BY JE’DON HOLLOWAY-TALLEY | Special to the Birmingham Times
FAITH & JAMEL WATERS
Live: Hoover
Married: Oct. 10, 2020
Met: In their 4th-grade class at Glen Iris Elementary School on Birmingham’s Southside. They attended middle school at Center Street Middle School and reconnected in 2012 during their freshman year in college at Alabama State University.
“Jamel played basketball in college, so he was walking to practice, and I was going to my dorm room when we saw each other for the first time on campus and stopped and talked. It was super quick. It was like ‘Oh you go here, I go here. Nice to see you’,” Faith recalled.
“I was happy to see somebody that I knew from home, we have a lot of [history], and everything was still new, so it was nice seeing somebody that was familiar,” Jamel said.
Faith and Jamel would randomly bump into each other around campus, mainly in the cafeteria, she said. This felt awkward for her because Jamel was aware of her school-age crush from their childhood, “but he didn’t like me and we both knew it,” Faith laughed. “I was over the crush by then but seeing him again I realized I was still attracted to him even though we never flirted or anything.”
Fast forward to September 2013, their sophomore year. One afternoon they talked until the sun went down, and the next day, Jamel asked Faith to meet him in the yard to converse again. Two weeks and several courtyard conversations later, word around campus was that the two were an item.
“So, I asked Jamel about it; I said [people are saying] I’m your girlfriend, and he said, ‘you are’. And I was like ok then,” Faith laughed.
First date: Magic City Classic weekend, October 2013, at the Waffle House in Irondale. The couple didn’t have vehicles, so their earlier dates were around campus at fast food restaurants. However, when they came home for Classic weekend Jamel got his mother’s car and he picked Faith up from her mother’s home in Irondale and took her for a sit-down meal at the Waffle House.
“We already had the first date butterflies out the way because we had been boyfriend and girlfriend for two months. But it did feel good to be picked up and taken somewhere,” Faith said.
The turn: Jamel said he was serious from the get-go: “We just had a good relationship, we loved each other, and I couldn’t see no one else fitting that role or being my girlfriend. Faith was it for me,” he said.
“It was serious from the very start for me too. He showed and proved to me that he was serious from the jump. He never played around on campus with other girls, and he didn’t have a reputation even though he was an athlete, so it was easy to take him seriously, he made me a priority from the jump,” said Faith.
The proposal: After midnight on New Year’s Day, 2019. They had since graduated college and moved back to Birmingham and shared an apartment on the Southside of Birmingham. They chose to bring in the New Year at home together.
“We stayed up to pray the new year in and were sitting on the couch talking after the prayer and I let her know that I think it’s time for us to make the next step, and that was making her my wife. So I got up and told her I’d be back and came back with the ring we had picked out and customized. She knew about the ring, she just didn’t know when I would propose …,” said Jamel. “I didn’t plan to do it on New Year’s Eve/Day, I was just waiting for the right time and it felt right in that moment…”
“I was shocked. It didn’t happen like it does on social media, it wasn’t this grand [elaborate plan], it was just us casually talking on the couch, I had on pajamas and he had on boxers and my hair was all over the place,” Faith laughed. “I was like ‘Really, right now when I look like this?’ But it was good that he did it that way because had he tried to plan anything I would’ve found out about it and knew it was coming. Him doing it that way really caught me by surprise and it turned out to be the best way. And I had not seen the ring [since picking it out and choosing the custom options] and it looked even better than I imagined and it felt good that my ring was one-of-a-kind and no one else would have it.”
The wedding: At Vulcan Park in Homewood, and was officiated by one of Jamel’s high school teachers whom he can’t recall. Their colors were black, gold, and ivory.
Most memorable for the bride was “when I walked down the aisle. It was surreal. It was like right now in this white dress I’m not married, but once we walk back down this aisle, I’ll be walking down as a married woman,” Faith said.
Most memorable for the groom was their surprise pregnancy announcement and gender reveal at the reception. “…no one knew she was pregnant. We played a video and the video said, ‘First comes love’ and showed pictures of us, ‘Then comes marriage’ and showed our engagement pictures, ‘And then comes…’ and the video from our ultrasound and the baby’s heartbeat played, and everybody went crazy,” Jamel said. “Everybody was excited, there was a lot of shock and joy on people’s faces. And then the wedding coordinator came on and said, ‘now let’s get ready for the gender reveal.’ And the gender was revealed by the DJ lights. Blue lights for a boy, pink lights for a girl, and the lights started flashing blue.”
“I was 20 weeks [5 months] pregnant and I couldn’t even fit my dress anymore, I had to have the dress [altered] to even get into it,” Faith recalled.
Words of wisdom: “Continue to date your partner and keep having fun. Keep it interesting and be considerate of your spouse,” said Jamel.
“Be willing to change and adapt constantly. Marriage is constant change, and as women, it’s important for us to be able to pray for our marriage, and our partner and be that support. But be willing to pivot and change constantly. This is probably the 5th version of myself that Jamel has seen since we met, no one stays the same forever,” said Faith.
Happily ever after: The Waters attend Bethel Baptist Church in West End, and have two children: Jamel ‘Goat’ II, 3, and daughter, Dayci Faith, 5 months.
Faith, 30, is an Avondale native, and Shades Valley High School grad. She attended Alabama State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology, Samford University where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in science and nursing [BSN], and Troy University where she received a master’s degree in nursing. Faith works as a registered nurse home health case manager for a medical practice in Birmingham.
Jamel, 30, is a West End native, and Ramsay High School grad. He attended Alabama State University, where he earned a bachelor’s of rehabilitation services in health science. Jamel works for a courier service as a delivery agent.
“You Had Me at Hello’’ highlights married couples and the love that binds them. If you would like to be considered for a future “Hello’’ column, or know someone, please send nominations to Barnett Wright bwright@birminghamtimes.com. Include the couple’s name, contact number(s) and what makes their love story unique.
