Preschool sweethearts separated at 5 years old reunite and become husband and wife

Fate brought Natalie Crowe and Austin Tatman together when they were toddlers – and then it brought them back to each other 12 years later. Now, after 22 years, the preschool sweethearts are husband and wife.

Crowe and Tatman grew up together in Ocala, Florida, and were inseparable in preschool. "They were always hanging out together and that's kind of unusual at this age for boys and girls to always be together, but those two were always pretty close," their former teacher, Beth Summers, told Inside Edition.

She knew the pair had something special, but at age five, they were ripped apart. Crowe's family moved over 1,000 miles away to Connecticut. The best friends didn't see or hear from each other for 12 years.

Then, Crowe happened to find an old address book with Tatman's information in it. Social media finally existed, and now that she had his last name, she was able to look him up on Facebook. "Immediately, we started sending messages back and forth and sharing memories," Crowe said.

They eventually reconnected in person when Crowe went back to visit her hometown. "As soon as we got some alone time, I was like, 'this is my soulmate,'" Crowe said. The lovebirds picked up right where they left off when they were five and they started a long-distance relationship. They even found a way to go to each others' proms.

The two stayed together for years and recently, Tatum popped the question. "I fell on the ground instantly," Crowe said of the proposal.

Now in their 20s, the couple can't believe they were brought back together after all this time. On their wedding day, they celebrated their decades of love by recreating an old photograph showing them standing side-by-side in a little red toy car. The updated version shows them in a real red jeep, wearing a wedding dress and a tux.