Our story began in the fall of 2012 when we met in middle school band. At the time we never talked much but became much closer once high school started. We had an English class together in 9th grade and sat right next to each other. Derek being the big goofball that he is, was always trying to make Taylor laugh...which she did. Fast-forward to 11th grade when the trumpet section began to be a close friend group, we grew even closer. Once again band being what linked us together.

After high school we continued to hang out even more, more like every day. From late night bowling, to going camping and our tent flooding from the rain, to Taylor and her friend spending the night pretty much every night for a while at his house...feelings started to develop. After going on a trip up north for a weekend in the late summer of 2020, Derek being oblivious to Taylors feelings towards him, Taylor finally told him how she felt. Derek felt the same way and asked Taylor to be his girlfriend. We started dating 3 weeks before Derek went to bootcamp. From there on out we were in a long distance relationship, the long hours of being on Facetime and trying to find ways to watch movies online together (like Derek getting Taylor to watch Star Wars for the first time) just to try and make it feel like we weren't far apart. Once Derek was in prototype and got an apartment in Charleston, SC...he then asked Taylor to move in with him, she couldn't say yes fast enough.

We lived together for 6 months in Charleston. Derek showed Taylor around, exploring the city and finding new restaurants. She was in awe. After the first couple weeks, Taylor started to get a little homesick...Derek being the caring person he is, surprised Taylor with a trip to Disney & Universal to help cheer her up. Making that our first big trip together as a couple. Closing in at the end of prototype, Derek found out he was going to be stationed in Georgia. We then bought our first house and moved in July of 2022. Within the first few months of living in our new home, we both agreed we were missing something. And that's where our fur baby Maverick comes in! Within the first two years we also went to Universal far too many times to count, as in we went almost every other weekend. This is just one example of the many adventures we've gone on as a couple.

Then came along the hard parts...the deployments. The hardest goodbye, but the easiest hello again. Though it may have been hard for the both of us, we both know it just made our love 10x stronger!

Jumping forward to the summer of 2024, Derek had convinced Taylor to go out and get her nails done while he was doing stuff around the house. Taylor was a little suspicious about that but didn't think anything of it. She came home to the house dark...almost ruining it but saved it. And saw gold rose petals on the floor and candles lit and fairy lights on the wall with I See the Light from the movie Tangled playing in the background (Derek always joked that Taylor was like Rapunzel and was one of their favorite Disney movies to watch)...Derek got down on one knee and proposed! Taylor in shock and started tearing up, said yes!

Were so excited to start this new chapter of our lives and we cant wait to spend our day with the people we love the most!

Love, Taylor & Derek

Registry