Madelyn + Tyler

I met Madelyn at our hometown beach bar in Pensacola while we were both home for Christmas — a familiar place that felt suddenly unfamiliar in the best way.

I had just returned from living in Scotland, and she was home from Los Angeles when we sat down for what was supposed to be a casual drink. Conversation stretched easily into the night. Somewhere along the way, we decided we would drive to New Orleans together the next morning — the kind of plan that feels unreal once it’s said out loud.

At 7am, I picked her up. We left while the town was still quiet, driving west as the light changed around us. We never turned on the radio. The hours passed in conversation — stories, pauses, laughter — until the road itself felt like part of the moment. By the time we reached New Orleans, I knew something had shifted.

The years that followed were defined by distance — New Orleans and Los Angeles — measured in flights, reunions, and weekends that always felt too short. Even apart, we were moving in the same direction.

When I finally moved to Los Angeles, we built a life together in Santa Monica, close to the water, where days slowed and routines formed. Then shortly came along a dachshund named Oliver, quickly becoming the center of it all.

In May, on the north shore of Kauai, I asked Madelyn to marry me. We woke early, made coffee, and walked down to the beach before the sun fully rose. Sitting together, talking quietly, the world felt still. When I got down on one knee, time seemed to pause. Moments later, her sister and brother-in-law appeared from the trees behind us, and we spent the morning in the ocean, letting the day unfold as it was meant to.

After years of movement and return, of distance and closeness, this is where the story continues — toward a celebration, and a life, shaped by all the places we’ve been and all that lies ahead.

We’re so grateful for the people who have walked alongside us through every chapter, and we can’t wait to gather with you — to celebrate, to reflect, and to mark this moment together. Thank you for being part of our lives, and for helping usher us into what comes next.