It all started at the Belk Library at Appalachian State University. During the spring semester of 2021, Jakob was in his last semester of completing a degree in Media Broadcasting and had ambitions of creating his first film. Amanda had just changed her major from English to Graphic Design to embrace a career in creativity. Amanda also started a new job at the library’s technology check-out desk where students could borrow laptops and technology equipment. There, she met Jakob, who had been working there for two years prior. While half of the student body went home during the COVID-19 pandemic, a romance began to blossom at work. Despite not knowing what each other looked like under their masks, they began to talk…and talk…and talk…and Jakob didn’t catch the hint so Amanda asked him to take her on a date.

After three years, Jakob graduated and went on to begin a career in writing an independently published horror-fantasy novel while Amanda graduated with a degree in Graphic Design to start her career. But, before Amanda’s career could begin, Jakob took her on a trip to Manhattan to celebrate her graduation. On a cold March morning, Jakob took Amanda on a romantic stroll through Central Park. At Wagner Cove, Jakob asked Amanda to turn away so he could take a photo of her facing the buildings which rose far above the trees across the water. Somehow, she did not find this suspicious. When she turned around, Jakob was down on one knee. With a long distance relationship, careers yet to be planned, and without a city even selected for them to move to, the future was uncertain. But Jakob promised they would navigate it all together.

Several job transitions, two moves, and one long engagement later, they chose to say yes to forever at the gorgeous and sustainability-focused gardens at the North Carolina Botanical Garden, in the beautiful town of Chapel Hill.