Our Story

We first met in May 2021 at a mutual friend’s graduation party. Neither of us had any idea that four years later we would find each other again and fall completely, wholeheartedly in love. Looking back, it feels like our lives were being gently woven together long before we ever noticed.

Our parents grew up in neighboring towns. Our grandmothers had spoken on the phone years ago through their work and, as it turns out, share the very same best friend. Before our story ever truly began, our families were already quietly connected, and we love that so much.

Those little threads followed us to Texas A&M. For all three years of college we shared the same group of friends and lived only four houses apart in University Heights. Same gatherings, same game nights, same birthday celebrations, over and over, and still we never sat down and really got to know each other.

We were never far apart. We were simply waiting for the right moment, and God knew exactly when it would come.

That moment finally arrived over Labor Day weekend in 2025, while we were celebrating the holiday and our friend Ella’s birthday. From the very first conversation, everything felt easy. We talked for hours, we were completely fascinated with one another, and we both quietly caught a glimpse of the life that might be waiting for us.

Hunter realized he had a crush during a Walmart run for river supplies. Ryleigh had forgotten to pack shoes for dinner and picked out a pair of cheap red ballet flats, and Hunter thought it was the cutest, funniest thing he had ever seen.

Ryleigh’s moment came the very next day at Canyon Lake. Walking down a hill in flip-flops, she stepped on a bee and was stung on her big toe. It was her first sting, no one else wanted to look at it, and Hunter stepped right in and took care of her. It was a very big deal to Ryleigh, and so was the tenderness behind it.

After those two days we were nearly inseparable. Hunter made sure our tubes were tied together on the river. Ryleigh always found the seat beside him at game nights and somehow always ended up in the passenger seat of his truck. She technically asked for his number first, under the very convincing excuse of “networking.” A first date turned into a second, then a third, and on October 26, 2025, Hunter asked Ryleigh to be his girlfriend.

For the next five months, Hunter drove from Pearland to New Braunfels almost every weekend, and Ryleigh made plenty of trips to Pearland too. We loved each other through all those miles until May 2026, when Hunter transferred from his Houston office to Austin and we could finally begin building an everyday life together.

Ours has always been a “when you know, you know” kind of love. Our families fit together as naturally as we do. Everything flowed, everything clicked, and the coincidences, some of them beginning before either of us was born, became impossible to ignore. “It’s a small world” means something especially sweet to us.

Adventure, quality time, and trying to out-serve one another have shaped us from the very start. Most of all, we have chosen to keep the Lord at the center of our life together. Our greatest hope is to lead each other closer to Christ, and one day closer to heaven, serving God, serving one another, and loving faithfully in every season.

Even our wedding date carries His fingerprints. Overwhelmed by planning and unsure of the venue, the timeline, or the vision, Ryleigh sat down one morning for her devotional and asked God to bring her heart back to the true meaning of this season. That very morning, one venue replied. Its only remaining date before July 2027 was January 16.

At first, January felt far too soon. Ryleigh called her sister, Aerial, the way she always does when she needs to talk something all the way through. Aerial immediately started to cry. Hunter had engraved “Ruth 1:16” inside Ryleigh’s engagement ring.

In that moment, January 16 stopped feeling rushed and started feeling chosen. We fell in love with the date, fell in love with The Weinberg at Wixon Valley, and booked it as quickly as we could.