Jonathan and Vivian first met at the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) in the Fall of 2018. In the years following, Vivian would graduate college and begin her Master’s degree in Meteorology at Florida State University before moving back to finish her degree at UAH right before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Jonathan continued pursuing his degree in Mechanical Engineering at UAH, staying heavily involved in BCM. Through BCM, Jonathan got to know Vivian’s brother Bryce and future sister-in-law, Madison, who was the catalyst that eventually reconnected Jonathan and Vivian in late 2021.

For their first date, Jonathan took Vivian to a Vietnamese restaurant right off campus, and really impressed her with how much he had grown up and how interested he was in her ongoing master’s thesis research. Jonathan loved how easy Vivian was to talk to, and how much natural chemistry there was. Not wanting the date to end, they decided to go carve a pumpkin since Halloween was coming up soon. They made a really great looking pumpkin, but on the final cut, Vivian accidentally sliced her thumb with the carving knife. Fortunately, she had a bandaid, but decided the date was over and went home from there. She was really glad that instead of trying to kiss her goodbye, Jonathan went in for a handshake instead.

Luckily, this didn’t turn out to be a bad omen for things to come. For the next year and half, Jonathan and Vivian continued to make wonderful memories, became best friends, and fell in love. Vivian loves how encouraging, supportive, and loving Jonathan is, on top of being really funny. She never feels as though he does not love her, and he always makes it his goal to cheer her up when she is down. Jonathan fell in love with so many things about Vivian: her intelligence, her smile, and how full of life she is. Most of all he loves Vivian’s caring heart and came to know that she would be the woman that he wants to spend the rest of his life with.

In May of 2022, Vivian had finished up her first year of teaching at UAH, and she was determined to go to the beach for a few days to take a well-needed break. Being good parents, Buster and Julie were not going to let her go by herself, so Jonathan made the trip with her down to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Vivian had convinced herself that Jonathan wasn’t going to propose until his family’s beach trip later that summer, so Jonathan totally blindsided her with his proposal on the beach at sunset. They were both so excited that it was hard to put on the ring because they were shaking so much. To mark the occasion, they capped the night off with their favorite celebratory food - ice cream.

Since that day, Jonathan and Vivian have marked some important milestones as they prepare for their new life as husband and wife - they marked two years of dating and purchased a new home. They are so excited to celebrate their wedding very soon and are so thankful for all of their friends and family who have wished them well in this new chapter they are beginning.