Ultimately, this is not our story. This is God's story. We are honored to be used by Him, and delight to tell you more about our adventure - God sure got creative with us!

I (Emily) was already going to Ninth & O Baptist Church when Nathan started coming in August of 2021. Pretty soon I realized that he played guitar and was cute. And then...no way. He's SINGLE?! All the boxes were checked and I was officially intrigued. Conveniently he joined the worship team rotation and college group, so we saw each other occasionally during the fall semester. [I (Nathan) definitely had no idea who she was at this point. Also, if you see brackets moving forward, that's me!]

January of 2022 we got added to a group chat with Bailey Marzan [this is why he's one of my groomsmen]. "Hey guys, I need to create a college worship team. Y'all want to be involved?" You're ASKING me to spend time with him? Absolutely!

Our group became known as the Misplaced Capos - I even ordered custom commemorative capos for us all even though I don't know a lick of guitar - and we led worship every Sunday night all spring semester. It was awesome to get to know the guys while praising the Lord and learning how to lead worship more effectively. We had a great time until the semester ended and Nathan left for the summer.

That following fall semester, Nathan was back from summer break. I'd honestly kinda forgotten about him, so in my mind, we were still just friends. We were cool. He was back. And I lived it up, working and hanging out with church friends.

At this point we both were interning with our worship pastor, Craig (this is why he's our officiant). And we both agree that those intern meetings once a week were the best way we could have gotten to know each other better. [Looking back, God was so clearly working already to bring us together. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for things like this].

November 2022: the Misplaced Capos decided to host a worship night at our friend's house. We had a great evening and praised the Lord with our friends and church family. Then, at 8:30, everyone left to go home.

That is, everyone except Nathan and I.

We kept playing. And singing. And talking. And laughing. Until 10:00 PM. I remember walking away excited and really confused. Does a guy spend an hour-and-a-half one-on-one with a girl he doesn't like? [Uh-oh. She's right. Maybe I have feelings for this girl...]

I kept wondering about Nathan through November and December of 2022. It got to the point that other people were making comments and asking questions. (Mindy, I KNOW he's cute, okay?!) Finally, on January 2, 2023, I'd had enough. I met with our friend Meghan, explained the situation, and asked for advice. Her suggestion? "You should ask if he thinks you're just friends or more than friends." I immediately panicked. But also, I was fed up and ready for some answers. What IS he doing, anyway?! [Listen, he doesn't know either at this point, okay? Cut him some slack lol]

And so, after interning one Thursday afternoon, I asked him. As we walked out to our cars, I said, "Are we just friends, or are we more than friends?" His answer: "That's a good question." [I don't like this bit...] So we met for lunch the following Thursday. It wasn't great. Nathan was scared and noncommittal and I was frustrated and unimpressed. We concluded by saying we'd meet the following week to talk more.

Then he called me Sunday night. "I've talked to people and prayed about it, and I just want to be friends." Um. Okay. Sure. That's fine. I was out of town and the call accidentally dropped. [Definitely was convinced she'd hung up on me. I mean...understandable, but was definitely convinced she was done with me].

We are probably the only people in history who successfully went back to being friends. After one awkward week, we were fine. We interned and served and sang together, and it was great for two months. Until Nathan walked up at the end of church on March 19, 2023, and said, "Hey...I've been thinking, and if you're willing, I'd like to revisit our conversation from January." OH. That's NOT what I was expecting. [She's definitely gonna say no. There's no way she says yes after January. But I gotta try...]

The following Saturday, March 25, 2023, we met at the Louisville waterfront [I'm scared out of my mind], walked for three hours, talked the whole time [i.e. I couldn't work up the courage to bring up the thing we were there to talk about], and decided to start dating [OH, uh...cool...I didn't think I'd get this far...now what??].

During our actual conversation (as opposed to the miles of walking) we sat on a bench. We like to say that we left room for not only Jesus, but for the entire Trinity and most of the angels. It was suuuper awkward!

Emily: I can say for both of us, dating each other has been the greatest blessing of our respective lives. Not to say it's been easy. Day by day we grow increasingly aware of how broken we are, both physically and spiritually. But God has been so gracious and faithful. Our goal is that He would be glorified in our relationship, our wedding, and the marriage to come.

Nathan: I can only agree with what has been said. God has been so good to us: through walks at so many parks, countless late conversations sitting in one of our cars, and the numerous things that neither of us planned for—but have been such blessings. Emily's right. It hasn't been easy. It's been one of the hardest seasons to work through—for both of us. But God has used it to grow each of us to be more like Him. It is abundantly clear to us that we would not be here were it not for God's faithful care.

We're both so thankful and honored to celebrate God's love and grace to us with each and every one of you!