Marshalls advise: Don't be mean but be honest

Robbie Marshall, 25, and Kiara Marshall, 22, have known each other since elementary school. Robbie actually took Kiara's sister to the prom. Kiara and Robbie both ended up in her sister's wedding party in the summer of 2017. They started talking after that.

Kiara's first impression of Robbie was that "he was really goofy and really cute."

By November, they started dating.

When they found out they were pregnant, "I asked her parents for her hand in marriage," Robbie said.

But he still needed to ask Kiara.

Leading up to the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce 2018 royalty competition, Robbie kept asking her: If he asked her to marry him, would she say yes?

"We were both really open from the beginning that this wasn't a fling, this wasn't something temporary," she said. "If we're going to be together, it doesn't have to be soon, but we wanted to make a commitment to each other."

Kiara later realized why Robbie kept asking her, over and over, if she would say yes. Before they told the town they were pregnant, Robbie ran for king in Wrangell's Fourth of July royalty competition.

When he won, up there on the stage in front of the whole town at the coronation ceremony, as part of his acceptance speech Robbie said, "Every king needs his queen." Then he got down on one knee and proposed.

"I was just, 'We're doing this now? OK.' I was completely caught off guard," Kiara said. "But then it made sense that he wanted to be sure, 'Promise you'll say yes.'"

"I was nervous but it worked out," Robbie said, "because she said yes."

Robbie and Kiara married July 25, 2020, with a ceremony at City Park and a reception at the Nolan Center.

The Marshalls now have two daughters. Emma turned 3 in December. Peyton turns 1 in March.

As a married couple, finding your own way to communicate is hard, Kiara said. Breaking generational problems that have been passed down and how they were raised is a challenge. "We don't want to have the same arguments as our parents."

But be honest. Brutally honest. "It doesn't have to be mean. But say how you feel, and why you feel that way," she said. "You might as well be truthful, otherwise you're going to have that conversation over and over again."

Kiara said when she and Robbie enter each other's presence, they don't have to spell out how they're feeling. "We both can look at each other and know," she said.

"I think a lot of people are intimidated by the full commitment," he said. "But once you find that person, you know."