still managed to find each other. They met through a mutual friend, and their friendship grew their freshman year as they competed alongside each other on academic team. On a snowy night a few months later, Jake finally asked her to be his girlfriend on the bus ride home from a competition. What should have been the beginning of their love story, was cut a little too short. They decided to go their separate ways. Regardless, they remained close friends for the coming months. They continued talking on the phone and texting constantly—almost as if nothing had changed. They never grew tired of each other, thus convincing themselves they should be together.

By junior year they were back stronger than ever, and they finished out their high school careers by each other's side. They began creating memories through prom, homecoming, and even walking together at graduation. Once high school ended they both managed to forge their own paths while remaining close to each other. Jake went off to Nashville, TN to attend Vanderbilt University with a generous scholarship, while Erika chose to stay close to home and attend Murray State University. Over the next four years, she traveled every other weekend to Nashville to visit him. While growing closer to each other, they were also growing closer to the city that they would later come to love and choose to begin their lives together in. Three years later, in their junior year of college, it was also in this city that Jake, to Erika's surprise, got down on one knee in the Ryman Auditorium and asked her to marry him. She excitedly accepted, but they both agreed to put wedding planning on hold while they each continued to pursue their many professional goals. Jake was finishing his undergraduate degrees in Physics and Psychology, and Erika was still working on her undergraduate and masters degrees in Accounting.

Now finally here we are. Erika and Jake are both moving to Nashville to begin their careers and their lives together. They have also returned to wedding planning and are ecstatic to plan a fun-filled evening with friends and family to celebrate the nearly ten years of their relationship and to start anew as husband and wife.