Kendall and Justin’s story dates to way before they even realized, the Fletcher and Perkins families have known each other for over 15 years now. Kendall’s brother, Kyle, began playing baseball with Justin’s older brother, Nic, on an 11U baseball team called the Zips. What started out as a big group of little siblings running around at tournaments together, blossomed into something nobody could’ve drawn up when it all began.

After a Fletcher family trip to Florida in between tournaments that Nic tagged along for, Justin (15) would ask his brother for Kendall’s phone number (who was the ripe age of 14 at the time). Fast forward to the fall, when their high schools played each other in football, Kendall swore she was waiting outside of the locker room to see her brother after the game; she was pleasantly surprised when she joined her dad in conversating with the Perkins boys instead. After a sweaty “good game” hug with Justin and a few texts exchanged, Kendall began to realize she had a big crush on “one of the Perkins twins”. We can’t leave out the part that I am sure Justin’s friends want to highlight... the two began hanging out at the end of Justin’s sophomore year, Kendall’s 8th grade year, which would start the years of teasing and making fun that Justin put up with for dating a girl two grades beneath him.

Kendall spent the next two years attending more Francis Howell sporting events than Timberland, not missing a single football game and only a few baseball games for the remainder of Justin’s high school years. The roles were reversed when Justin spent his off-season in the winters watching Kendall play basketball and making it to any of her track meets that his schedule allowed in the spring. Outside of sports, these two attended numerous homecomings and proms together and made countless memories doing their favorite things. The support that Justin and Kendall built for one another at such a young age was the start of something beautiful and set them up for making it through the test of years of long distance that lied ahead of them.

In 2016, Justin went off to Murray State for his freshman year to begin his collegiate baseball career. Although the odds seemed against them and long distance was the furthest thing from easy, Kendall and Justin continued to grow closer as the years apart went by. Justin would eventually transfer twice and end up graduating and finishing his baseball career at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Kendall would graduate high school and attend Mizzou for 5 years, where she became a proud member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority, and even got a Master’s degree in Accounting and pursued her CPA license. Outside of their one-of-a-kind love and appreciation for one another, what really makes their story special is the friendships made along the way. Kendall and Justin quickly realized that the time spent traveling to visit each other’s schools, would build the most amazing friendships and memories.

After an amazing 10 years together, and a lifetime to go, Justin and Kendall (and Nelly girl) have began building the life that they always imagined themselves having and wouldn’t trade a second of their story that has led them to this point. As Justin and Kendall approach their wedding day and will stand before all their favorite people to say, ‘I do’, they want to express their love and gratitude for every single person that has played a part in their unique journey. They would not be where they are today without the love and support of their amazing families and friends. It has been a long time coming – here’s to the Perkins!