WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!

I was contracted by Centerpoint Church to help them with their live stream audio in mid-2019. The second time I was on campus, I met this friendly, outgoing, and wonderfully talented girl named Peyton! She was leading worship that weekend and I was there doing sound. I remember asking another one of the staff members about her - she caught my attention right away! Thus started the saga of our friendship, of a period of a year building a friendship, going back and forth to each others' homes in Diamond Bar and Murrieta, lots of dinners made, movies watched, and long talks had. It was clear to everyone that I was interested in Peyton...everyone except Peyton that is. About a year after meeting, I finally let her know that I liked her and we started dating (much to the *surprise* of everyone who had been asking for months if we were, in fact, a couple).

I had just joined the worship team at church. We were in our "COVID 19 only streaming pre-recorded services" phase there. I walked into my first worship set recording, and waved at the sound guy that I didn't recognize. I said "hi, I'm Peyton! It's my first time!" and he responded with "Me too! I'm Ryland." Sadly, we didn't talk again until Oct 2020, when after another church event, we got into a long conversation and became friends. Both in person, and online. We spent until May 2021 getting to know each other over Instagram DMs and more church events, then eventually dinners, walks, games, and adventures.

First, we took Peyton's sweet dog Molly on a walk at Harveston Lake in Temecula, CA. We walked around the lake and moved through all of the awkward "get to know you conversation" topics. From there we went to Board & Brew for sandwiches! It wasn't long before Ryland invited Peyton over for dinner. Thus began a few months of dating and getting to know each other.

Throughout our relationship, we've made it a habit to go on a surprise date night every month, alternating who plans it each month. I (Ryland) had been planning the general timeline of when I wanted to propose since the end of 2021, so in anticipation, I asked Peyton if I could have the surprise date night in March which aligned with Peyton's spring break. I picked a date, but then discovered Peyton had booked a hair appointment that day, so we moved the date to the 31st. I updated my plan with Peyton's Grandma, dad Greg, and my parents, Tom and Linda. In preparation, I walked the park in Laguna beach the week before and picked out the perfect spot. When March 31st rolled around, we got ready as we normally would for our surprise date night, Peyton having no idea where we were headed or what we were going to do. We got to Laguna Beach and walked through the park. Our families were hiding behind a monument at the tip of the point, and when we reached the spot, I (Ryland) finally started feeling the nerves. "What am I going to say?" "Can she see them hiding?" "Shoot, I just saw a phone sticking out from behind the monument..." All of this going through my head, I fumbled my way through what I had intended to say, and dropped to one knee and asked the question! Peyton said yes, and we got to spend the rest of the evening with our families celebrating!

We are eager to move in together, combine our lives, and create rhythms together. Our goals for the next few years of marriage include traveling, continuing to serve at our church, and learn to love each other better each day.