Candice and Josh – April 23, 2022
Smoky Mountain Mini Wedding
I had just started back into the workplace after being a stay at home mom for eight years and have gone through an highly difficult break-up from my children’s father. Josh happened to walk through the door & I knew that I needed to get to know him. He nervously called me Kansas instead of Candice and we got a laugh from it. We eventually went to lunch for the first time and got sushi bowls. Josh wasn’t a huge fan (I found out months later), but tried it anyway just for me.
I was craving hike to clear my head, and be outdoors, but didn’t necessarily want to solo hike. So I asked Josh! I soon found out that Josh loved hiking as much as he loved sushi bowls haha! We met at work one Saturday morning and drove a short drive to Paris Mountain. We hiked about a mile and stopped on a large rock to catch our breath and share almost every detail of our lives to each other. We eventually hiked back to his truck and did some more exploring including to the Poinsett Bridge. I was really impressed with its design. Then Josh took me to Binions in Hendersonville, NC for a bite to eat, plus we got to watch the movie Tombstone there, which I later found out that it’s one of his favorite movies.
I was cleaning up in our chicken coop and ended up with a mild migraine. I went and took a nap to try and “sleep it out”. When I woke up, a couple of hours later, Josh drove us up to Binions for dinner after we cruised around for a little while. It was getting late and Josh drove us near the Poinsett Bridge talking about ghost stories people had encountered. We slowly started approaching the Bridge, and I remember getting spooked when I saw a figure in white! Not to worry, it was only a group of bikers hanging out late at night! We stopped at the end of the road at a stop sign and Josh said he needed to check on things at his house, which I figured he could’ve done while driving. After an awkward pause, Josh reached down under his seat and asked me to spend the rest of his life with him! I said yes, and didn’t know whether to cry or…well, I was kinda stunned and couldn’t believe it, even though I knew it would eventually happen after our many talks about our future.
Josh originally planned to propose on the bridge and I never caught on to him taking me to the places we first visited on our first date! I blame the cruddy headache!
We love the mountains! Josh likes to visit admire the mountains & I, Candice, like to hike them. We love to travel to Tennessee for vacation or just for the day! East Tennessee is the perfect place for us to get married since it is in between Kentucky & South Carolina.
Josh was born and raised in South Carolina and frequented Pigeon Forge as a boy through adulthood visiting for car shows and the view.
I’m a military brat and of all the places Ive traveled & lived I call Kentucky home. I would travel to South Carolina, through the Smoky Mountains, to visit my grandparents during some summers and was fascinated by the smoke surrounding the mountain tops.
We go to Rod Run twice a year if we can. We enjoy working on our home we purchased last year.
We have about 30 chickens and have quite the rainbow egg collection.
A date night typically includes my daughters as well, with a sit down meal and maybe a stroll through Lowes or TSC! Lol!
