How it Began…

It was a humid night in Destin, FL. College spring break, 2017 (sick). Some friends and I were staying in a house near the beach and decided to invite a group over. The night goes on, I get a tap on my shoulder, turn around and the words “Matt Clayton” are the first words I ever hear out of my future wife’s mouth. Bryce had known Matt through Camp High Harbour and I guess we looked similar enough for her to make the connection. My beer was taken, filled with a mixed drink, and then returned to me. A prankster from the moment I met her and her version of “flirting,” well, I guess it worked.

College…

We returned to normal college life and I immediately started trying to figure out what my next move would be. I actually may be the last person in history to pick up my wife via Facebook poking. Things were off to a hot start. I invited her on a fraternity date night which was the first time we had talked for more than 5 minutes, and immediately knew she was special.

With it being the Spring of 2017, I was set to study abroad in Oxford for the entire summer. We were both understanding of not wanting to jump into a relationship and immediately doing long-distance. Our first “date” was a Braves game. I wanted to make it clear at the time that this was not a date due to my leaving - we both fully knew that it was. I ended up facetiming/messaging her every single day of my study abroad ~80 days and a 6 hour time difference.

I returned from abroad. But we weren’t dating you see! I had an underground bet with my friend, Sam, that I would not be dating this girl by Georgia Tech's "Wet Day" (a week into the semester). I couldn’t wait, so I decided to ask her to be my girlfriend, with the promise that she would not tell Sam so that I was able to win my bet - this was Aug 25, 2017. Eventually, Sam figured it out and I had to pay up. Worth the $20.

Soon after, I was hit with some big news. Bryce was one of the biggest Georgia Tech football fans that I have met - growing up a UGA fan, I didn’t even know those people existed. I think, even in marriage, you don’t have to agree on everything - this is one of those things. Sitting in Bobby Dodd watching Tech play UGA was one of the most conflicting and confusing sports games of my life, but I’m glad to finally have a partner that grounds me and forces me to, unrealistically, cheer for a much worse football team. **Fun fact: The Daniels family all attended Tech, except Palmer (UGA). The Clayton family all attended UGA, except me (Tech). Palmer and I have the same birthday. Coincidence? No way.

College goes on and we attend football games, out-of-town formals, Braves games, and date nights. All of my friends soon realized that Bryce was cooler than me, so she was often invited to many things. One of those being skiing. We went on multiple ski trips together and I quickly realized another thing about Bryce - she’s sick at skiing - steezier than I will ever be.

Post-Grad.....

Over the course of 4ish more years of college and post-grad, we were forced multiple times to do a long-distance relationship. It wasn’t easy at all, but got better with time. We both knew what we meant to one another, so it made it easier to handle.

We also had the opportunity to get closer to each other’s families. My family is a big part of my life and we are very close, so seeing Bryce’s huge family and her love for them was very important to me. I was also able to spend many weekends up at Lake Burton hanging out with them and it truly became a special place for both of us.

So now I’m sitting here thinking….wait…I have a girlfriend who is smart, athletic, funny (sometimes), good-looking, easy-going, loves football, and most of all - is easy to love. I hit the jackpot and I knew it…So what’s the most logical thing to do next? If you guessed living with our parents for 2 years, Will taking a sabbatical, Bryce leaving her job, starting a travel blog, and traveling the world - you guessed right!

Proposal…

For the years leading up to 2023 my plan was to propose to Bryce at 1) Jackson Hole or 2) Bryce Canyon. Like most things in our life at the moment, that plan didn’t work out. After making the jump to do a sabbatical, my focus quickly changed to how I could do it while traveling the world.

I bought a ring, wrapped it in saran wrap, and sewed it into my passport belt. We headed off on a ~50 day trip through Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Singapore. I had no idea what location or day I was going to propose - I wanted to do it when the time felt right.

We traveled through Australia for 2.5 weeks, the ring still in my passport belt, right next to Bryce the entire time. New Zealand was next and was my target location. One of the nights that we were in NZ, we stayed in a hostel and the host said that tomorrow was going to be perfect weather and the hike that we wanted to do was incredible. While Bryce was in the shower, I cut off the string that I had sewed the ring into and took out the ring for the first time since leaving Georgia. I sorta psyched myself out that night and went to bed with a loose plan.

The moment we drove up to the hike I knew it was going to happen. One of the most incredible things I had ever seen - a snow covered volcano, Mt. Ngaruruhoe. I was working on the fly, but there were only a couple of other people at the trailhead. I wanted to make sure no one was around. Just us. We hiked about 2 miles and I suggested we take a GoPro timed photo like we did a hundred times on this trip. This time, it was a video. I acted like we were taking a photo, dropped down on one knee, sorta blacked out, and asked Bryce to marry me. Bryce was absolutely stunned. An incredible moment, all to ourselves, in an incredible place. July 30, 2023 - a start of a new chapter….