Jared's Version:
This beautiful woman walked in the room and immediately caught my attention, how would I know who she would become in my life. Dinner finished and she went to the bar so I approached her, we spoke briefly, but this conversation was different than any I had before. Her aura, her poise, the depth of our conversation, the way she mentioned "my boyfriend likes that team". (Wait… What?!) I thought to myself, well that's how it always goes. The one you like is never interested. Nonetheless, it was a nice first meeting. Thanks to a mutual friend's birthday party, the first brick of the foundation was set. Three years passed and only rare Facebook Happy Birthday messages lasted. Then… Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. I reached out and offered to send my personal jet to pick her up from the flooding. Perhaps the jet was my lifesaver line to try to revive an initial first meeting that lasted in my mind. Well… the jet must have landed because the rest is history as they say.
Kierra's Version:
Honestly, our first date was magical. Like literally. It was Howard Homecoming in 2017 and I hadn't seen him in-person since our first encounter in 2013. I was so anxious to see him, I remember asking my sisters "do I look okay?" We spent that entire weekend together, from hanging on the yard, to U street, to a random pizza run with my youngest sister tagging along. We ended that weekend with a day date to 'Plant Nite' where we created our succulents "Bugs and Lola", followed by dinner where he had the server come out to sing me Happy Birthday and he gave me a card. I was so confused because it definitely was not my birthday, I was thinking "maybe he really wanted free dessert." But he explained that he remembered that my 28th birthday was a complete mess and wanted to makeup for it. It was literally the most thoughtful and sweetest thing anyone had ever done for me. We ended the night with visiting the monuments alongside long conversation. Since, every moment we have shared has felt like a destiny fulfilled. Being with Jared, I am always reminded of the Lord's promises to me and it is so special.
Kierra's Version:
I absolutely had no idea that Jared planned to propose when he did. Granted, we kicked 2019 off with pre-engagement counseling at his home church. (Perhaps this was his plan the entire time…). We had traveled the world together over the year and there were many beautiful instances where I thought this would be a great place to propose. When we were in Paris, he even jokingly brought it up and I got excited and then he said "but that's not going to happen!" (Major side-eye). But his birthday was different. He graduated from Hult with his EMBA, won several awards, relaunched his business venture - and I honestly felt he had so much to celebrate, I was just excited to be by his side through it all. Jared carefully planned this major celebration at 'The Park on 14th', which he wouldn't let any of us help in planning. I just figured he was being super particular since it was his 30th birthday. When the day finally came, he kept saying to me about how nervous he was to deliver his "birthday speech." I kept reassuring him about how everyone was there to support him and reminded him "You got this!" As he was delivering his speech, he began telling everyone our business and professing his love for me and I wondered what is going on. He smiled and began to get down on one knee and everyone started screaming. I couldn't believe what was happening and had to ask to see the ring first to make sure it was real! He opened the box and asked me to make him the happiest man in the world and I fought back the tears and yelled "Of course, YES!"