(As told by the groom) We met like any other retail couple getting married, by telling each other to "never date coworkers". Fortunately for us that may not always be true. We were both working our retail jobs casually stealing glances of each other from across the store... It was the holiday season of 2021 that changed things. I was in need of a new TV for my mother and it happened to be in stock in Deandra's department. On one of my days off I made my way to the store and standing behind the counter was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. My heart jumped into my throat and my heart started to race as I walked up to her and uttered the words "Do you have a Samsung Frame TV in stock?". It was the first time we had actually spoken to each other in the 7 months that we worked together, and I could tell from that first interaction that her and I had chemistry. We talked about the TV for almost 10 seconds before our eyes met and the air around us became electric. I went home TV in the trunk and the thought of her racing through my head the rest of the day. After that first interaction we began chatting more while in passing, asking each other how our days were and being cordial. We would often bump into each other while printing off tags and -I think- we would always pick the computers closest to each other. It felt almost like being in high school again. Christmas Eve and the days following were what sealed the fact that we could have conversation with each other. We sat down at the same table in the break room during Christmas Eve lunch and chatted about work, a little bit about ourselves, and our plans for the holiday. The next day we started to message each other over Facebook, telling each other 'Merry Christmas' and discussing what we both had planned. At that time we had only plans to talk and establish a friendship. We failed. New Years 2022 came and Deandra and I were texting each other every day, multiple times a day and discovering that our lives were more compatible than we first realized. Our friendship was rapidly turning into something more. I couldn't go a day without talking to her by that point, she made me laugh, smile, she provoked thought and generally made me feel good. It was exactly what I needed at that time and I knew the next decisions I made were going to be what brought us here to where we are now. As I closed a rough chapter of my life, I set my eyes only to the person ahead of me. We took things slow-- just as slow as we could -- going on dates, being open, vocal and vulnerable with each other to establish our wants and needs, and trying not to rush what had taken us half a year to build and discover. By the beginning of May 2022 we knew that all of our experiences had culminated into one very specific reason, to love each other.