In January 2018, Andrew Stephen Matt said he spent $20.18, the best he'd ever spent. He purchased a one-month unlimited class pass from Lync Cycling in Dallas.
The next month, he started taking indoor cycling classes taught by Kayla Nicole Dye, who took an immediate liking to him. “I loved how kind he was,” she said.
A few months later she moved him to class president. “He always reserved bike number 22 in the back,” said Mr Dye, 33. “I moved him to Bike 12.” Then she got really bold and booked him front and center on Bike 4.
“I used to kick and scream,” said Matt. But he didn't really care. “Too many times I felt like I was using the cliché phrase of having a crush on the incredibly handsome instructor in my fitness class,” he said.
He couldn't help but wonder if she was promoting him because she thought he was good at riding bikes or good looking. It turns out it's both. “He was a great biker,” she said, “and he was looking forward to my cute eye candy.”
Mr. became a cycling instructor at the studio until January 2019. Matt, 31, said: “Kayla’s super power is getting adults to get out of their comfort zone and do different things.”
A little over a year later, the studio closed for two months due to COVID-19 and the two lost touch. But in June 2020, two weeks after reopening, they met at a group dinner at a Mexican Sugar restaurant in Plano, Texas, which included fellow employees. “We had a fair amount of tequila,” Mr. Dye said.
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After dinner they went to a nearby bar, Scruffy Duffies. Mr. Matt “started singing along to the song ‘A Story of a Girl’ by Nine Days, but changed the lyrics,” Mr. Dye said. “I fell to the floor.”
She asked him to explain himself. “You’re basically engaged. “If I don’t say this now, I will never get the chance to say it,” Mr. Matt told her. “I have always loved you.” Then he kissed her.
The two met for brunch the next day “to discuss Keith's mistake and how it could never happen again,” said Dye, who had a boyfriend at the time and discussed marriage. But she said, “As soon as we sat down, the waitress immediately commented on how cute we looked as a couple.” I knew at that moment I was done.”
On July 12, 2020, Dai broke up with her boyfriend. In late July, she and Matt had her first official date at the Whiskey Cake restaurant in Plano. “Andrew took her heart and told her he loved me again,” Ms. Dye said.
The two begin hanging out outside of work.
Mr Dye said he and Matt “became inseparable and spent almost every day together”.
Dye, who grew up in Portland, Oregon, currently serves as a group fitness instructor at Equinox and brand manager at Pop Party, a luxury event planning company. She earned a bachelor's degree in French from Arizona State University.
Originally from Colleyville, Texas, Matt is the Director of Valuations and Advisory on the Americas Services Strategic Marketing team at commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma and will begin an MBA program at the University of Texas McComb School of Business this fall.
Matt planned to propose on February 9, 2022, during a waterfall hike on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, during a birthday trip for Dye's mother. But “within minutes we were covered in mud and trying to make our way through the Hawaiian ‘jungle’ when three dogs came barreling towards us,” Mr. Dye said.
The dogs, who seemed to have come out of nowhere, somehow guided the couple to the bottom of the waterfall. “But to get to the falls, you basically had to rappel down the side of this 15-foot drop.” Mr. Matt immediately fell to the floor and suffered some scratches and bruises. He decided that wasn't the time to propose.
Instead, despite feeling incredibly seasick, Matt suggested a sunset cruise the next night. “Andrew’s face was pale and he drank all the ginger ale money could buy and hoped he wouldn’t lose his lunch,” Mr Dye said. He held it together and she said yes.
The couple got married on April 20th at Union House, an event venue located in Cleburne, Texas, with about 140 guests in attendance. Dye's friend Elizabeth Furlong, who was ordained at Universal Life Church, officiated for the event.
The pair won a '4/20' with a tattoo artist providing flash tattoos including a marijuana leaf design. Ms. Dye has two tattoos. “I have my wedding date on my arm and our mutual nicknames are Pookie on my left hand,” she said.