WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

We met over 10 years ago over Halloween weekend- October 29th, 2011. Mikel was dressed in her best "lady bug" costume, Josué rocking a white tee and jeans. It was Josué's college fraternity's Halloween party; Mikel’s first college party after rushing her sorority, and Josué knew Mikel’s big sis, Emily. Emily casually introduced us as we walked into the party and Mikel proceeded with her night. Josué, however, told Emily that very moment, “I’m going to marry that girl one day, she has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen." (AW!) Everyone went on to have a fun night, and Josué knew he had met "the one." Little did he know, Mikel had a boyfriend at the time and thus began a long journey of being just friends.

Josué and Mikel were such great friends throughout college. In fact, they were always each other's dates to any social events- they had become a package deal. Of course one had to wonder if their friendship would ever blossom into something more. Mikel became single, but was not ready to date again just yet. It was a hard on both of them; they knew they loved their friendship and didn't want to ruin anything about it. Things got tough for a period of time where they didn't speak, but after 6 months of not having each other in their lives, they decided to rekindle their friendship. They finally began casually (& secretly) dating in March of 2015 and on graduation day, May 16, 2015 Josué told Mikel he loved her and asked her to be his girlfriend. She happily accepted and finally, after four years of friendship, Josué went from "Friendzone to Endzone!"

Fast forward 4 years of dating and traveling the world- on our 4 year anniversary, May 16, 2019, Josué popped the question at sunset on Baby Beach in Maui. It had been a fun day of adventuring up and down the coast for a photography Jeep tour- basically riding around in a Jeep with a professional photographer who takes really cool and unique photos of you in these rarely toured spots. Unfortunately, at the start of our tour, the weather did not cooperate and there was a downpour for at least 3 hours. The photographer who lived on the island for 30+ years even said this was the most rain he’d seen in ages. Josue was a nervous wreck the whole day and was trying to think up a plan for when the right time would be, amidst gray cloudy skies and a wet and muddy forest. Once we got to the beach at sunset, the photographer did some portraits and got great shots right as the clouds cleared- Josue's perfect time. Both of us blacked out as to what happened next but we know it was pure happiness and excitement and Mikel ended up with a ring on her finger. 4 years of friendship 4 years of dating & lifetime of adventures to come.