We're getting married!

We met May 5th, 2014, at a work meeting for the local movie theater in Westhampton. Taylor was standing next to Alyssa and started talking with her before the meeting began. After the meeting concluded, they were all asked to exchange phone numbers. Taylor walked up to Alyssa to ask for her number. Alyssa thought he was taking too long and proceeded to playfully grab the phone out of his hands and put the number in herself. After he had her number, he made sure to wish her a happy birthday jokingly stating, "Happy Birthday Old Lady." One evening, Taylor went to the movies on his day off with some friends. After watching the movie for a bit Taylor got bored and went to the lobby, he noticed Alyssa was working that night. She was putting up the letters on the marquee and he went over to her to see if she needed any help. After a few months of working with each other and texting here and there, they began a friendly yet flirtatious relationship. Taylor says she flirted with him first and Alyssa says he flirted with her first. Despite who flirted first, they became very close with each other and spent more and more time together that summer. Little did Taylor know, Alyssa's mom was the Managing Director. Because of this, and there being a 7-year age difference, this made both of them hesitate on moving forward, however they did. Taylor asked Alyssa to coffee, then to the beach, movies, kayaking, and eventually dinner. It was a summer to remember. The summer came to a close, and Alyssa invited Taylor to her sister's 10th birthday party at Dave and Busters. Taylor said yes, but the manager on duty called out sick and the only one who was next in line was him. Taylor was so disappointed he was going to miss it. He called Alyssa to tell her the news, and she was so upset that he wasn't able to attend. Five minutes later, the other manager shows up. Taylor was in shock and couldn't be happier and called Alyssa to inform her of the good news. Alyssa was just as joyful that he was coming to this family event. They even both saw a shooting star that summer. September approaches and they both meet each other’s families in which they made their relationship official on September 21st, 2014. Before Alyssa's grandmother aka, "Grammy," passed away that year of 2014, she said, "If he's the one, I approve." Fast forward ten years later, and they are getting married on that exact date!

After about 3 years of dating, in 2017 they both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Even dancing as if it was their wedding night in front of Taylor's grandmother aka, "Nanny," before she passed away. In October of 2019, Taylor had the idea he wanted to propose to Alyssa and started planning! In 2013, a year before they met, Taylor went on a trip to Australia with his parents Harry and Lisa. He fell in love with the country and wanted to share that love with Alyssa, the women he fell in love with. Alyssa and Taylor love to travel, and meet a really nice couple, Trent and Belinda from Australia on their honeymoon in February of 2019 in the Maldives. Taylor reached out to them and they helped to plan on the perfect location where they can take photos and video of the proposal. He also reached out to a lovely family, The Daniele's he met there 6 years prior. The plan was set... now to tell her. A month before at Christmas, he gave Alyssa a set of clues of where they were going. Taylor was so nervous and excited at the same time. He hid the ring in a GoPro box with a note so the TSA wouldn't ruin the surprise. After a few days in the outskirts of Sydney with their friends, on January 11th, 2020, Taylor and Alyssa made their way down to Macquarie’s Chair. Taylor and their friends told Alyssa to dress really fancy or you can't get into the Opera House that evening for drinks. Before that, one of their friend’s mom was holding the ring in her bag and needed to put it in Taylor's jacket. She went to the bathroom to do this and forgot to put the ring in his pocket. After Taylor asked her she said, “Wait I need to go back and wash my hands...” Taylor thought, “she must know!” He was freaking out inside... looking back Alyssa thought that was odd. Their friends said, "We're just going out tonight, etc." They left and went ahead of them so they could get a good spot to record the proposal. Taylor had his friend’s battery charger because his phone was about to die and he needed to see the location of where they were. After Alyssa saw that Taylor had her charger, she was upset with him. "She's meeting her friends and going out tonight, how could you take her charger, she's going to need it." Now so many thoughts are going through his head. They stop at the Sydney Opera House so Taylor can watch his friends get further ahead. Alyssa said after the proposal that it didn't surprise her they stopped... Taylor's always on his phone. They walk through the botanical gardens. Taylor starts sweating at this point, so he takes off his jacket, then puts it back on so that the ring doesn't fall out. She questions him about that and Taylor is now thinking she knows somethings up. They get to the location and are waiting for people to get off the rocks near the bulk head so that they can go out there for the proposal to pop the question. Alyssa says, “Why not get a picture here?” Taylor states, “No, I want it out on the rocks.” Again, she says she didn't think anything of it since Taylor loves pictures. In Taylor’s mind, he was still freaking out inside. They finally get out on the rocks where he proposes to the love of his life! She of course says yes after thinking, “That camera I saw earlier over there was for us,” and putting all the pieces of everything else together. It was a picture-perfect moment, just like the movies. They celebrated that night at the beautiful Sydney Opera House. From that moment on, Sydney, Australia holds a cherished place in both of their hearts, becoming their favorite city.

Although wildfires were raging in Australia at the time of their engagement, they didn't hesitate, and fortunately so, because just around the corner in March, COVID-19 struck. Taylor and Alyssa waited to get married until everything began to go back to some sort of normalcy. They had their engagement party with family and friends July 24th, 2021, once people could fully gather in large settings again. After much time passing, Alyssa and Taylor decided on getting married in 2023, but the place they liked only had dates in 2024. Two dates to be exact and one of them being September 21st of this year. They knew it was a sign. It was fate and destiny to have the wedding on the date they started their journey together, 10 years later. It will be 4 years since the engagement, and definitely well worth the wait for them. They were so tired of people asking, “When are you getting married?” They've enjoyed their time being fiancé(e)s and are excited to be Husband and Wife. In the fall of 2022, they moved in together into a 3-bedroom house with their friends, Bayron and Eva, who Taylor set up together. In December of 2023, Alyssa received her bachelor's degree and is now working on her journey to Optometry school! This past Christmas, Taylor surprised Alyssa with a puppy! After a billion name changes, they settled on Maple! She is a miniature dachshund with a brown, black, and orange color who loves to grab the leaves on the ground outside...hence the name Maple! They absolutely love her and the life they are creating together, now and forever.