‘What?’ you ask? Let us tell you what we mean. If you are a history buff, you may know the story of Alexander the Great and the burning of his ships. In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great sailed with some 75,000 men to fight a mighty battle. Upon arrival, he made history by turning to his men and telling them to burn their boats. Confused, his men wondered how they’d retreat if needed. His answer was simple - we won’t, we will win this battle and take theirs. This sent a clear message to his men: there is no turning back. That is the approach we have taken to our relationship. As we set out on our first date on September 7th, 2020, little did we know that by the next morning, we’d be deleting our dating apps. It was the most intentional and connecting date either of us had ever had. Despite living in Nashville for several years, Caylin had never been to the Opryland Hotel. Funnily enough, it happened to be Mat’s playground growing up - running around the atrium and shops as a mischievous kid - so he wanted to be the first to experience it with her and share what it meant to him. It was perfectly simple and sweet, and we laughed as we explored the cheesy gift shops and people-watched, and held hands as we walked through the indoor forest - crossing bridges and under waterfalls. Fast forward many hours and a first kiss later - we’re at Caylin’s house playing Settlers of Catan and watching The Princess Bride (because she wanted to share one of HER favorite things with him, too). It was getting late and we were fighting sleep just to stay with each other, but since we didn’t want the date to end - we made plans to make breakfast at Caylin’s the next morning. And that’s when Mat told Caylin that he had deleted his Hinge profile, and was all in on her. Burn. The. Boats. ;) But if we rewind to early 2020, Caylin had joined an online therapy coaching program created by Nashville-based couple’s therapist, Jourdan Blue. In this program, she learned about the science behind relationships and attachment styles to learn how to have a healthy, secure relationship - different from those she’d had in the past. She learned that “soulmates” were based on an outdated Greek myth and that it was actually much better to get to choose your soulmate rather than having one predetermined. So, when she told Mat that she was deleting her dating apps too, that’s what she did. Choose him. Burn. The. Boats. But we didn’t stop there. We were determined to do things differently - we continued to follow the process Caylin had started - diving into relationship resources, learning, and growing so we could protect and be proactive about our relationship and foster the ultimate safe and vulnerable space neither of us had had before. We celebrated our 1st anniversary by moving in and building a home and life with our two kitties, Josi and Bubby. As life often does, our lives continued to transform over the next two years, with career changes, family losses, and embracing a new community around us. But we stayed constant for each other. We did the work to become the best versions of each of us, not just for the other person, but for ourselves. We’ve been building our marriage since before Mat even proposed to Caylin on her 30th birthday. Our wedding day won’t be a new commitment to each other - all of the boats are already gone. It’ll be a recognition of the commitment we’ve had since the beginning. And we can’t wait to celebrate it all with you ♡