A B O U T   U S
Jonathan Michael Wilke was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He is the son of Don and Kathy Wilke of Niceville, Florida. He has two brothers and one sister. Jonathan lived in New Jersey and New York when he was little, but spent his growing up years in Niceville, where he graduated from Niceville High School in 1996. Jonathan continued his education at Birmingham Southern College where he played collegiate tennis. He earned his degree in Accounting and is now a Certified Public Accountant. Jonathan works for Ernst & Young and lives in Birmingham.

Lucia Ann Coleman was born on Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, Arizona. She is the daughter of Chuck and Mary Coleman of Tampa, Florida. She has an older brother and sister (plus three nephews and two nieces). Lucia grew up in an Air Force family that moved every two years. She's lived in Virginia twice, Spain, Washington, Italy, and Florida three times. Lucia graduated from Niceville High School in 1994. She continued her education at Florida State University where she graduated with degrees in Advertising and Studio Art. Lucia began working as a graphic designer but transitioned to project management. She currently works at Intermark Interactive (a web development company) and lives in Birmingham.

H O W   W E   M E T
Lucia was in Jonathan's sister Carrie's wedding in September 2001. Lucia and Jonathan were even paired together to walk up the aisle at the end of the ceremony. During the reception and brunch the following day, they talked and began to get to know one another.

After the wedding, they got each other's email addresses from Carrie and began emailing which then lead to talking on the phone for several hours each night. At this point Lucia lived in Orlando and Jonathan lived in Birmingham. They quickly got to know one another over the phone and then just two weeks after the wedding, Jonathan purchased a plane ticket to visit Lucia. A long distance relationship quickly began, but only lasted for about nine months because they decided that one them had to move so they could be in the same town together. In July 2002 Lucia found a job in Birmingham and moved there.

T H E  E N G A G E M E NT
Lucia and Jonathan were engaged on December 14, 2002.

How We Got Engaged
Jonathan and Lucia went on a hike to a summit at Cook Springs located outside of Birmingham (see photo to the right).

At the top, Jonathan got down on one knee and asked Lucia to marry him. She said, "Yes, of course!" He then said, "You know where I was yesterday? I flew down to Tampa to have lunch with your Dad and ask his permission to marry his daughter." Lucia was completely surprised.

Two days later, Lucia and Jonathan signed a contract to build a house in a new housing community on the outskirts of Birmingham in Trussville, Alabama.