Guess Rihanna was right, you can find love in a hopeless place. For us it was in Bamako, Mali. We became immediate friends as soon as Margaux moved to Mali, with Christian taking her in and showing her the ropes (and mainly bonding over their love of cats). And then after our first date at a paint night in Bamako (which Margaux wasn’t entirely sure was a first date, but was later confirmed), we quickly realized that we might actually be perfect for each other.

The next few months confirmed exactly that. We quickly fell in love, finding home, so much joy, happiness and peace in each other, and have not let go since.

We always knew our time in Bamako would be limited together but when world politics tried to pull us apart much earlier than expected, we knew that even though it would be hard, we would not let a bit of distance come between us. After all, what's long distance other than a great opportunity to collect some flight miles?

So, we traded in-person date nights for virtual ones, exploring Bamako and life together for talking on the phone for hours a day, still continuing to plan our future together, and make the most of it through planning countless adventures to get us through. Distance is clearly a B****, and we can confirm that time difference didn't make it easier, but love prevails where it’s meant to, and so did ours.

Many miles, visits, countries and countless calls later we're now in the final stretch of the distance, with Margaux soon moving to Cameroon, and we are so very excited for this as well as for this next step of becoming Mr. and Mrs. Klatt-L’Herbette!!

Thank you all for being part of this most important journey. Without your love, support, encouragement and constant cheerleading, this would have been a lot harder. We are so grateful for each and every one of you, and cannot wait to celebrate our forever love with you all in St. Martin!

With all our love,

Margaux & Christian