{"id":431665,"date":"2026-09-10T11:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/431665\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T11:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T11:40:13","slug":"texas-couple-takes-viral-engagement-photos-at-h-e-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/431665\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas couple takes viral engagement photos at H-E-B"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Texas couple had a semi-viral moment when their engagement photos at a\u00a0Houston H-E-B<\/a> took off on Instagram<\/a>. Cara DeGaish posted the photos of David Quiroz’s proposal onto her feed Sept. 3. As of Sept. 9, the images have upwards of 3,000 likes and dozens of comments.<\/p>\n

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“I don’t think any of us expected it to take off the way it did,” DeGaish told Chron.<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara DeGaish and David Quiroz post for their engagement photos at the H-E-B off Bunker Hill Road in Houston, Texas. Photographer Miranda Zaebst<\/a> took the couple’s photos, highlighting the pair’s musical theater background and their mutual love for the Texas grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Miranda Zaebst\/Courtesy to Chron<\/p>\n

It wasn’t a coincidence DeGaish and Quiroz chose the H-E-B on Bunker Hill Road\u2014technically 9710 Katy Fwy. in Houston. The San Antonio-based grocery chain<\/a> had been a significant part of both their lives. Quiroz worked there as an assistant store manager during college. DeGaish had fond memories of growing up near one in Portland, just across the Nueces Bay Causeway from Corpus Christi.<\/p>\n

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“At the time I was living 10 minutes away from H-E-B. Even in high school, I would go to my local H-E-B and just walk around. It stayed a very consistent place in my life,” DeGaish said. “Most people find it very stressful, and it is, especially in Houston, with how big it is, but a small-town H-E-B is very nostalgic, very safe.”<\/p>\n

‘Who is this man?’<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara DeGaish and David Quiroz post for their engagement photos at the H-E-B off Bunker Hill Road in Houston, Texas. Photographer Miranda Zaebst<\/a> took the couple’s photos, highlighting the pair’s musical theater background and their mutual love for the Texas grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Miranda Zaebst\/Courtesy to Chron<\/p>\n

DeGaish and Quiroz attended Sam Houston State University<\/a> in Huntsville, both as musical theater majors. The program was small, roughly 10 to 15 people. DeGaish said she noticed Quiroz right away when he walked into class. “He came into class, and I was like, ‘Who is this man? Very handsome. I need to get to know this guy,'” she recalled.<\/p>\n

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Their first meeting differs on the telling, but DeGaish’s version was that she and Quiroz were walking toward their cars in the same parking lot. He was 40 feet ahead of her, and she called out, “Hi, I’m Cara, and I don’t think we met yet.” Quiroz turned around and said, “Hi, I’m David,” and promptly walked 20 additional feet away from her. Not the best start.<\/p>\n

(Quiroz’s version of the meeting, according to DeGaish, was that he brushed her off thinking she was being super fake because no one could possibly be that nice.)<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara DeGaish and David Quiroz post for their engagement photos at the H-E-B off Bunker Hill Road in Houston, Texas. Photographer Miranda Zaebst<\/a> took the couple’s photos, highlighting the pair’s musical theater background and their mutual love for the Texas grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Miranda Zaebst\/Courtesy to Chron<\/p>\n

Seven months later, DeGaish and Quiroz were cast in Hands on a Hard Body<\/a>, a musical adaptation of the 1997 documentary set in Longview. DeGaish played the openly racist Cindy Barnes and Quiroz played Jesus Pe\u00f1a. While the on-stage relationship between the two characters is fraught, off-stage, the dynamic helped form a solid friendship between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Over time, they got to know each other and their connection to H-E-B. Eventually, they discovered their connection toward one another.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t start dating officially until fall 2023; in between those two years were many conversations, one situationship, lots of growth, and a lot of late-night drives. On many of these drives, we’d end up at HEB to walk around or just sit in the parking lot,” DeGaish said. “Our favorite thing was to look at the seasonal chips that would come out spring\/summertime and rank them, or grab a chocolate-covered something from the bulk aisle.”<\/p>\n

God in the empty aisles<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara DeGaish and David Quiroz post for their engagement photos at the H-E-B off Bunker Hill Road in Houston, Texas. Photographer Miranda Zaebst<\/a> took the couple’s photos, highlighting the pair’s musical theater background and their mutual love for the Texas grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Miranda Zaebst\/Courtesy to Chron<\/p>\n

After the pair got engaged in December 2025,\u00a0DeGaish approached her friend Miranda Zaebst<\/a>, a photographer who also works at Houston’s George Theater<\/a>, with an idea: Why not take their engagement photos at an H-E-B? It was the most consistent place within their relationship, both on the good days and bad. Plus, with their theater background, they’d do better in a place that had “props and things to play with.”<\/p>\n

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Zaebst chose an improv route, telling Chron that she just went with the flow. The photo shoot happened late at night on a weekday so there would be less people around. And by luck or God\u2014the latter Zaebst would attribute\u2014the aisles were pretty much empty when they were shooting. DeGaish and Quiroz just had a chance to be themselves.<\/p>\n

\"Cara<\/p>\n

Cara DeGaish and David Quiroz post for their engagement photos at the H-E-B off Bunker Hill Road in Houston, Texas. Photographer Miranda Zaebst<\/a> took the couple’s photos, highlighting the pair’s musical theater background and their mutual love for the Texas grocery chain.<\/p>\n

Miranda Zaebst\/Courtesy to Chron<\/p>\n

“They are naturally goofy and fun-loving so whenever we\u2019d find an empty aisle, we\u2019d kinda go wild, and just let them play,” Zaebst said. “Cara has had a running bit of balancing objects on her head since college so I made sure to get some of her doing that.”<\/p>\n

The charming collection of photos show DeGaish and Quiroz strolling around the aisles, sometimes balancing things on their head, rolling around in a shopping cart or looking at products in individual sections. The main photo, presumably the one that got everyone’s attention, shows the couple dressed casually, looking at each other in front of the H-E-B’s facade. Judging by the comments, the photos managed to appear in everybody’s feeds around Texas.<\/p>\n

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The couple sent a request to H-E-B for permission to shoot there but never heard back from its public affairs department. The Instagram account ended up messaging them, complimenting their photos and sending well-wishes.<\/p>\n

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Not all of the photos from their H-E-B exploits made it to Instagram. She’s planning to make a calendar with the rest.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn stressful days, on bored days, or just for a weekday date, they still love to walk the aisles of H-E-B,\u201d Zaebst said.<\/p>\n

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“We keep falling in love in and out of H-E-B,\u201d DeGaish said.<\/p>\n