We met back in 2011, at the School of Architecture in Puerto Rico. We became best friends, partners in crime, sharing our passion for architecture, and traveling. When we graduated from Undergraduate back in 2015, destiny played in our favor putting us in the same Grad School in University of Cincinnati in Ohio. Our story is a classic love story of two friends who fell in love after many years of being just friends. It took 5 years for us to realize what we had in front of each other. Ever since we meet, we have traveled the world, a very special passion we love to do together.

The story of our proposal has many layers. Julian’s main goal for it was not only to ask Mariela to join him for the rest of their lives but to make it a surprise (tough task!). As you may know, Mariela is a curious woman who hardly missed things; Julián knew it was going to be a challenge. Like every year, this time we organized our trip to Mexico, to go and see the amazing architecture and culture that Mexico City offers. We also wanted to see our 4th wonder of the world together, Chichen Itzá. On Proposal Day, Julián made Mariela wake up at 4am, (even though she hates waking up that early) because he wanted to be the first at Chichen Itzá (something Julian always do). After getting ready, we left the hotel, drove 2 hours, got to the site at 7:30am, and we were the first ones to get in line, according to the plan. We entered the site, walked to the pyramid and Julián rapidly looked for that planned spot. He had to be subtle and not too obvious. However, something in his favor is that as a wannabe photographer, he’s always very insistent on getting quality images. That helped him not getting Mariela to question his demands on that day. Minutes passed by and I got her to stand in the planned spot as her sister Paula “took a picture”. Julián told Mariela to pose so we can get a natural picture, while the photographer Maricarmen was in the background “taking pictures of a friend” when she was really taking pictures of the unique moment. Then, with the early sun coming out, Julián got on his knees and pop the big question. The rest is history. Mariela had no idea, she even thought Julián was joking! Not only he managed to plan to ask her to marry him without her finding out, but also surprised her with a photographer to get our first ever photoshoot as an engaged couple. We could not ask for more. The day was perfect and now we cannot wait to spend the rest of our lives together.