Julia went to visit her friend Sunny in Houston TX for MLK weekend back in 2019. We attended the Houston Salsa Congress which coincidentally Marcus would attend annually (we did NOT cross paths at this time). Facebook algorithms thought we should be friends after that event and Marcus sent that friend request. It only took about 7 months for him to finally send a DM and another year would go by until we officially met in person 10/22/2020. The rest is history!

It was a typical Saturday date night that was planned well in advance by Marcus. Yvana was “going to the movies” with Abuela. As we are driving towards the lovely St Pete Beach for dinner at Spinners, clouds were brewing and Hurricane Debbie was forming. Marcus had planned a sunset proposal on the beach and rented giant lighted MARRY ME letters (that needed a power source!). During dinner he had to pivot and change the plans as the rain and wind started pouring, our lovely friends Melissa & Darryl were helping with the set up had to hurry off the beach (sandy and soaked!) and somehow get these letters, petals, arches, balloons, photos and everything else back to the house, quickly and without Julia finding out. Meanwhile, trying to hide this from Julia who kept getting annoyed based on how many “bathroom” breaks he had taken to make calls and try to coordinate these last minute changes. We eventually get back to the house and pull into the garage. Marcus ran inside which was unusual behavior to get down on one knee. Julia opened the door to tell that the car wasn’t fully in the garage and got the first glimpse of what was happening. She shut the door quickly, panicked and in shock, and stayed in the garage for a few seconds (seemed like minutes for Marcus 🤣). He came to get her and brought her inside, got on one knee and asked the question, she said Yes (still in utter shock as to how he could’ve pulled this off without her knowing)! Then came the shouts of “SURPRISE” of our closest friends, mom, and Yvana who were all hiding. The perfect storm ended up being the perfect proposal.