We got married!

On December 21, 2024 we had an intimate wedding ceremony and reception at Mary Elizabeth's childhood home. We hope you can join us to celebrate our marriage on October 18, 2025!

I am not positive on the first time I met Travis, but I know it didn't take long for us to become fast friends. One of my best friends, Caroline, started dating-and eventually married-one of Travis's best friends, Jay. Their relationship helped form our college friend group. The first time I remember getting to know Travis was on a weekend trip to Nashville. I may or may not have tried to spoon feed him part of my mint Oreo milkshake after a night out on Broadway that weekend. The rest of college and throughout my time at law school, every time the group got together, I found myself drawn to Travis. I would always get excited when I learned he was going to be there and made sure to spend as much of my time with him as possible, without making it too obvious, of course. Our friends would tease us and ask why we weren't together. It was definitely a will-they-won't-they for many years, but I was waiting for Travis to make the first move... After law school, I moved to Paducah for a one-year Federal Clerkship. At that point, I assumed that the time for Travis and me to get together had passed. While there, I got an offer for a job down in Austin, Texas. I was excited for the move but needed help getting my stuff from Kentucky to Texas. I knew that Travis worked weekends (and that he could lift my heavy furniture) so I asked if he would help me with the move. He agreed to help and found himself spending a week with me and my parents, and driving a U-haul half way across the country. After that week, Travis and I began talking more and more. During these discussions, we decided that he should come down and visit Austin... and me. While I was home for Thanksgiving, we had our first date (though I didn't realize it was a date) at a Harry Potter themed coffee shop in downtown Lexington. We discussed his upcoming visit to Austin and spent way too long drinking butterbeer. The next time I saw Travis, I was picking him up from the Austin airport. Though neither of us had discussed how we felt, that weekend was full of butterflies and first date jitters. By the end of the weekend, I knew we were no longer "just friends" (like we had been telling everyone for years). Two weeks later, Travis offered to fly back down to Austin to drive me home for Christmas. We talked the entire drive through the night about everything under the moon, and it was on that drive that he finally asked me to be his girlfriend. We spent the next nine months dating long distance with nightly Facetimes and countless flights, especially for Travis. We explored as much of Austin and Texas as we could until I was able to move back home in September of 2023. For me, it was always Travis. He was worth the wait.

Mary Elizabeth and I were friends in college because our friend groups merged after two of our friends started dating. I don't remember the first time we met, but I do remember how excited I became when the group was getting together, and I realized she was going to be there. We always flirted and had great chemistry, but I never made a move, partially because we had such a tight knit friend group and partially because I had a strong feeling that if we started dating we’d end up getting married. That’s a great feeling to have about someone, but it’s also a scary feeling for a 20 year old kid! After college, when everyone spread out to get jobs, Mary Elizabeth decided to attend Law school and her free time significantly dropped. That was a period of time that we didn't see each other very often. Everyone in our group started to build lives in different locations. The new responsibilities and the physical space between all of us meant that the we didn't see each other as frequently. Even though I could tell there was still a spark on the rare occasions when we saw each other, I thought that maybe our chance to be a couple had passed. Our lives went in different directions. I moved to Colorado for a few months and other parts of Kentucky before finally settling back in Lexington in 2022. During that time, she finished law school, moved to Jacksonville briefly, and then to Paducah. I knew her move to Paducah was only a one year commitment. Afterwards, when she was back in Lexington, that would be the perfect time for me to ask her on a date and start what I knew would be an amazing relationship. That was until I got a call from Mary Elizabeth asking me to help her move to Austin, Texas with no plans to move back anytime soon! I immediately had three thoughts: 1. A little extra money is always nice and I'm available to help her move 2. I've always wanted to go to Austin and here's a chance 3. Maybe we weren't meant to be together, that's really sad. So the morning came to help her move. She picked me up at my apartment and we drove to Paducah. We drove for four hours and talked nonstop. We were enjoying the conversation so much that it took more than half the drive for us to realize that we'd listened to the same album on repeat the whole time. After a successful move, she took me to the airport and invited me back down to check out Austin for a weekend. The move reminded me how much chemistry we had, and I knew that the time for us to be a couple hadn't passed. She came home for Thanksgiving, and we met for coffee to plan my trip to Austin. She didn’t know it was going to be a date but I had a plan. I think she started to realize it was more than just a friendly meet up when I paid for her coffee. Looking back now, and after a few heated discussions, she agrees that it was our first date. Then, finally it was time for our weekend together in Texas. We hiked with Auggie, visited LBJ’s presidential library (and had way more fun than people should have in a presidential library) and walked along the river watching the sun set over the Austin skyline. At the end of the weekend, I felt like it was time to address the elephant in the room. That's when I told her that I felt the connection between us was a lot more than friendship. A couple weeks later, I volunteered to fly down and drive her back to Kentucky for Christmas as a way to spend as much time with her as possible. Pretty early on into our drive, I asked her to be my girlfriend. She said yes! Our year of dating included some amazing adventures, lots of flights back and forth, and a truly shocking number of hours on FaceTime calls. We eventually decided that we couldn’t do long distance anymore so she moved back home in September. In February, I took a small box with a ring in it out of the cowboy boots I bought in Texas and drove downtown to the coffee shop where we had our first date, and then I got down on one knee and asked her to be my wife. She said yes!

Though we had discussed getting engaged for many months, I was starting to get antsy. I jokingly gave Travis a deadline that if he didn't propose before I left for Thailand on February 17th that I might just not come home. Little did I know what he had in store. On Friday, February 9th, we had a get together to show some family and friends our new place and to have them write Bible verses and other blessings on our floors before we renovated. I joked to Travis about how I thought he might propose that night with so many of our friends and family there. I knew it was coming; I just didn't know when. The next morning, Travis left around 5:45, the same time he would usually leave for work. At around 7:30am, my mom woke me up with two notecards and a Barbie doll. She told me that they were from Travis, and that I needed to get ready for a scavenger hunt. The rules were on one notecard, and the other was my first clue, which led me to my first stop: my childhood home. TRAVIS' NOTE: At 5:45 I headed to our new house to hide and kill some time. I quickly got ready and got on the road...ignoring the part of the instructions that told me to leave the house at exactly 9 am. I had to get gas, so naturally I left 45 minutes early. Travis texted me to slow down and stop for coffee. I did, but was still, for the first time in my life, ahead of schedule. TRAVIS' NOTE: I had anticipated every outcome I thought possible. Her being early wasn't one of those. My anxiety spiked even higher than it already was, and a lot of frantic texts were sent to get people in the right places. When I made it to my childhood home, I found my sisters standing outside. I ran up to them giddy with excitement. I exchanged the Barbie for my next clue, which I figured out was for the movie theater where I had my first job. Before I left, I saw Sara, a photographer and family friend, who told me to wait a few minutes because she needed to beat me to the next stop. I did, but I was filled with anticipation! When I pulled up to the movie theater, I saw one of my best friends who had also worked at the theater with me, Hannah, dressed in her old uniform. I exchanged the movie ticket I got from my sisters for my next clue. The next stop was Travis's college house where we are pretty sure we first met. TRAVIS' NOTE: Little did she know that I was also on the move, back to her parents house to get the ring that I had forgotten! I actually saw her pulling into the parking lot of the movie theater as I was leaving. Waiting for me there were our friends Caroline and Jay. This clue, the hardest by far, stumped me. With a little help, I figured out it was for Chick-fil-a, where my friends and I frequented during law school. There, I found my friends Ellen and Clay, who gave me my final clue. The last clue was for the coffee shop where Travis and I had our "first date." TRAVIS' NOTE: I don't know why she put that in quotes... it was definitely a "date". I pulled into the parking garage and ran down the stairs. When I got to the sidewalk, I found Travis standing outside the coffee shop and couldn't contain the smile on my face. Travis got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I was too excited and practically blacked out so I don't actually remember all that he said, but through happy tears I said the easiest yes! TRAVIS' NOTE: We made eye contact as she rounded the corner of the parking garage and all of my nerves went away. I knew I was making the right decision. We walked into the coffee shop, and to my surprise, I found many of our closest friends and family, most of which had been at our house the night before! I couldn't believe that they were all able to keep the secret from me, but it was honestly one of the best days of my life. I feel so blessed that Travis planned such an elaborate and fun day and to have friends and family so willing to help out! I loved getting to have my own Eras Tour around Lexington. Again, Travis was worth the wait.