“Our Hawley love story begins at a CrossFit gym in Essex VT — that is where Tyler and I first met. It started out as a friendship aka I had a huge crush on him & he barely knew I existed. We chatted here and there and kept contact briefly and insignificantly until the summer of 2017, when everything changed.

We began to meet up at the gym, attend similar class times and do extra work outs together after class. One day, he asked if I’d like to grab a drink and thus the fun began.

We met up at a restaurant & bar and hit it off pretty quickly. I was gushing inside thinking that I was on a date with TYLER HAWLEY, the hottie from the gym. Things went so well and he did all of those chivalrous things like opening the truck door for me, making sure I walked in the inside of him on the side walk and he even walked me to my door at the end of the night.

I was distraught when the night ended and he left me without a goodnight kiss.

Though I thought for sure the kissless first date meant I blew my chance after a somehow perfect evening — I was thrilled when Tyler asked to see me again!

The rest of the summer was full of fun dates, drives & even a date to the fair — but the most fun we ever seemed to have was one night that we both feel was a pivotal point in our story. That night, we sat on the couch — no music, no tv — and just talked from 7pm until 2am. We talked about everything and it all felt so natural and easy.

It was clear to me early on that I shouldn’t set higher expectations of our company to go any farther than the summer, as Tyler was set to go to Virginia for Marine Corps Officer training for about 9 months starting in September.

But again — to my eager surprise — we kept things going & Tyler asked me to be his girlfriend and his date to the Marine Corps Ball that year.

The distance was tough but not nearly as tough as we anticipated and the following summer of 2018, Tyler finished training, entered the fleet and we moved together to Southern California and our next adventure began.

He proposed to me that following February (2019) on the San Clemente beach at sunset and again took me by complete surprise. It was the best moment of my life…until wedding day of course!

With his impending deployment this fall 2019, we planned our dream wedding in a swift 7 months and were married on October 18th. Truly, it was the most perfect day! Full of fun, laughter, dancing and all around LOVE.

With Tyler, every day is an adventure & we continue to learn and grow together day by day. No matter the change that fluxes in and out of our lives, we remain steadfast and true to one another, with a passion and child-like joy that I’d never experienced until we met.

And thus our next adventure begins!” – Michele & Tyler