Our love story begins back in December of 2021. I was a single male working as a nonprofit director. She was a single female working as a choir director. While we were both focused on building up our professional lives, we never would have guessed that God had been directing our paths so that they would inevitably overlap with one another so that we would find each other.

We first met on December 9th on a dating app called Hinge. From the very onset of our relationship, it was obvious to me that Sarah was a charming, driven, and all-around lovely person just from our initial conversations over the app. There was something particularly beautiful about the way she talked about her family and friends that made me want to get to know her better. It was a no-brainer to me that I wanted to ask this beautiful woman out on a date.

Our first date was on December 22, 2021, and it was a non-traditional first date for both of us. I had just finished a Holiday food handout at work a couple of days before and had yet to purchase a single Christmas gift for my family. So after a quick meal at On-the-Border, we went out looking for Christmas gifts for each member of my family. As the day progressed, I knew that I would want to go on another date with Sarah. Her laugh alone was so infectious and made me want to find new ways to get her to laugh because it has this unique way of lighting up a whole room.

After our first date, we kept up with each other over the holidays and I was smitten with her after that first date. We continued to see each other for several months and on March 12, 2022, we were officially dating. I remember this day very vividly because she had me ask her to be my girlfriend at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant before the band she was performing with was performing later that evening in Northwest Arkansas. She was persistent and after asking, we went back to the music venue where she proceeded to tell all of her friends and introduce me as her new boyfriend.

We would constantly joke with each other over the phone saying things like, “I like you more than you like me,” which would be immediately followed by “I like you the most.” These one-ups would continue for several months until August 27th, 2022 when we both told each other those sappy three words that took our relationship to the next level. We would spend weekends at coffee shops, going to church, playing board games, going to plays and other community events hand-in-hand (but not too much hand-holding) all while learning and growing in love together as a couple.

I knew that I would marry Sarah. When I bought her engagement ring, I was an emotional wreck. I spent my entire life hoping and praying that I would find someone as lovely and someone as intentional as her. She is someone that pushes me to be my best self and I get to push her to be her best self. On December 9th, 2023 (exactly two years to the day from when we first talked), I got down on one knee on what felt like the coldest and windiest spot in Russellville and asked Sarah to be my wife. She luckily said yes and here we are now!

Together, we get to tell a better story and paint a more beautiful picture of marriage where we decide the brushstrokes and get to glorify God through our relationship with the canvas He has prepared for us. We’re so excited to be getting married and we look forward to where He is taking us as we begin this next chapter of our lives.