Like every one, theirs had a beginning

The public’s introduction to the couple came on the campaign trail in 2007, but the Obamas’ story began nearly two decades earlier when Michelle Robinson was assigned to mentor Barack Obama at the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin. Now, their first date, a trip to see Do the Right Thing in 1989, is getting the Hollywood treatment through the film Southside With You hitting theaters on Aug. 26.

After a three-year courtship, the couple wed in 1992. Thanks to more than a decade in the public eye, thousands of photographs capture their relationship, seeming at once comfortable and restrained, joyous and subtle. She gingerly adjusts his tie. He lends her his jacket. Hand in hand, they face the public, poised and relaxed. In one frame, hundreds of spectators photograph the couple dancing during the official Inaugural Ball. In another, Mrs. Obama watches the president speak on a television, alone.

Here’s a look back at some of the moments, many of them captured by the Obama’s White House photographers, that followed that date on Chicago’s Southside 27 years ago. —Chelsea Matiash

Above: Michelle and Barack Obama ride on his campaign bus in New Hampshire after a late night of campaigning in 2008. Photograph by Callie Shell—Aurora Photos

Obama Family Photo

Obama For America/Reuters

Charles Ommanney—Getty Images

M. Spencer Green—AP

Callie Shell—Aurora Photos

Mary Ann Chastain—AP

Alex Brandon—AP

Pete Souza—The White House

Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images

Samantha Appleton—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Callie Shell—Aurora

Pete Souza—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Callie Shell for TIME

Pete Souza

Jun Zhang—eyevine/Xinhua/Redux

Lawrence Jackson—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Ron Sachs—Picture Alliance/DPA/AP

Amanda Lucidon—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Pete Souza—The White House

Carolyn Kaster—AP