They first met at an Iowa football tailgate. Annie worked with Josh’s twin sister, Katie, and had heard a lot about him from her. With the combination of Annie showing up late and drinks being involved, Annie wasn’t sure Josh would remember who she was. “I had a decent amount to drink when she showed up to the tailgate, but no where near enough to forget meeting her,” Josh said. “Little did I know,” Annie added, “He very much remembered me and was hoping to see me again.”

They began dating shortly after and Annie said, “Honestly, I was 90% sure that I was going to marry him after that first date.” It didn’t take much longer for Josh. “I think I knew she was the one for sure after I took her home for the first time. She just worked so well with my family and I never had to worry about her being okay or being able to handle my family.”

“The proposal was a huge success in my opinion,” Josh said. “I was able to keep my mom, sister, her mom, sister, and grandma all in the dark about the whole thing. That was my main goal and I was very excited to see their reaction to the event about to happen before Annie arrived. I was very nervous all night and wanted to make sure the sunset, weather, and everything else I couldn’t control was perfect. I also was texting both of my brothers the whole time and making sure everything was getting set up.”

It happened on April 17th, which is also Annie’s parents’ anniversary. “This past April, Josh’s parents happened to be in town the weekend of [my parents’] anniversary. In all the time that Josh and I had been together, they had only met each other a few times. I thought celebrating my parents anniversary was a perfect reason to get all of us together for dinner. It was also good timing because my brother, who lives in Chicago, was going to be in town. My Dad made a reservation at Blackstone (where our first date was) for my siblings, parents, grandma, me, Josh, and his parents. Everyone got dressed up and met at the restaurant.

“Throughout dinner, Josh was on his phone a lot and was getting up to use the restroom. I hadn’t really noticed until he said that his friend was having issues with his girlfriend. I didn’t think anything of it and told him that I hoped his friend was okay. After we ate our main courses, the waitress asked if we wanted dessert. Everyone seemed to be full, but my brother asked for a creme brûlée, followed by Josh, and it eventually turned into ordering six to share.

“Finally, we got done eating and were going to head to my parents house to enjoy a fire and play some cards with Josh’s parents. As I was getting up to leave the restaurant, my brother asked me if I could stop at my grandma’s house to help let the dogs out before we headed to my parents. I told him that I didn’t mind at all, so we drove to her place while everyone else drove to my parents. After spending a few minutes at my grandma’s with the dogs, my brother and I drove to my parents to meet everyone. It was quiet when I got in the house, so I assumed everyone was already outside by the fire. I walked downstairs, stepped outside, and there he was standing at the end of a flower aisle, lined by candles, in between two birch trees with strands of lights hanging behind him. His entire family (siblings included) were there, along with my family! While we were at dinner, he hasn’t been texting his friend; he had been texting his siblings who were at my parents house setting everything up! The reason my brother ordered dessert was because the sun hadn’t set yet and he wanted the lighting to be perfect when I got there. He put a lot of time into making it the perfect night!”

I had so much fun hanging out with Annie & Josh this past weekend for their engagement session at Kent Park. The sun was warm and the fall colors were starting to turn. I loved seeing their personalities and, especially, their relationship together!