8.8.26

Our story is a right person, right time story. Carlie was stationed in Illinois with the Navy, and Caleb was born and raised there. We met through mutual friends and started chatting for a week before Carlie invited Caleb over for a little get-together together she was having with friends. The second Caleb walked through the door, as cheesy as it is, it was love at first sight. From that night on, we’ve been inseparable. Three years later, we fall in love more and more every day and we cherish our strong, natural bond as best friends. Loving each other is so easy. Our family and friends knew from the start that our relationship was meant to be and we couldn’t agree more!

Carlie’s mom, Cama, and sister, Tayler, had come out to visit for the weekend. Carlie thought it was just a normal visit to see her new apartment, but that was far from what it ended up being! Saturday morning, June 14th, Carlie, Cama, and Tayler went to get their nails done with Carlie’s nail lady (she does the best Russian manicures!). After that, they went to the Kenosha Harbor Farmer’s Market to do some shopping. Caleb was at work all day so it started as a girls trip. When he got off work, we all went to a brewery in downtown Kenosha for dinner. After that, we decided to walk down to the water, stopping for some popcorn on the way. Carlie was completely oblivious to why we wanted to go for a walk, but it wasn’t out of the ordinary. As soon as we got down to the water, Cama and Tayler suggested taking some pictures by the water. Also, not out of the ordinary. (It helped having a mom that took pictures of us all the time growing up!) Mid-picture, Caleb asked Carlie if she was ready, and that’s when she knew. He gave her the sweetest, most heartfelt speech with plenty of smiles and tears, and then got down on one knee! It couldn’t have been more perfect and everyone couldn’t help but cry because the love between Carlie and Caleb is so apparent. This was the start of their forever together! Turns out, Caleb had been planning this with Cama and Tayler for months in advance. He put so much effort and thought into creating the most perfect proposal and it was nothing short of it. It was as special as it could have been with Carlie’s family there, as she had mentioned a while prior that she wishes her mom and sister could be there for it.