Wedding Day

The Appel Inn

Ceremony

Reception

Our Wedding

Like many people during the height of Covid, Rachel and Taryn both joined TikTok in an attempt to cure their boredom since social activities were limited. They both fell into the cosplay community and began making their own cosplay videos in hopes of making some new online friends. They didn't come across each other's videos until the summer of 2021, they were both into cosplaying the same character from My Hero Academia, a popular anime at the time, and after seeing each other's videos a numerous amount of times on their For You Pages both Taryn and Rachel decided to follow each other. They were only friends for a couple of weeks before Taryn invited Rachel to Rhode Island Comic Con, knowing it was a long shot since they had just become friends and both lived on opposite sides of the country. To both of their surprise, Rachel said 'yes' and agreed to fly from Alabama to New York to meet with a stranger from the internet and attend a convention together. From there it was nonstop talking as they both planned out what cosplays they'd want to wear to the convention. After meeting in person for the first time, that normal shyness or awkwardness you feel around someone you've only just met...wasn't there. They both felt connected and an instant level of comfortableness took the place of any awkward feelings instead. As cliche as it sounds, they became instant best friends that weekend. While they did share a hotel room with 4 other people, it was just the two of them adventuring through the city and making memories together at the convention. It was that weekend that Taryn realized she had a crush on Rachel. When it came time for Rachel to fly home the goodbye was a sad one, as Taryn wasn't sure if that would be the last time she'd ever see Rachel or not. Tears were shed for days after Rachel's departure. But plans were quickly made for Rachel to join Taryn and her friends Sierra and Tiff at a convention in Florida 2 months later. After that convention, Taryn knew that she wanted Rachel to be a permanent fixture in her life. So she began to drop hints here and there to try and convince Rachel to move to New York and even made a PowerPoint presentation of all the pros (because there were no cons!) of making the move. Rachel had just gotten out of a long term relationship and was still living with him at the time and decided, "why not?" and agreed to move in with Taryn less than 6 months after they had met for the first time. So Taryn flew to Alabama to help Rachel pack up her old life and the two of them took turns driving the 21 hours back to New York together. That summer was a whirlwind of adventures to the Asian market, doing photoshoots, cosplaying, and traveling with friends. It wasn't until almost the end of the year when Rachel admitted her feelings to Taryn on October 17th and they began their love story.

Taryn & Rachel

Taryn & Rachel

Travel

Crowne Plaza Albany - the Desmond Hotel, an IHG Hotel

Homewood Suites by Hilton Albany Crossgates Mall

Courtyard Albany Thruway

Hampton Inn Albany-Western Ave/University Area