How did you two meet?

Claire: “Patrick and I met the summer of 2014 when I interned with the youth group at First Baptist Church Montgomery. I worked under his dad, who was then the associate minister of music, and I remember him telling me he had a son my age. We ended up spending time together at youth camp that summer, and that's where our friendship really began. We kept up some after that summer, but life happens and we went on doing our own thing. It was 2017 when things changed for both of us. I came home from Tennessee, where I was living at the time, for a weekend to help lead a group for Disciple Now at First Baptist. Patrick was also a leader that weekend. Let's just say, seeing him for the first time in a long time brought back lots of butterflies. I ended up moving back to Montgomery a few months later, and he asked me on a date. I don't think a day has gone by since then that we haven't spent time together. I never would have thought that a small summer job would lead me to meeting my future husband!”

Patrick: “Claire and I met at First Baptist Montgomery while she was a youth intern during the summer of 2014. My dad had recently become the associate minister of music at First Baptist, and I had just moved to Montgomery to transfer from Auburn to AUM. Claire and I became good friends after spending some time together at youth camp that summer. We always knew how to make each other laugh, and that's how I knew we would be good friends. Fast forward three years--I saw her at Disciple Now where we were both leaders and found out she was moving back to Montgomery from Nashville that spring. After catching up that weekend and in the weeks that followed, I realized I wanted to pursue a serious relationship with her.”

How and when did Patrick propose?

Claire: "Patrick proposed on October 27, 2018. One of my most cherished places is the little town where my daddy grew up. My grandfather has some land there, and Pat and I love to go down there with my family and ride through the woods, sit around a bonfire, fish (yes, I fish with him), or really anything that let's us enjoy the beautiful scenery. That day wasn't different from any other times we had been at the farm. My siblings were home from college for fall break, and my mom said she wanted us all to go down there and spend time together. Patrick's parents came, but that wasn't out of the ordinary either. We even brought some of our friends, but I accidentally orchestrated that myself. We enjoyed the day with the people we loved, and when we were all sitting around a bonfire, right before the sun was setting, Patrick told me he wanted to take a walk. I immediately froze and asked him why, but he said he just wanted to talk about his job, so I went along. We went to this little bench that looks over the water and sat down, but I realized he wasn't really saying anything that made sense. That's when I got suspicious. We stood up after awhile to walk back and he grabbed my hand, said a bunch of sweet things that I didn't really hear, and got on his knee to ask me to marry him. The special part was that we got to celebrate with both of our families and some of our closest friends. I will never forget that day!"

Patrick: "On October 22, 2018, I told my parents I was going to buy a ring for Claire. We had been dating nearly a year and a half and through prayer, I knew that God had revealed to me that she would be my wife. I bought a ring the next day and went to ask for her dad's blessing. I planned the whole thing out with her parents and mine, as well as my best friend, Garrett, and his wife, Krista. Claire obviously knew none of this, and she asked Garrett and Krista if they wanted to go down to her family's farm in the town that her dad grew up in. I knew the perfect spot to ask her--next to a bench her grandfather had had made, looking out at the lake. We spent the day with our families and friends and when the sun began to set, I asked her to go on a walk. Once we got to the spot, I dropped to one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes and we sat on the bench and prayed together before celebrating with our families and friends."

What are some things you two enjoy doing together?

Claire: "We like to go hiking but also to cozy up and watch movies. We love watching Friends or The Office and football and basketball. We like spending time with our family and friends and our new nephew. We go to church together each week and we love to pray together. We love singing really loud in the car, especially all of the old patriotic songs. We love to just be together and learn more about each other than we knew the day before."