Getting married young and in college is not common because in Mississippi, the median age for a first marriage is 27.6 years old for men and 28.2 years old for women. However, that was not the case for Hannah Sasser, 21, and Kolby Sasser, 21. They have been married for several months now.
They went through wedding planning, classes, summer and now fall semester of school together. Within their marriage, they battle through classes, social life and time together. They value their time together, but must maintain that work, school and life balance.
Hannah and Kolby always knew each other growing up and became friends, getting to know each other through being involved with church. They explained that they were a “thing” for five years, but dating for three years. During those years, two of them were long-distance. Kolby lived in Bosnia while Hannah stayed in the United States.
Kolby proposed to Hannah back in August 2024 and they married in June 2025. They knew it was the right time for them to get married in their 20s when Kolby officially moved back to the United States.
“I think at that point we kind of knew when we could get married, we’d want to just because we’d been in a relationship for so long,” Kolby said. “I think we kind of just had our mindset of this is whenever you’ll move back here.”
Going through wedding planning, Hannah would be in her classes at Southern Miss stressed about what was going on for the wedding. Kolby was only in a couple of online courses, so he did not stress as much as Hannah did. She commuted from the Coast to Hattiesburg every Tuesday and Thursday for her classes.
“There was a lot of things of being in class, but I would also have wedding things on my mind,” Hannah said. “So, trying to plan that while maintaining school was stressful.”
There was the stress of planning a wedding in less than a year as well. Most plan their wedding years in advance, but this couple did not want that. She reached out to 30 to 50 different makeup artists to schedule her wedding appointment, but none of them were able to since they were booked up. She realized that the wedding planning industry is known for most to book far in advance, so when she looked, a lot of venues/artists were not available.
Now being married, Hannah is in her fourth year of college and transferred to Southern Miss in 2024. She still commutes from the Coast to Hattiesburg two to three times a week. They both have jobs at their local church which helps them focus on other things such as school. Both of their schedules are demanding, but she feels as if they are forgiving because since they are in more different situation than most, she can focus on finishing her degree.
“It’s forgiving, I feel like the way I’m able to go to school is a very unique situation,” Hannah said. “I feel like because it’s a lot to be married and try to pursue a degree.”
They focus on making certain days in their weeks dedicated to their relationship. Being able to find time to pour into each other is hard because of their demanding schedules. They try to figure out the best way to balance their time, so they spend time on their relationship needs.
“It’s definitely figuring out a balance of having time together while you’re going to school,” Kolby said. “We’ve kind of set days to prioritize being able to hang out and unplug because the other days of the week are very demanding for both of us, like job-wise and school-wise, so being intentional of we’re going to spend this time together and then the rest of the week kind of as we have our doings.”
There are nights where Hannah is doing her homework and thinks about how she could be spending time with Kolby. She tries to make sure that school is a priority even though she is married.
Even though they are a young-married couple, they see a lot of value for it because they are starting young and can grow into adulthood together. They see this as a gift of being able to go through school and marriage together. They believe that they are still able to have “college” experiences while being married and go through it together.
“For us, I think, we’re excited to do those things together and being married, I think you can still have those experiences,” Hannah said. “Like Kolby said, it’s definitely a gift to be able to be young and to grow up together as a married couple.”
The Sassers said they are grateful to be able to do this part of their lives together married. Even though there are going to be obstacles for them to overcome, they are willing to do it because of their love for each other.