~Wedding Vibes~

In December of 2017, Celene and I met at the library where we worked. It was my first day and she was working in the Children's library and me, in the Main library. I bring it up to her from time to time that I still remember how she looked when I first met her, her hair, the blue striped sweater she was wearing, etc. We will both agree that it wasn't love at first sight for either of us nor did we think we had much in common, but over time and after several over night conversations until six in the morning (she later learned that I must have really liked her to stay up that late) we learned we had similar interests and beliefs but we are still so different that it has always made our conversations so so so fun and engaging. On our first date we had lunch at Lazy Dog Restaurant, walked around the mall and split some strawberry shortcake for dessert where she'll say I ate all the ice cream and to this day, I swear that she did. From the very beginning of us dating, we'd see each other after a long day, hug, exhale and say something like "I feel like I can breathe for the first time today." Since day one, it's been so easy to be around each other. We have always said that it feels like we have known each other for years. I have never laughed with someone as much as I have with her and, over time, that became something that I never knew I was missing in my life. - Mikayla

In the Fall of 2018, me and my family went to visit my sister in London. While there, we took a trip to Kew Gardens and ended up in the Waterlily House. It was there, looking out at one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen that I first thought of proposing to Mikayla...which I immediately pushed out of my mind because we'd just started seeing each other and it was way way way too early to think about getting engaged. As time passed and we fell in love, I kept seeing that picture of us in the Waterlily House and decided that was how I wanted to propose to her. Then 2020 hit and I had to come up with another plan. The only problem, how do you plan an engagement when you can't go out and the person you're planning the engagement for is around you 24/7? Thankfully, Mikayla falls asleep at 8:00 (okay more like 9:30), so I was able to work on everything at night. On the afternoon of March 9th, 2021, I told her to get ready because I planned a scavenger hunt for her, to which she immediately responded with "RING?!" I said something like "there are no rings on this scavenger hunt" to throw her off but she knew what was coming. The scavenger hunt took us all over town to different spots that were important to our relationship, where we met, our first date, the park we went to and talked till 3 in the morning, until we finally ended up back at our apartment with one clue left to open in an envelope in the glovebox of the car. While she was finishing the last clue I went inside and set up our room with candles and rose petals and I hid behind the door until I heard her come in. She walked in, I got on one knee, said a bunch of words that neither of us remember, and asked her to marry me and she said YES! - Celene