Real wedding: Childhood sweethearts say 'I do'

Anna and Jeremy Roberts were just two kids playing middle school basketball in Dallas, Ga., 15 years ago, when he decided he was determined to date her. This beautiful real wedding was photographed by Paris Mountain Photography. You can find more TODAY Real Weddings here.

Jeremy was smitten even back in middle school, and always took note of the way Anna wore her hair.

“Her beauty back in middle school, it was something,” recalled Jeremy, 27.

Anna’s family didn’t want her dating until high school, but that didn’t stop Jeremy from constantly asking, “Is today the day we start dating?”

“He was always nagging at me!” said Anna, 26. “But not in mean way, in a kind of flirtatious way.”

The day Jeremy had waited for finally came the last week of their junior year of high school when they attended the prom together.

When it came time for college, they went to different schools in Georgia, and after a few months, decided to go their separate ways.

But a part of Jeremy always knew they’d find their way back to each other.

“The people that I dated through college, I would always compare them to Anna. It was just a template I had for somebody I should be with," Jeremy said.

After graduation, they both came back to their hometown, and after a few dates and heart-to-hearts, they were back together – this time, for good.

After a couple of years, Jeremy knew he wanted to propose.

He eventually sold his truck to make the final payment on the diamond ring, and was so eager to pop the question that he did it one day at church last May, a few weeks before a trip to San Diego where he’d originally planned on asking.

“We were at church and I was sitting with my nephew in my lap,” Anna said, reliving the moment.

“Everyone else was standing around me and the preacher asked if anyone had any announcements."

"Jeremy started talking, and I thought, ‘What is he doing?’ I really had no idea."

"He kept talking and finally I knew what he was doing."

"He asked if I would marry him, and I said, ‘Of course, yes.’"

When the couple started planning, they didn’t have many non-negotiables.

But the more Anna thought about it, the more she knew what she really wanted.

“The closer it got, the more I wanted to get married at our church.”

And that’s just what they did: On January 18, they tied the knot.

Anna and Jeremy had their ceremony at their Baptist church in Dallas, a little white building that “holds 150 people on a good day,” said Jeremy.

Pastor Travis performed a heartfelt ceremony, all while Anna’s 2-year-old nephew playfully stomped around on the train of her dress.

The reception was held at nearby Indigo Falls, a new event space in the area, and the couple was thrilled with the lodge-like feel.

The rustic but elegant atmosphere was perfect for their winter wedding.

The happy couple and their 130 guests danced the night away and ate delicious food from Atlanta’s Finest, a local catering company.

“You plan so much, you’re thinking something’s bound to go wrong,” Jeremy said, reflecting on their special day.

“But everything — from the music, to the pictures, the ceremony, the reception — it was all awesome."

"It was supposed to rain, but it never rained," he said. "It was supposed to be cloudy, but it was all blue skies.”