JD and Katie first met face‑to‑face at a San Diego country‑swing class, set up after both swiped right and exchanged some thoughtful messages online. JD, already a regular, walked Katie through the basics and kept her for a few extra spins once the lesson wrapped. They left early for a nearby neighborhood restaurant and joked about life, travel, work, and Komodo dragons. The night ended on JD’s Mission Bay balcony, where the water caught the last of the evening light and they shared what became their last first kiss. Unbeknownst to Katie, JD had only 3 more planned weeks of living in San Diego. The farewell party—planned long before that date—still took place (Katie was not invited), but the moving plans began to fade. Would he end up sticking around permanently?

Ten months after that first spin on the dance floor, Katie and JD cashed in a rare window of freedom between jobs and boarded a one‑way flight to Singapore. They wandered through the domed Cloud Forest, lost themselves beneath the soaring Supertree Grove, and explored the famed Night Safari. With each new adventure, they couldn’t help but wonder if four weeks on the road would prove their instincts about each other right—or spectacularly wrong. In Bali they found their stride: a sunrise trek up Mount Batur, white‑water bursts through jungle rapids, silent temple courtyards heavy with incense, and an afternoon spent fin‑to‑fin with manta rays gliding along Nusa Penida’s reef. Bali remains the place with their favorite shared memories. However, a clerical mix‑up threatened to bar them from boarding their flight into Vietnam—jeopardizing Katie’s dream of the Hoi An lantern festival. After a tense scramble to reach the right contacts, they slipped through immigration just in time to watch hundreds of lanterns drift across the water. Vietnam’s misty rice terraces and sobering war relics gave way to Japan’s bullet‑train precision, ancient architecture, and bowls of ramen they can still almost taste. By the time they touched back down in California, they’d logged four countries, countless inside jokes, and the quiet certainty that their greatest adventure was the life they were already building together.

When conversation turned to marriage, JD’s first step was securing Katie’s dad Larry’s blessing. JD drove his beloved—but notoriously temperamental—BMW to her parents’ home, only for a fuel injector to fail en route. Undeterred, JD and Larry squeezed in a stop at the mechanic’s and still made it to lunch. Over pastrami sandwiches, JD asked for permission to marry Katie and left with Larry’s full blessing. A few weeks later, JD and Katie escaped to Sedona for a weekend getaway. JD told Katie that he had scouted out the perfect place for a photo shoot, and that he would bring his tripod and camera to get some great shots. When they arrived at the trailhead, JD surprised Katie by introducing her to a professional photographer he had hired (and who specialized in capturing surprise proposals). The photographer instructed Katie to turn and gaze toward the canyon’s sweeping horizon. With her attention drawn elsewhere, JD dropped to one knee and produced one of the five placeholder rings he’d bought in varying sizes to guarantee the right fit. When she turned back around, JD asked her to marry him. Katie said yes. They spent the rest of the weekend exploring hidden canyons, savoring Sedona’s local flavors, and trying their hand at glassblowing. By Sunday’s sunset, they both knew this trip hadn’t just been another getaway—it was the moment their next great chapter truly began.