Feature Friday with Steven Pham & Steven Jones

Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? We are in Atlanta until Saturday at the AmericasMart January market and we are having a blast. We’ve met so many cool people and finally got to meet Brian Patrick Flynn in person, one of our good friends that until yesterday we’d ony we met online. He’s the one who actually set this all up for us to be able to come, so thank you again Brian!

This week’s FF includes not one, but two Steven’s who met in college and, five years later, recently got married! Their story is honest and beautiful, especially their proposal (so cute!!!). Read on to see what their favorite thing about each their is and how they knew each other were the one. BRB, we have tooth aches from the sweetness 😍.

Where are you from? Steven J is from Springfield, Massachusetts and Steven P is from Long Island, New York

Where do you live? Louisiana, as Steven J is stationed here for the time being.

What’s your Instagram handle? @vinhtpham @muthalovajones

Age: Steven J is 24 and Steven P is 25

Relationship Status: Married

How long have y’all been together and how did you two meet? We met in college. My (Steven Pham) twin brother put a post on Facebook asking for a third roommate to live with or freshmen year and Steven responded. We checked his profile and thought he’d be a perfect fit with all the similar interests we all had. As roommates from the start of our college career we became friends in 2011 but our relationship started the year after, so we’ve been together for about 5 and a half years.

Congratulations on your big day! Who proposed to who? Steven P proposed to me while we were on vacation with my family in upstate New York. I had no idea it was going to happen. We played college volleyball and he had a ball outside and asked me to go get the ball from the ground. “Will you marry me?” was written on it and at first, I thought he stole someone else’s ball because it had something written on it haha. I didn’t put two and two together until I turned around and he was kneeling with a ring.

What is your favorite thing about each other? Steven Jones - It is hard to choose when you love everything about someone. So one of my favorite things about Steven is his mannerisms. In public or out with others, he can be a little more reserved. When we’re together, you can see these quirks here and there that just make me smile. It’s very small things whether it’s a certain way he laughs or smiles, the way he gets excited about random things, or even how he has these slight twitches just when he is about to really fall asleep. Those quirks he has makes him who he is and I love that about him.

Steven Pham – There are so many things to love about him but if I had to choose it would be his sense of humor. He always has a way of making me laugh and look like an idiot. It is one of the reasons I love him. I tend to take life too seriously and he makes me laugh at myself.

How would you describe your home décor style? In terms of our home décor style we are still figuring that out. We have only recently been living together although we enjoy modern design with a rustic charm.

Any big plans for the future? Where do you see yourselves in 10 years? With Steven being in the military we may be moving here and there. But I can definitely see our family growing whether it’s getting a pet or two, having a child, or both!

How did you know he was the one Steven J – For some, it hits them all at once. For me, it was simply a general realization that he was the one and I couldn’t be any happier. I always find myself looking at him, whether he’s sleeping, watching TV, or if he’s on his phone, and I smile. He is the reason why I’m happy.

Steven P – My feelings for Steven were strong from the start. After knowing him for a year as close friends it wasn’t until I came out to him my sophomore year when it all started. Unaware that he had similar feelings I was caught off guard. Within the week that we spent from that moment was all I needed and I knew what I had in front of me. I said “I love you” in a short period of time without any expectation of hearing it in return. He is passionate about his life goals and supportive and caring to the people in his life. Loving him was easy and I knew he was the one.

What is one thing still left on your bucket list? We still have to travel around the world. It’s tough sometimes since Steven J has to be stationed in a certain places and he deploys for 6 months here and there. We both have are responsibilities that make it tough but traveling to other countries and exploring the world is something we still have to do.

How old were you when you came out and what was your experience like? Steven J – I never really had a coming out story. There wasn’t a single moment in time where I let the world know that I felt a little differently than others. In high school, I told my twin brother and really close friends. In college I told my parents, other brothers, and more friends. It wasn’t until Steven and I got engaged when I told a lot more of my family and friends because I wanted to share how I felt about him, with them.

Steven P – My coming out is not much different from Steven’s. Sharing the part of me I kept a secret for a long time was made easier when I found Steven. Together as we grew we came out to those who mattered to us, whether it was family or friends. It was the support we had for each other that never made it hard to do. However we were fortunate enough to be surrounded by loving friends and family that supported us and helped build us up and celebrated our news.

Have you faced any backlash or hardships as a couple? The main hardship we had faced was when we were together but not living with each other. With Steven being in the military, he has to go to certain places or deploy to different areas and we can’t always be with one another. We were accustomed to being together every day of our college career and it made dealing with different time zones and long distance hard when you just want to be with the one you love.

What have you learned about how to make relationships last? Communication is such a big deal, especially when a big part of your life is away for training or a long deployment. A relationship can’t work if you don’t talk to each other. Thoughts and feelings can be understood only so much through nonverbal cues or actions. You have to express yourself through your voice to your partner for them to fully get you and I feel we do that more and more every day.