A Taylor-Made Boy & a Brown-Eyed Girl

A story like ours was enough to fill the Bride's romantic heart. But in our case, the cliché was true: he fell first, she fell harder. We met through a mutual friend who gave Michael Taylor's phone number in college for a formal date, a month before she graduated. We met at a coffee shop next to campus, called Ampersand. Taylor noticed Michael's introversion, so like how she did with her other more quiet friends, she kept covering a host of topics until she hit one that seemed to light him up -- movies. More specifically, the A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas was brought up (and how iconic it was), and then we eventually segued into criticizing and yet somehow also praising the Twilight saga, a series of movies we continue to reach for anytime it gets gloomy outside -- a practice we adopted from his sister! We talked for several hours and, unbeknownst to her, Michael had actually skipped his physics class to continue talking with Taylor. The chemistry that ensued in the next few weeks preceding Taylor's graduation was undeniable. We found any excuse to be with each other, from terrorizing our mutuals with our presence to bumping into each other at the library. At this point, Michael was smitten. But Taylor's heart was a little guarded, as she swore off dating in college. Technically, she wouldn't. When she was convinced it would be the last goodbye, she wrapped her arms around Michael one night during graduation week and began to cry. She couldn't explain why, and she didn't quite know what she was talking about when she said it, but she did: "You feel like home to me."

Taylor left to drive back to California upon graduating to spend one more summer back home before finding her footing in her career. At one stop in Tucson during the journey, Michael FaceTimed her and admitted to having feelings for her. Taylor, sitting in the hotel bathroom floor so as to not wake her mother, didn't know what to say. She admitted while she wasn't sure she had feelings yet (yeah right), she would absolutely date him... ...If it weren't over the distance. When summer ended, Taylor revealed to Michael she got a job in Madison, Wisconsin. Michael was initially optimistic that she would return to DFW for work, but was let down upon hearing that they would likely not cross paths again. That was before he sent flowers to her office for her birthday on March 28, 2024. This would be the gift that changed everything.

During a spiritual fast for Holy Week, Taylor received flowers for her birthday that landed on Maundy Thursday from none other than Michael, still in Fort Worth finishing up his education. After an isolating and difficult few months in Wisconsin where she knew no one and slaved away at two jobs, this was the only color Taylor had gotten in her life since leaving what she knew behind. One thing stood out to Taylor about this act: she hadn't been forgotten about, despite her having felt like it for so long. Cue 18-hour long FaceTimes where we would fall asleep on the phone, and "if I return to Texas" became a "when I return to Texas." Just shy of a year in the Midwest, Taylor decided impulsively to write her two weeks' notice, install a hitch on her sedan, pack up a trailer all by herself and drive it back to DFW. She swore it wasn't because of Michael. (It was.) On October 6th, 2024, we saw each other for the first time for a year and a half (510 days, as Michael counted). Our first date was unpacking the U-Haul into a storage unit, getting Panda Express (something they didn't have in Wisconsin) and going to Taylor's first Buc-ee's trip in too long (the first of many). At the end of the evening, at Tanger Outlets, Michael asked Taylor to be his girlfriend. You can guess the rest. She slept on her future Maid of Honor's bedroom floor and worked opening shifts at Trader Joe's, driving two hours each way to see her future husband while he finished up college in fall of 2024. Taylor miraculously found a job in Carrollton, and Michael deservedly found a job in Plano. On October 4th, 2025, one year after Taylor began her journey down to Texas, Michael got down on one knee and asked Taylor to make him "the happiest man in the world," in front of the very same fountain where they took photos for their first formal date, their entire reason for meeting. And this is merely the beginning of our story.

We spent the bulk of our relationship as neighbors in our Plano apartment complex, merely a few doors down from each other at all times because Michael can't stand phone calls or FaceTimes -- as it reminds him too much of the time they were apart. Since February, Michael is preparing what will be our family's home in The Colony, Texas, keeping it warm until Taylor comes home in June. Just like how we started, Taylor is back in Meredith's (her Maid of Honor) house -- but this time, in a spare bedroom instead of on a mattress on the floor! Our immediate plans include continuing to dance at the brand-new Maverick's Dance Hall down the road from our new home, indulging in Taylor's dream of scratch cooking for the two of us, preparing our house to be a home for all of our friends in the DFW area from hosting dinner parties to movie nights for no good reason, finding and establishing our holiday traditions, and -- most importantly -- getting a dog as soon as possible.