Our story started in October 2021 at Dollar Tree, of all places. Kaila had just started her first job as a cashier, and Joshua was an assistant manager. Kaila's first thought when she saw him was, “Oh no… a cute guy works here.” Being as anxious as she was, she knew this was going to be interesting. 😂

We started out as coworkers, but it didn't take long for Kaila to develop a huge crush on Joshua. Her best friend and sister—who are now both her Maids of Honor—may have even joined in on a little investigating (okay, stalking 😂) because she was completely obsessed with him.

In January 2022, Kaila transferred to another store, but that ended up bringing us closer instead of farther apart. We started texting, getting to know each other more, and hanging out outside of work.

On May 25, 2022, we finally made it official. ♡

And that's where us officially began.

St. Augustine has been a special place to us since our first real vacation together in 2024. During that trip, we found a painting by a local artist in the Fountain of Youth gift shop of Magnolia Avenue. We loved it so much that we bought it, tracked down the exact spot from the painting, and took a picture of Kaila recreating it.

We ended up loving St. Augustine and came back twice for little weekend getaways. In 2026, we decided it was time for another week-long trip. Before we left, Joshua suggested making a photo album of the vacation in order as we went. He said the first picture should be us together on Magnolia Avenue, recreating the painting and the photo we'd taken there in 2024.

So after work, we drove straight to St. Augustine and went to Magnolia Avenue before we even checked into our hotel. We had bought a tripod so we could set up Kaila's phone, record a video, and screenshot the best picture afterward since we would be standing in the road.

At least, that's what Kaila thought we were doing.

Instead, while the camera was recording, Joshua got down on one knee and proposed in the same spot that had become one of our favorite memories from our very first trip. ♡