Tyler and Melissa first met at Daniel and Jeni Roop’s wedding rehearsal, on June 3, 2005. Tyler was a groomsman, and Melissa was a bridesmaid. While weren’t paired up as a couple, they still managed to spend time talking to each other at the rehearsal dinner, and afterwards as Tyler tagged along with the bridesmaids to see The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, much to the chagrin of the groomsmen. It was during this first outing that the two began to become acquainted, and Melissa earned some points for her fancy car.
As the hour of the wedding approached the next day, there was again a split amongst the bridal party to keep the bride and groom from seeing each other before the magic moment. However, the time came for lunch to be served, and Steve and Tyler, being the gentlemen that they are, came to the aid of the bride and bridesmaids with a sharp knife to cut the giant sub. It was then that Tyler earned some points for his fancy knife skills.
After the reception, the two met up with some friends to do the one thing that people in Tavares do on a Sunday night: bowling. There, Tyler earned some more points for his fancy hat and his fancy phone, and Melissa earned some points for her beautiful smile and her adorable laugh.
Tyler had planned on calling Melissa the next day, but Melissa, being the excitable and sometimes impatient girl that she was, could not wait even a day before calling a friend of Tyler’s to try and get in touch with him. They talked that night. And the next. And the next. At this point, they were very eager to see each other again, but could not easily do so since they lived a couple hours apart. However, this turned out to be a small challenge to overcome.
Melissa had found herself in a period of homelessness that summer, between her break from teaching, and taking classes in at the University of Florida in Gainesville. It was during this time that she came to Orlando to say with Daniel and Jeni that she met up with Tyler, and the two stayed up until very late hours of the night (and on occasion early hours of the morning) talking, ogling, and making mid-night trips to Wal-Mart for Combos.
At the end of that weekend, it was with much hesitation that Tyler decided to call things off, since he had already planned on moving to Tennessee, and his friends were advising him that a long distance relationship was not a good idea. All the while, Melissa remained confident that Tyler would come around, and fortunately, it was only for the better part of a week. Then Tyler, after much prayer and counsel, broke down and headed to Gainesville to surprise Melissa with the news that he wanted them to be together despite their circumstances, and that he could not stomach the thought of being without her.
Then it came time for Tyler to move to Tennessee, and reluctantly, and somewhat foolishly, he went through with the plan, and as hard as it was for her to do so, Melissa supported his decision. Tennessee was nice, but the job situation didn’t seem all that promising, and the two missed each other more than they could manage, so after a month of the Volunteer State, Tyler packed up once again and headed back to Florida, but this time to Tampa where he would be close to Melissa.
They continued to grow closer to one another, and more in love with each other every day until they decided to get married. One rainy October night, Tyler surprised Melissa by taking her to the Gaylord Palms in Orlando, where, he proposed, Tyler on one knee, and Melissa in her pajamas. Behind them a giant sailboat floated in a replica of the Florida Keys inside the atrium of the resort.
