Fall 2022: Janae first noticed John in a play demonstrating the gospel of Mark hosted by his campus ministry Intervarsity. She thought he looked like someone else from her campus ministry Navigators but was pretty sure he was someone different.

Spring 2023: John and Janae had their first interaction at the student lunches hosted by their church. Running on 3 hours of sleep, Janae noticed John laughing at her delirious jokes and thought he both had a good sense of humor and probably thought she was crazy.

Fall 2023: Both John and Janae were living in houses with roommates involved in the Navigators, two of whom were engaged. Their friend groups started naturally overlapping more and Janae finally figured out who John was.

Spring 2024: John would come to the end of Navigators campus ministry nights after his Intervarsity Bible studies. Janae thought he was cute and would look for him while leading worship. It was always a good night when they would talk after Nav night.

One Sunday, Janae noticed John had messaged her over Navigators Discord channel. They messaged all afternoon and throughout the week and spring break the next week. John asked if Janae wanted to grab supper together when they got back. They went to Culvers for their first date and a couple weeks later went to shoot archery together. Since John was graduating in about a month, they decided to just be friends and stop messaging. Secretly, both really looked forward to seeing each other when hanging out with friends and were sad to say goodbye at the end of the semester.

Summer 2024: John moved to Bemidji, MN and started his new electrical engineering job at TEAM. Janae stayed in Brookings to complete her nonprofit internship. Both secretly missed each other. When a mutual friend invited Navigators for a weekend at his family's lake house, John and Janae both went wanting to see each other. That weekend both spent a lot of time talking, laughing, and realizing the other still liked them.

Fall 2024: John traveled back to Brookings at the beginning of the semester to see friends and help launch the year for Intervarsity. He invited Janae to meet his dog and come to an Intervarsity grill out with her Performing Arts Bible study.

The next weekend at Labor Day Family Camp, Janae took a walk to her favorite spot praying that God would either take away her feelings for John or have him do something. That Wednesday John texted Janae and asked if he could come back to Brookings and take her out. She of course said yes.

John and Janae dated long distance throughout Janae's final semester in the fall, taking turns driving to visit each other. John even surprised Janae by coming to her first choir concert of the fall. They knew quickly that they wanted to get married. John and Janae met each other's parents and families over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Spring 2025: It became obvious to their parents that John and Janae were planning a future together, so John, Janae, and her parents specifically set up a weekend visit to Spencer when John could ask Dan for permission to marry Janae.

The following weekend on March 8th, Janae was in her car after work at Dakota Nature Park thinking she was waiting to go on a walk with her Maid of Honor, Arlinna. Instead, John knocked on her window and took her to the dock where he proposed. She said yes and they celebrated with sparkling grape juice, a nice restaurant dinner, calling family, and watching Tangled.

Janae found a job at Northwoods Habitat for Humanity Restore and moved to Bemidji in mid-April. John and Janae are currently enjoying not being long-distance and preparing to get married in September.

J&J

Wedding Day

11:30 AM–12:30 PM

Ceremony

12:30 PM–4:00 PM

Reception