Louie and I met in high school! We both went to Lutheran High School Northwest. He was a year older and we were never in the same friend circles. I'll let you in on a little secret... sophomore year I did have a little bit of a crush on him! :)

He graduated and went to school at Grand Valley. I graduated a year later and went to Hope. We each were doing our own things, Louie getting into rock climbing, and I playing golf at Hope. Little did we know what God had in store for us.

May of 2021 Louie and I re-met at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church. We were both living on the West side of Michigan but just so happened to be home for the weekend. Louie's dad is one of the Pastors at Our Shepherd Lutheran Church. The church was doing a fundraiser for Team World Vision where you could run either the Detroit Half or Full marathon. Louie and I both went up to hear more about this and that's when I would say our love story began. When you come from a small school it's common to say hi when you run into someone so as we walked out of church we began to talk. I remember talking with him for about 10 minutes or so after church and thinking, wow that conversation was different. There was something special about it. We left church and a few weeks later began talking. On our first date I knew Louie was different. He had a different outlook on life. He was very unique, loved climbing, photography, and always wanted to be learning to make himself better. I was so intrigued by him. Our dinner and beach date turned into hours of talking.

Louie and I have continued to grow together over the last two years. We have been together as we both graduated, through two surgeries for Grace, and a two month road trip for Louie. On May 18th, 2023 we said yes to having our love story last forever. I had just graduated from college and my family and I were going on a vacation to the Turks and Caicos. Louie was joining us for some of this trip. We were having the most amazing time. I loved watching how he interacted with my family. I really could see him becoming part of our family forever. The last night we decided we would go to dinner and then go walk to the end of the beach to watch the sunset. The weather had other plans... It poured.. like the most rain we had had all week. This meant our dinner plans were pushed back a little bit. Louie and Adam, my brother, were standing out on the back porch. Everything seemed normal but Louie was asking Adam to take a video of us when he asked him to take a photo. Once the rain subsided we finally made it to dinner. Louie was calm the entire time! I don't know how he wasn't showing any nerves! As the sun was starting to set we knew we wouldn't make it to the end of the beach in time but still wanted to watch the sun set over the beautiful still ocean! Adam, Louie, and I started to walk down to the beach. I had no idea but as we started to walk to the beach Louie would not walk next to me. Both him and Adam were trailing behind. He asked me to take a picture with him. This was not out of the ordinary! I asked him to take a photo with me every night and he knew I loved them! As we were taking the photo he had the ring box behind my back, just visible for the camera to see. With the sun setting behind us he turned to me and asked me to say yes to him forever! Of course I said 'YES!'

Louie I love you and this is only the beginning!

G&L

Wedding Day

4:00 PM

4:00 PM

Ceremony

5:00 PM

5:00 PM

Reception