Sophia here (Social Media + Marketing Manager), not to be confused with the Sofia. I’m pleased to share the sweet story of Erica + Caleb, our newest SKFJ Love Story. We first met Caleb when he reached out to start on Erica’s ring, and are thrilled to see the couple engaged with one of our most recognized and signature styles, the Sloane. Read on for Erica and Caleb’s love story!
Current Location: San Diego, CA
Wedding date + location: Elopement in Laguna Beach on 6/23/2023 & plan to do a wedding for family and friends Fall 2024.
Caleb is in the military and due to deployment circumstances, it made sense to elope vs. waiting. But honestly, it was actually really nice having a private ceremony and reading our own vows without an audience. We’re both relatively private people and it felt so raw and genuine doing it that way.
Meeting Date + Location: La Jolla, CA… Meeting date is a toss up, maybe around October 2020?
How did you meet?
We were neighbors in La Jolla when I first moved to San Diego. I thought he was a “player” and mainly ignored him for a few months. Caleb lived in a little beach house at the Wind and Sea cove and would give my new dog (puppy then) treats in the front yard to pull me over lol. He asked for my number once and I told him “I’m good, no thanks”. But after a few more attempts, I caved. Our first official date was him giving me a ride to the SD airport – he was trying to plan a dinner but I was traveling a lot for work at the time. He was relentless… clearly it worked out though.
Tell us about the proposal!
Caleb was coming back from a deployment, so we decided to do a staycation in Joshua Tree for a few days. No real plans, just hanging out in the desert. He had been wanting to take a dirt bike out to the National park trails (not my favorite but, I oblige). I had suspected he was going to ask me to marry him while we were out there… very patiently waiting (lol). He took out a Copenhagen dip can, and there was the ring 💍 🙂. He thought I would suspect a proper ring box in his pocket lol.
When did you know that your significant other was the one?
Honestly, our relationship was tough in the beginning. By the time our first date rolled around, I had already accepted a job in Austin, TX and planned to move two months following. So we had to decide quickly how serious we were about one another. Funny though, it didn’t seem stressful at the time. I knew I wanted to give this thing a shot without hesitation. We ended up doing 9 months of long distance, weekend flights, planning around our work schedules.
There was a huge time, emotional, and financial investment into making the relationship work but I think at that point, we knew this was a “grand love” that doesn’t come around often, if ever and our relationship wasn’t going to fail because of state lines.
What are your favorite things about one another?
Caleb’s Answer: Erica is extremely independent, intelligent & driven to move the ball forward in life. Yet, she encompasses a lot of feminine energy.
Erica’s Answer: Some background here: Caleb is in the Navy and grew up pretty unique. His parents were missionaries in East Africa so he spent the first 18 years or so of his life living off the grid in villages, around wild animals and harsh climates. Even his teammates say that bravery has always been his thing. Wether its picking up a new hobby or things where most people would feel hesitant, he just gets after it. A rare quality these days.
What made you choose this ring?
I actually found Sloane (the ring) on Pinterest years ago and decided that was what I was going to have one day. It is unique, yet timeless and classic. I’ve always had an eye for things of that nature.
Do you have any notable stories that stood out over the years – funny, sentimental, anything!
You’d have to hear us tell it for it to be funny maybe.. but our first dinner date (post my Uber ride to the airport), we had planned on doing dinner one Saturday night and I hadn’t herd from Caleb all day. Turns out he was waiting for me to text him. So 4pm rolls around and he texts me asking if I still wanted to hangout & mentioned he was in Pacific Beach at a bar celebrating his friend’s birthday and wanted to know if I wanted to meet him there to hangout. I was like uh no.. I don’t want to go to PB and drink with your buddies.. lol so I offered to rescheduled. But remember, I was moving to Texas at the time so there was little free time on my end. He immediately texts back “No, no! I’ll be there in an hour to pick you up”. I remember thinking “this is a bad idea, he’s a bad idea, I knew this was going to be another San Diego dating causality” lol. I’m pretty sure he made the dinner reservation in the Uber on the way to pick me up. But.. that dinner date ended up being the best 1st/2nd date I’ve ever had, we even closed down the restaurant.
What’s you’re favorite go-to date night?
We do “date days”. Which typically involves taking our Husky, Nash down to the dog beach in Coronado, getting some sun & salt water time in, followed by maybe some margaritas at the Coronado Del Hotel. Highly recommend 🙂
What was your favorite part of your wedding?
Our elopement was super private and special but we’re really looking forward to celebrating and saying our vows in front of family and friends.
For those still in the beginning stages… Do you have any advice for planning a wedding?!
My biggest piece of advice, currently planning a wedding is don’t stress the small things. We’ve decided on a small (60-ish people), tasteful wedding in Palm Springs. Our main priority was 1) having a beautiful venue and 2) simplicity. We’re not doing a lot of the “extra” stuff you would normally see at weddings (bridesmaids, groomsmen, photo booths, elaborate flowers, ect). It seemed like a lot of stress and added cost. It’s probably the only time in our lives we’ll have all of our people together in one place and wanted to focus on that vs. all the normal wedding accessories.
Did you honeymoon? And if not (yet) where are you hoping to go?
We’re planning on spending a few weeks in Africa next year. I’d love to see where Caleb grew up, do some safari & island exploring.
If you could add any piece to your SKFJ collection, what would it be? 😉
I love love love the Robertson rectangle paperclip earrings. Much like my ring, I feel like they’re simple, unique, yet timeless and an everyday wear. I’m also in the market for some good earrings so maybe it’ll be a future purchase 🙂
Alright – so what’s next for the two of you!!
Well, by the time Caleb sees this posted, he’ll know. But we went to see a few rescue puppies last weekend and there was one I fell in love with. He’s 2 month old German Shepard, retriever mix and Caleb said he “trusted me” with the decision. Soo.. now we have a puppy. Caleb has been in the desert training for work and the pup will be here when he gets home.
