Photo: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
Chip and Joanna Gainesare marking a huge milestone.
This fall, the couple celebrates 20 years of Magnolia — their ever-evolving home and lifestyle brand. Below, PEOPLE exclusively reveals the cover for their magazineMagnolia Journal’s fall issue, in which Joanna reflects on the earliest days of their business together.
“A shy idea I’d scribbled onto a page of my journal is now a company we’ve carried for two decades,” she writes in her letter from the editor. “Despite what time says, it still feels like yesterday that Chip and I were dusting off those large metal letters that would name our first little shop.”
Joanna Gaines Recalls Early Stages of Magnolia with Chip.Kimmie Salmon/Magnolia Journal
Kimmie Salmon/Magnolia Journal
Their empire has transformed over the past two decades, expanding to include everything from theMagnolia Networkand myriad retail collections to Magnolia Market at the Silos, their sprawling shopping and dining destination in downtown Waco, Texas.
“We didn’t have a lot figured out, but you couldn’t have convinced us of it. We were living on a prayer, and believing in each other,” Joanna shares of their sometimes rocky come-up. “We were building toward something, and trusting it would somehow come together in time.”
Despite having “no clue” where their nascent idea would take them, the designer and author said she and her husband held onto “trust” even when things got tough.
MAGNOLIA NETWORK
In her letter, Joanna also reflects on how much their personal lives have grown along with Magnolia. The pair share five children: Drake, 18, Ella, 16, Duke, 14, Emmie, 13, and Crew, 4.
Magnolia Network
Throughout her sentimental letter, Joanna urged fans to use the coming fall season as a new beginning. “We all live through this kind of building season, when all of life feels like planting and cultivating, checking on your seeds, waiting for growth, then doing it all over again,” she added. “This is when we forge a career or find our passion.”
This year also markedChip and Joanna’s 20th wedding anniversary. In May, they shared sweet tributes to each other on Instagram. Chipcelebrated the milestonewith a photo of his wife biting down on a flower alongside a heartwarming caption.
Joanna Gaines Recalls Early Stages of Magnolia with Chip.Joanna Gaines/Instagram
“20 years with the most incredible, most powerful, most beautiful woman I’ve ever known,” he wrote. “You’ve given me the most beautiful life and I’m so grateful to God for you@joannagaines❤️ 20 years ago today, you made me the happiest man on earth. Thank you for everything Jo 🥂”
Meanwhile Joanna posted amoving photo booth stripof the couple striking a series of poses. “What a wonderful 20 years 🫶 Happy Anniversary@chipgaines!” Joanna captioned the post.
The couple’s love story goes way back. In fact, they have Joanna’s father to thank for bringing them together, as the two first met at his auto shop in Waco.
In a special edition of PEOPLE,Chip & Joanna Gaines: 20 Years of Marriage and Magnolia,released in March, Chip recalled how he would hang out Joanna’s dad’s shop “incessantly” when he first saw her and that she finally agreed to go on a date with him one week later.
The couple got engaged in 2002 and officially tied the knot in May 2003.
The Fall issue of Magnolia Journal is on sale August 11.
source: people.com
