Meant to Walk This Road Together

​On September 21st, I officiated Madelyn and Connor’s wedding ceremony at the Milestone Mansion in Krum, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

You never know where you’re going to meet the love of your life. Some couples meet in college. Some meet through mutual friends. Some meet on dating apps. Connor and Madelyn met at Texas Roadhouse orientation. 

Now, I have officiated weddings where people met at the gym, at a dog park, even in a long TSA line at DFW Airport, but this is my first Roadhouse romance. And I’ve got to say, if you can find lasting love in the middle of employee paperwork and safety training videos, you can handle just about anything life throws at you.

Connor walked in, spotted “a very pretty girl” sitting at the bar for orientation, and decided to sit next to her. “I figured I’d spark a conversation,” he says, “and with so much charisma, made a joke about her height.” Madelyn did not find it charming. In fact, they stopped talking for a month.

But love is persistent. Halloween rolled around, Connor saw Madelyn dressed as a clown, and something in him said, “Wow, she’s so pretty, I need to talk to her again.” They talked, exchanged numbers, went on two dates, and Connor already knew: “God was giving me signs that this is the one… I still can’t get over the fact that I have the most beautiful girl in love with me.”

Madelyn admits she wasn’t interested at first, deciding Connor was “just really bad at flirting.” But as she got to know him, she discovered, “I feel like we only make each other better, and I can’t wait to marry him.” She says she never thought she “needed” someone in her life, but Connor changed that: “Once I started dating Connor, it was like all of that changed… In my mind, I couldn’t wait another second. I want to start a family with him.”

Now, here’s what makes their story even richer: Connor grew up Jewish, deeply connected to his tradition, bar mitzvah, confirmation, summer camp, still praying every morning, even if synagogue politics kept him away from services. Madelyn grew up in a small-town Christian family, surrounded by prayer over meals, churchgoing grandparents, and huge holiday gatherings.

Their story reminds us of something both faiths teach, whether it’s in the pages of Torah or the words of the Gospels: Love is not about sameness. It’s about commitment. It’s about choosing each other daily.

Madelyn and Connor’s different backgrounds aren’t hurdles to overcome; they’re sources of strength. They give them two sets of stories, two spiritual toolkits, and two ways of seeing the world. That doesn’t divide them, it makes their shared life richer. A great marriage isn’t about finding your mirror image; it’s about finding someone whose differences challenge you, deepen you, and make your love more expansive than it could ever be alone.

So Connor and Madelyn, keep holding onto the way you describe each other now, Connor, that she’s “the most beautiful girl in love with me,” and Madelyn, that you “only make each other better.” If you keep choosing each other with that same gratitude and joy, you’ll keep hearing quiet reminders, sometimes in signs, sometimes in surprises, that you were meant to walk this road together.