Our story started in Spring of 2020. We were both in high school, living an hour away from one another, and playing sports. I, Michaela, needed a date to my senior prom that was just a few short months away. My high school best friend, Baylie, suggested I take this guy named Dylan that was friends with her boyfriend at the time. As time went on, the four of us started hanging out together, and what was supposed to just be a friendship between us, turned out to be much more.

Little did we know COVID would hit and the prom we were planning to go to, wasn’t going to happen. We suddenly realized that we were still hanging out together despite the fact that prom was canceled. We spent most of our quarantine days and evenings on South Holston Lake. Whether it was picnicking for dinner and talking about everything we could while watching the sun go down on top of the Dam or fishing all day out on the boat. This was the start of us.

Fast forward Friday September 29th, 2023. Dylan told me he was having his senior bass fishing pictures taken on South Holston Lake and wanted me there to be in them. I drove out to the lake to meet Dylan that evening and take his senior pictures. When we got there, the photographer suggested we go to the dam to take some pictures since that was a special place for us. We drove out there, took a few pictures, and Dylan said he needed to change into his fishing jersey. As we all turned around, Dylan got the ring out of his boat and knelt behind me. I turned around to the sweetest surprise of my life. He looked at me while holding the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen and said “I love you, Michaela Yvonne. Why don’t you say we do this forever?”. With tears in my eyes I said “Yes!!”. Our friends and family standing on top of the dam were cheering and clapping as they were watching. That is our most precious memory.

We are both God fearing believers of His timing and His plan. He could not have crossed our paths at a more perfect time- knowing just when we’d need one another most. We consider ourselves rich in blessings to have found this love. A love that is unconditional and unwavering. As we build this marriage and covenant with God, we cherish the foundation we have poured into over the past 4 years.

We cannot wait to start our life together and to have all of you there by our sides!