Anna and Jeremy Roberts were just two kids playing middle school basketball in Dallas, Ga., 15 years ago.
Friends at the time, Jeremy took note of the way Anna always wore her hair back in intricate braids, out of her eyes, to reveal her whole face.
“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 a mean way, in a kind of flirtatious way.”
The day Jeremy had waited for finally came during the last week of their junior year of high school, when they attended the prom together.
But when it came time for college, they went to different schools in Georgia, and after a few months, decided to go their separate ways.
Despite their separation, 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," he 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,” she said. And that’s just what they did.
On January 18, they tied the knot 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. The real crowd-pleaser was the s’mores bar and hot cocoa by the outdoor fireplace.
“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; it was supposed to be cloudy, but it was all blue skies.”
All photos provided by Paris Mountain Photography. Want to submit a real wedding? Send us your story and photos here. You can see more from the TODAY Real Weddings series here.