Our Story

Every wedding is one day. This is everything that led to it, told in chapters, the way it happened.

2018

The Meeting

It started somewhere completely ordinary: my apartment at WSU, September of 2018. My roommate Alondra introduced us. Neither of us can tell you what we talked about that night, though we both agree I was doing more of the talking than I should have been.

Then Tay left for the Dominican Republic, and the whole thing had to wait. The day after she landed back in Pullman, I asked if she wanted to hang out.

She picked the movie. We saw Hereditary at the campus theatre. I asked if I could put my arm around her, then mentioned it wasn't really that scary, which was a lie told for reasons I think were obvious to everyone but me. That's the night we count as the start.

Ryan and Tay

Pullman, 2018

2019

The First Adventure

The next year we drove north to Whistler to ski, which was ambitious, because Tay had never skied and I hadn't in years. We rode the chairlift exactly once. Tay took a spectacular spill. Somewhere below that, we admitted defeat, unclipped our skis, and walked the rest of the way down in complete silence.

Then we got to the village and ate crepes, and they were so good that they retroactively fixed the entire day. We still talk about them. We have also promised each other, every year since, that we are going back to conquer Whistler Blackcomb.

Ryan and Tay

Whistler, British Columbia · one chairlift, zero regrets

"We lost to a mountain and came home planning the next trip. That's basically the whole relationship."
Ryan
2022

Building a Life

In 2022 she moved in. The two of us, plus Champ and Blue (who needed a few weeks to forgive us), squeezed into a small studio in Renton. It was tight.

We learned each other's routines out of sheer proximity: whose coffee got made first, who won the closet, which cat claimed which corner. It turns out a small place is a good place to figure out you want a much bigger life together.

Ryan and Tay

The studio in Renton

2023–24

Passports and Holidays

Mexico came first, in 2023. My Spanish turned out to be worse than advertised, the rental car took longer than the flight, and the drive to the resort felt endless. Then someone handed us each a glass of champagne and we just laughed, out of pure relief, at nothing at all.

That December I spent Christmas with Tay's family, which is its own kind of milestone. Then London in 2024, another stamp, another list of places we still owe ourselves.

Ryan and Tay traveling

Mexico, 2023 · London, 2024

Chapter Five · 2025

The Question

November of 2025. Tokyo. A restaurant called The Peter. Tay carried the ring in her own bag for the mile-long walk there and had no idea. We spent that walk talking about the future, where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do, and I have never been more sure of an answer to a question I hadn't asked yet.

I excused myself to the restroom, changed into a black suit, forgot how to tie my tie, and came back to the table while the waiter very generously kept her talking. Then I knelt down. Neither of us remembers a single thing we ate. We remember everything else.

2027

The Best Chapter Yet

Which brings us to a terrace in Newcastle on the 17th of July: a sunset, a city skyline, and every person we love in one place. The only thing missing from this chapter is you.

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